Over the course of the past year, I have tried to make a conscious effort to read books for enjoyment and try to find topics and subjects that interest me personally, not just professionally. As you go through the process of schooling, reading becomes a chore and I feel that although I never was an avid reader, there are lots of things that interest me. So why not read about it more in depth?

One of the people that I have started to read is Mark Manson, while his book titles are not necessarily safe for everyone, they have brought me quite a bit of perspective in regards to life and how to think about life as a whole.  I got sucked into one of his podcasts and while not necessarily the topic of the conversation, the premise of faith and patience kept coming up.

Everyone goes through hard times, whether it’s in your personal life, running a business, playing sports or any aspect of life really. Part of life is the inner battles that you suffer through periodically.  Life is not simple and life is not easy, but the journey is worth it, you just have to find a way to happiness and contentment along the way.

The premise of the conversation was about building an audience and a business. You don’t see a lot of 20-30 year old businesses fail because the tough part has normally been done. I’m speaking in general terms with this but once you cross the 10 year mark a lot of the kinks have been worked out in regards to building a business.

Faith and patience kept coming up in some of these conversations, nothing worth having is typically built quickly. Building a business is hard, it’s not for everyone, but at the end of the day you have to have enough faith in yourself and the process that enough people will see the value in the business to continue to come in and pay for your service or product.

Patience is probably actually the harder aspect in today’s world because everything seems to be instantaneous. Solid businesses have a good foundation, ups and downs are normal.  Good and bad months hopefully level each other out. You still need to have a life and try not to be married to whatever business or endeavor you choose to go down. The hardest part, I think, with owning a business in 2024 is waiting. Snow days and slow day happen, there is really nothing you can do about it. The past couple of weeks have been typical January, up and down, but with the amount of time I have spent at home is not the best for me mentally.

I have WAY too much time to think. Mark’s books have brought things back into a realistic reality for me as they indicate that not everything is perfect, nor should it be but finding a happiness, contentment and having faith and patience with the process are some of the toughest things to do while navigating a life, not just in a business or personal sense.

I have said since day one, that writing this blog is more of personal therapy for me. I have no intention of this just being a blog about chiropractic, conditions and therapies that are offered at our office. If some young chiropractor or business owner is sitting out there reading this silly little post, just know that putting in the hard work initially and riding the waves is half the battle.  There are going to be days that you question, what the hell am I doing? But keep you head down, keep going, know that it’s a grind, faith in the process and a little bit of patience can go a long way.