May 20th, 2024

CREATING YOUR PRACTICE IDENTITY; THE WAY YOU SAY IT MATTERS

I am currently listening to a book on Audible from James Clear; it's called Atomic Habits. As he provides practice advice to help anyone achieve their goals in creating new habits, or eliminating bad habits, there was one area that I found particularly interesting – IDENTITY-BASED HABITS.

Here's a quoted example:
“do you want a cigarette” – no I’m trying to quit. OR, No I’m not a smoker. One is a person who is a smoker and is trying to quit, the other one is not a smoker; if you identify as a smoker, you will give yourself the freedom to slip. But if that’s not who you are… you just won’t do it.

As I was listening I thought this would be a great way for physicians to truly start shaping themselves into a particular niche. Consider these potential examples:

If you want to niche as a laser center…
You have to stop saying, “I’m a podiatry practice with a laser.” It needs to be, “We are a Laser Center.”

If you want to be a pediatric practice…
It cannot be, I am a podiatrist who sees kids. It has to be, “We are a Pediatric Practice.”

If you want to focus on an athletic patient population…
It cannot be, I'm a DPM who is able to treat sports-related injuries. It has to be, “I am a sports-medicine DPM.”
Thoughts? Questions? Email Me!
Sarah Breymeier: [email protected]

-Sarah Breymeier