Ep #96: A New Approach to Reaching Big Goals

Episode 96, How My Clients Taught Me to Dream Big and Do Less.

Welcome to Clinicians Creating Impact, a show for physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech-language pathologists looking to take the next step in their careers and make a real difference in the lives of their clients. If you’re looking to improve the lives of neurodiverse children and families with neurological-based challenges, grow your own business, or simply show up to help clients, this is the show for you. 

I’m Heather Branscombe, Therapist, Certified Coach, Clinical Director, and Owner of Abilities Neurological Rehabilitation. I have over 25 years of experience in both the public and private sectors, and I’m here to help you become the therapist you want to be, supporting people to work towards their dreams and live their best lives. You ready to dive in? Let’s go.

Hi, there, friend. I don’t know about you, but this is such a busy time even though, truth be told, I’m fighting a little bit of illness today. But we are planning for next year while we are also in the peak work of fall. Now, this is all good and actually, I really have designed it this way. And I’ve done that partially because I know it’s going to make December amazing. 

I’m all about seasons, including seasons of work. And that actually feeds into what I want to share with you today. I mentioned in my last podcast that my new mantra is to dream big and do less. And I have a story behind it so I wanted to share today how some clients of mine actually helped me to learn this new mantra. And I hope that it’s of help to you as well. 

Before I start sharing how my clinical practice informs what I do now, I wanted to let you know that we actually have a few clinical positions available right now at Abilities, especially if you’re working or are interested in working in the Fraser Valley. I would love to chat with you. Now, we hire very slow and also very strategically. But as a listener of the podcast, I have a feeling either you or someone you may know may actually be an amazing fit to work with us. 

What we’re really offering is what I actually know is the most empowered position you can have in BC right now, by creating an outstanding staff experience and an outstanding client experience, knowing those aren’t mutually exclusive. We all know that happy staff can show up and create a bigger impact for themselves and for their clients. 

So if you want to be more empowered to create a massive impact for yourself and your clients, don’t worry about creating a resume, just send me an email and let’s talk. I’d love to chat about what you are looking for in your next position and how we may or may not be a good fit for you. Having said that, let’s get back to how my clients have shown me to dream big and to do less. 

I am so lucky that I’ve been working at Abilities since 2007. And at that time, at the beginning in 2007 there really weren’t a lot of people in my area doing what we do, especially today. I had the opportunity to work with several clients, and I’m specifically thinking about this group of clients that were kind of young adults and all had a variety of health conditions. But what they had in common is they wanted to increase their energy and stamina and they came to me for help as a physiotherapist. 

So they talk about going to the gym when they felt good. But the problem was, first, they didn’t always feel good because they had these chronic health conditions. And then secondly, when they did, often they were so tired after going to the gym that they didn’t feel like they could sustain any level of activity in the long term. 

Now, truthfully, I totally understood. Not just because I’m a physiotherapist, they came to me and they were asking for help in an area that I actually could help, but I could also relate to that in my own life. And I wonder if you can as well. The past versions of me would have a goal and then I would think, naturally, of ways to achieve that. Normally, that would involve some kind of plan of doing something that felt hard, be it physically or mentally. And then it was a struggle to do it on a consistent basis. 

So I would either suffer through and then decide maybe the goal wasn’t worth the suffering. I’d kind of get annoyed with the goal itself. Or I would decide that there was something wrong with me because I didn’t feel like I could suffer through, and then thus getting annoyed at myself. 

The truth is, there was nothing wrong with me nor with my goal. The challenge was my thoughts and the way that I actually approached my goal. Big dreams aren’t a problem. Thinking that you need to exhaust yourself to achieve your big dreams can be a problem. 

So what I learned from my clients is giving them the task of finding the smallest step that they could do consistently, so both on the good days and the bad days, was really the key for them to achieve their goal, no matter how big that goal was. 

So for my clients looking to increase their energy and their endurance, sometimes that would be walking as little as three minutes continuously a day, six days a week. Only when they felt like they could do that consistently week after week, did we think about increasing the amount of time. 

Now, I know what you might be thinking or even saying, like some of my clients said at the time, that really doesn’t seem like enough. And, of course, at first, that isn’t going to be enough. Three minutes of continuous walking on a daily basis is not going to be enough to create a change physiologically about energy and endurance. 

But the truth is, the change that I was actually looking to help create at first is to actually just develop a consistent habit, no matter how small that habit was. And then to use that habit to build whatever dream we had next. 

So it’s been said that most people overestimate what they can do in a day and underestimate what they can do in a month. We overestimate what we can do in a year and we underestimate what we can accomplish in a decade. I love that quote because I think it speaks to the concept that small habits, over time, can create much bigger results than a larger, more short-term push. 

And that’s been my experience with my clients clinically. And it’s also been my experience in my own work life. So I’m not saying that I have it all figured out yet, because truthfully I don’t. But what I can say is this line of questioning has helped me so much more than trying to hustle or to outwork the goals that I have. 

So when people meet me now and say, wow, you have five clinics, how do you do it? The truth is, I don’t do it all and I didn’t do it all at once. The growth that we have at Abilities and the success that we have in Abilities, first, has been over a period of 16 years, that’s a long time if you think about it, with small steps, but an overall slow and steady growth. It’s also involved a whole bunch of people, amazing people, people like you. 

That’s what’s helped me to achieve my big dreams. So my clients have taught me that this is the way to easily create and sustain the momentum you need to achieve your dreams. So their daily small wins soon stacked up upon each other to create new confidence, new energy, and even new dreams and goals. 

So how can you do less at work and achieve your biggest dream? How can you relate this to your clinical skills, your mindset at work, your documentation, your compensation, your time management? Only you’ll know how to apply this best for you, but I’m here to tell you doing less is the way to go. So what’s the next best small step towards your dream? 

Give it a try and let me know how it goes. I cannot wait to hear how it goes. I want to hear all about it and I want to see the impact that you create with that. Have an amazing week and I will talk to you soon.

If you enjoyed today’s show and don’t want to worry about missing an episode, you can follow the show wherever you listen to your podcasts. And if you haven’t already, I would really appreciate it if you could leave a rating and review to let me know what you think and to help others find Clinicians Creating Impact. 

It doesn’t have to be a five-star rating, although I sure hope you love the show. I’d really want your honest feedback so I can create an awesome podcast that provides tons of value. To learn more about me and the work that I do, visit my website at www.abilitiesrehabilitation.com/clinicianscorner to download your free getting it all done at work process and to see what I’m up to. Thanks so much.

Thanks for joining me this week on the Clinicians Creating Impact podcast. Want to learn more about the work I’m doing with Abilities Rehabilitation? Head on over to abilitiesrehabilitation.com. See you next week.