Put First Things First

In the last article we took a peak at the 3^rd Habit of Healthy People, by describing the 4 Quadrants of time – or life – management. We also learned that the most effective (healthy) people in any endeavor spend most of their time, energy, and focus on Quadrant II activities. Quadrant II activities are those that are important to reaching our desired goals, yet are not urgent.

When we spend most of our time in Quadrant II, we are both highly effective and protect ourselves from most crises (Quadrant I activities). When it comes to our health, most people spend much of their time doing unimportant or even harmful things and then end up dealing with one crisis after another. The healthiest people in the world focus most of their effort doing health building activities such as exercising, eating well, getting fresh air and using services such as Neurospinal Optimization chiropractic on a regular, preventative or protective basis.

In this article we will stick with Habit 3 and learn how to be sure that we effectively plan those Quadrant II activities in order to be as healthy as possible. Again, these strategies do not only work for health and while health is the focus of this series, please feel free to apply this to every area of your life.

The best way to organize your life is around the roles you play on a weekly basis. We all have several roles that require weekly – if not daily – attention. Since Canadians claim that health is one of their top priorities, I am assuming that Health should be one of those roles.

Make a list of the roles you must address on a weekly basis. Some will be personal and some will be professional. Most people will have somewhere between 5 and 9 roles. Some of my examples are: Personal Health, Family Man/Woman, Competitive Weightlifter, Nexus manager, Nexus chiropractor, Personal Development.

Once you have defined your roles, write down some long term goals for each. What RESULTS do you want to see in 3 months, 1 year, 10 years? This will start to give you an idea as to what direction you are headed.

Now comes the most important part. Each week, for each role write down goals for the coming 7 days. When it comes to Health it may be as simple as eliminating gluten from your diet and working out 4 times for 30 minutes. For family it may be planning a great birthday party for your child. Remember to keep it RESULTS oriented.

Once you have a list of goals for each role, start plugging activities into your weekly schedule book. Be aware of how many activities and how much time is being spent in each quadrant and refine as you see fit. If at first you have quite a bit of crisis, that is ok as long as you are making progress towards QII.

To make your job easier, I highly recommend having a planner or schedule where you can see the entire week in one view. There is a blank sample in Stephen R. Covey’s book and you can also order planners from Franklin-Covey’s website.

I also recommend setting time aside when you will do your planning for the upcoming week. Either Fridays before you leave work, or Sunday afternoons seem to works best for most.

Please take some time to do this life-changing homework. Our next article will move from focusing just on ourselves to including others in our plans to become even more effective and healthy.

Don’t forget that Clear Day is coming up April 12! Still some room if you would like to attend.

PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST

For those of you who were wondering how Habits 1 and 2 were going to actually help you to become a healthy and successful person, Habit 3 is where the rubber hits the road.

Habit 3 – Put First Things First – is the physical creation that evolves from first being proactive and then deciding what life we inevitably want to live. Now that we know what is truly important, it is time plan our lives and expend our energy and time accordingly.

The old time management systems of to-do lists, checklists and schedule book are incomplete when it comes to putting first things first. Instead of focusing on things and time, we must shift our attention to results and relationships.

Central to this form of life management are the 4 Quadrants. The quadrants are defined as follows:

Quadrant I – Urgent and Important. These are activities that are crises and demand immediate attention. If you severely cut your hand and it is bleeding profusely, it is essential that you stop the bleeding NOW!

Quadrant II – NOT Urgent and Important. These are activities that will create positive results, yet are not an emergency at the time. Exercise, eating good food, planning your meals, meditating and seeing professional who not only prevent problems, but enhance health are Quadrant II activities.

Quadrant III – Urgent but NOT Important. Are activities that are essentially distractions in the moment that really are not important to our desired results. Responding to social media or responding to a phone call, when it is time to exercise is an example.

Quadrant IV – NOT Urgent and NOT important which is essentially time wasting procrastination. Watching junk TV or playing angry birds are PERFECT examples.

This is what the quadrants ARE. We all spend some time in all of them and that is fine. Whichever quadrant dominates our time will produce very different results from the others and that also applies to our health.

QI will produce stress, burnout, ever growing crisis management and constantly putting out fires. Is this not how most people manage their health? Most people go from treating one problem after another and inevitably the problems continue to get bigger over the years because the underlying causes were never addressed.

QIII is characterized by short term focus, the lack of any plan or goals, no follow through, disappointment in results and the feeling of being victimized. People living mostly in Q3 will often be heard saying, “I have tried everything and nothing works for me.” In reality they have not really committed to anything and done a bunch of things half way at best due to constant distraction.

QIV is usually mixed with QIII activities and produces total irresponsibility and dependence on others and institutions for basic survival. Luckily this is not common.

QII on the other hand produces individuals and families that have a vision for their health and wellness, are balanced, disciplined and over time tend to have fewer and fewer crises. The people who truly focus on moving towards their vision of health typically get sick very rarely and are often considered ‘lucky’ by the folks living in the other quadrants.

So, as you can probably guess, the key to being a highly healthy person lies in shifting as many as your Q3 and Q4 activities into Q2 activities. Obviously we all have crises (Q1) from time to time and they must be handled on the spot. As we said earlier however, the more time spent in Q2, the less Q1 will be required in the future.

Your homework for now is to look at how you spend your time and categorize it into the quadrants. BE HONEST with yourself! Nobody will see this but you. Then start to replace the unimportant with non-urgent important stuff. It will take some discipline, but the results will be worth it.

In the next article we will continue with Habit 3 and will go deeper into Putting First Things First a part of your weekly routine.

Speaking of Quadrant 2 activities, our 19th Clear Day has been officially booked for Saturday, April 12 at the Boys and Girls Club in Cornwall. Ask for an application at the office to see if you are ready for this full day intensive event designed to take your health and life to the next level.

We also have several special workshops booked for the spring including for the first time my Nutrition Workshop. Learn how to eat in a way that optimizes nervous system function, reduces pain, boosts energy levels and helps fat loss.

Let’s be honest – the public has a lot of distrust when it comes to chiropractors and their recommendations for care. I hate to admit it, but some people have a perception that chiropractors try to ‘get you’ to come in more (or more often) than you really need to so that they can make more money. In fact, I have spoken to people in other cities who raved about how pleased they were to find such an honest chiropractor who just told them to come back whenever they were in pain. To some, chiropractors are right up there with used car sales-people when it comes to trust.

While I have no doubt believing that a few chiropractors are less than scrupulous – like any other profession – people need to understand that a chiropractor’s recommendations will differ based upon their objectives and focus.

Most chiropractors are of the ‘traditional’ variety. They focus mostly on reducing muscle spasm, increasing range of motion and reducing pain and are typically pretty good at achieving those objectives. So, a doctor focused on getting you out of pain will make recommendations based on what they find and then when the pain is gone you are done. When the pain comes back, so do you.

At Nexus/Gault Family Chiropractic, we focus on something different. Our focus is Neurospinal Optimization which has the objective of detecting and correcting Neural Resistance (NR). Neural Resistance is when your nervous system is literally strung too tight or too loose like a poorly tuned piano.

We are usually unaware of NR, especially at the beginning. Over time, if it is not addressed a variety of SECONDARY Conditions may result. Some of these secondary conditions are back pain, headaches, poor posture, muscle spasms, and – because the nervous system coordinates  our organs – even anxiety and digestive problems.

Now, because we are focusing – and measuring and monitoring – what is underlying or PRIMARY to the secondary conditions we recommend a plan of care designed to correct the Neural Resistance – not just the secondary conditions that often take care of themselves when their cause is cleared up.

While everyone is different, there are certain minimum requirements that we have found necessary to take care of moderate NR. We have different objectives for our patients and therefore different recommendations and results.

Is this care for everyone? Nope, some people only care about having their secondary conditions handled and for them, working with a good traditional chiropractor, physiotherapist or massage therapist will be a better fit.

On the other hand, someone who wants to have their Neural Resistance handled, yet wants to follow the recommendations designed to only address secondary conditions will be disappointed. It just doesn’t work and in fact we prefer not to work with these people for obvious reasons.

Once a patient has successfully completed an initial phase of care and reduced their NR to an acceptable level, we OFFER optional PROTECTION plans that allow them to protect the investment they made during their initial care, and OPTIMIZATION plans that will allow them to continue to progress in their care.

I hope this article sheds some light on why chiropractors make the recommendations they do and why they are sometimes drastically different. I also hope it explains the purpose behind the recommendations we make at Nexus/Gault Family Chiropractic and why we get the results we get.

Clear Day is less than 2 weeks away (April 20, 2013) at the Martintown Community Centre. There are still some spots available, so let Adele or Cindy know if you would like to participate in this transformational event.

I believe that spring is the time to learn, grow and get things done. For that reason, Nexus/Gault Family Chiropractic is hosting a series of special events that will get you off to a great start as the snow – slowly – recedes.

On Monday, March 18th at 7pm will be our Discover Workshop. While I have been giving this workshop for 13 years, it has been recently updated, improved (and actually made shorter). So, if you are either new or have not been to one in a while, join us to learn how to use your pain and health challenges as fuel to greater health and vitality.

On Tuesday, March 26th at 7pm will be our Fireside Chat. This is a relatively new workshop (we have given 2 previously) that has replaced our advanced workshop and been extremely well received by attendees. The format is that I speak for about 10-15 minutes on whatever is new and exciting about NeuroSpinal Restructuring, and then we open the floor for questions, discussions and live demonstrations. Currently we only offer this program quarterly. This workshop is perfect for anyone transitioning from initial basic care to protection/progression care.

I am VERY excited to be offering, for the first time, this next workshop. On Thursday, March 21, Tyler Touchette will be in our office teaching a MOVEMENT Seminar. Tyler has been studying with the world leaders in this field and is bringing that wisdom to us. Going beyond personal training he will be teaching our patients how to incorporate exercise that will allow you to MOVE better and more effectively, regardless of your age. The March 21 program is already full, so let Adele know if you would like to be put on the list for the next one.

One of the highlights of our year is our CLEAR DAY, which will be Saturday, April 20th at the Martintown Community Centre. This is a full day intensive that includes 3 high level entrainments, multimedia presentations and workshops, catered lunch and snacks, and a whole lot of fun. This day typically attracts out of town practice members and doctors as attendees and is a great way to literally skyrocket your care to the next level. Staff for the day will include Dr. Tony Sandorfi, Dr. Amanda Chan, Dr. Angela Smith, yours truly, Cindy and Tyler Touchette has also agreed to lead a movement workshop. This day is highly recommended for anyone who has made some progress with our care and is ready for more. See Adele, Cindy or myself to apply.

Finally, I will soon have the follow up conference call scheduled for those of you who participated in our Breakthrough Evening. I am trying to determine the most convenient time for everyone and am looking forward to hearing about all of your successes and helping you to take it even further. We will contact you directly with the details.

Please take advantage of these special programs. Extraordinary results require extraordinary actions and we strive to provide you with many opportunities to be extraordinary. Also, please share your success stories with us next week as it is I LOVE NETWORK WEEK in the office. We will provide you with everything you need and would like to give you a gift for participating.

Last week we reviewed and celebrated all of the incredible accomplishments, events and milestones at Gault Family Chiropractic in 2012. In this article I will give you a peek at what will be new and exciting in 2013.

The first and most exciting announcement I have to make is that effective April 2^9th, Gault Family Chiropractic is changing its name to Nexus Chiropractic! We made this decision for several reasons, including that we are looking to add another doctor to the practice and it would not be fair for them to practice in an office with my name. We are very excited about this change and will be unveiling our new logo, letterhead, cards and signs between now and April.

At GFC our focus is Neurospinal Restructuring Technique with the goal of reducing and correcting Neural Resistance which is essentially like having your nervous system out of tune like a guitar or piano string. When the nervous system is out of tune it can lead to a variety of secondary conditions such as back pain, headaches, poor posture and even a change in mood.

In addition to providing world class clinical care in the office to address that Neural Resistance, I am always on the look-out for ways to complement our care to make it more sustainable for our patients. Early in 2013 we will be adding 2 new programs to provide you with that support.

First, Tyler Touchette, owner and head trainer of Caveman Strong has offered to give movement workshops in the office to small groups each month. Tyler has been studying with some of the world leaders in movement and has put together a ground-breaking program in his gym that produces profound results for all ages. Poor and restricted movement patterns affect almost all aspects of our lives and without proper movement, correction of Neural Resistance is more difficult.

Next, I have recently discovered an excellent posture exercise program that we will be teaching patients to further support their Neural Resistance correction. Stay tuned for both workshops. Registration and dates will be posted shortly.

I am also in the process of revising our Discover Workshop with a more efficient format and updated information. Even if you have attended one in the past, now would be a great time to do a refresher. The next discover workshops are Jan. 14^th and Feb. 5^th.

I am very excited to announce the addition of a brand new advanced program to our twice a year Clear Day schedule. On Friday, January 25^th we will be holding our first ever Breakthrough Evening Program. This will be an intensive evening done in a small group (10-12) and will consist of 2 advanced entrainments with me, integrated SRI and all workshops conducted by me. This is the most advanced program we have ever offered that will not only boost your care, but be applicable to real life transformation. The January event is already full so stay tuned for future evenings.

I will be speaking to 3 outside groups in the New Year. In February I will presenting to personal trainer extraordinaire, Tom Irvine’s fitness class at Saint Lawrence College. Later in the month I will speak as a part of the Encore Senior’s program on the meaning of pain. In March I will be keynote speaker at the Arbor House’s Interesting People series in Vankleek Hill (which means I only have two months to become an interesting person)!

This article is a part of the weekly articles I have been writing for over 8 years and we have decided to change things up a bit. Starting soon I will instead be producing a longer, multi-article monthly update. In addition I will continue to blog shorter posts more frequently. Together the blog and update will provide even better support to your health and care in our office.

Finally, I am excited to announce that in conjunction with the Association for Reorganizational Healing Practices (ARHP), of which our office is a Quantum Member we will be setting up a community project to assist and provide care to those less fortunate and in need. We may require some volunteer help from within the practice so please keep us in mind. I will update you on detail as soon as they are set.

This is what we all have to look forward to and more. Thank you so much for your trust and support which allows Adele, Cindy, and I to continue to search and implement new and better ways to serve you. We love our jobs and plan on 2013 being the best year yet.

Don’t forget that our Best Year of Your Life Workshop is Jan.29^th at 7pm, which is also open to guests. Sign up at the front desk.

On Thursday, Jan. 17^th I will be in Denver attending the advanced technique seminar. Dr. Tony Sandorfi of Ottawa will be entraining in my place. Dr. Tony is an excellent practitioner who entrains at our Clear Days.

As I spoke about in a recent article you can see by clicking HERE, autumn is a time for action, a time for transformation. That is certainly the case at Gault Family Chiropractic. To be sure you don’t miss anything, here is a summary of all the special stuff that is happening over the next few months.

On Sept. 4th we held our inaugural Fireside Chat with the one and only ME. This is a special casual workshop for patients and practice members at any level of care to literally ask me ANYTHING about health, Network Care, life, or personal development. The evening opens with me presenting briefly on what is new in the world of NSA and Reorganizational Healing and is followed by the question period supported by hands-on demonstrations. The response to this event was so great we will be conducting one quarterly. Keep an eye out for our next Fireside Chat.

September 15th I will be entraining at Dr. Tony Sandorfi’s Clear Day in Gatineau.

Monday Sept. 17th is our 2nd Patient Appreciation Dinner at The Grind. This is a get together to honour our favourite practice members and their guests. It is our way to say thank-you for making our jobs the best in the world. If we have not invited you yet, please be patient as we are catching up on 12 years of great people.

On Sept. 21-23 I will be both attending and teaching at the X-CELS seminar for chiropractors. You can listen to a short audio of me being interviewed by X-CELS co-founder Dr. Pierre Bernier by clicking HERE and scrolling down to the second interview.

In October we will be holding our Discover – The Truth About Back Pain Revealed workshops on Tuesday Oct. 2nd and Monday Oct. 22nd. This is the best place to learn how our care can help you and your loved ones and ensure the best possible results in our office. Phone 613-932-8111 to reserve seats.

Our 16th!!! Clear Day will be held on Saturday, Oct 13th. This is an all-day, comprehensive day of transformation composed of 3 special Network entrainments, transformative workshops and is fully catered. This Clear Day will be held at The Church on Sydney in Cornwall. In the past we have had doctors and patients from all over North America attend and participate.

I am very excited to announce that I will be speaking at the Cornwall Chamber of Commerce Bizfest this year. On Oct. 18th I will be presenting The 3 Steps to Becoming the Most Resourceful Business in Your Field – Using Change to Create Success. The link for this event is HERE.

On Oct. 27th I will be personally attending Drs. Pierre Bernier, Christine Bourque and Andree-Anne Bernier’s Clear Day in Gatineau. This is part of MY commitment to world class care for myself.

In November, I will be competing in the Ontario Open Olympic Weightlifting Competition on the 3rd. I train with the Cornwall Weightlifting Club out of Caveman Strong. For more information click HERE. Also, stay tuned for 2 more workshops during that month.

On Nov. 16-18, my family and I will be travelling to a Transformational Gate with Dr. Donny Epstein in the N.Y. area, to further enhance our care. We will have information posted for interested practice members.

On Wed. Nov. 28th, I will be speaking to Tom Irvine’s physical education class at St. Lawrence College. I have been doing this for years and is a lot of fun. Tom is a great personal and athletic trainer at Quest in Cornwall. You can see his web-site HERE.

Of course at the end of November we will be rolling out our popular Christmas Card promotion which is the best opportunity to share the results you have benefited from with your friends, family, and loved ones.

Stay tuned for all of the special events we have planned for the holiday season as well.

Have a great fall, and please take advantage of all of the workshops and activities we have planned to help you on your way to a healthier and happier you.