A Time for Reflection: My Dad and What He Taught Me

I have been quiet on all business fronts over the past few weeks and that’s because, after a short illness, my father passed away just over two weeks ago.

This is a time for reflection and when I think of my father I realise that he is the real reason why I started working in health care.

I come from a family who all work in the health industry. My mother was an acupuncturist; my sister is a cognitive behavioural therapist; I work as an osteopath; and my father was a physiotherapist.

He had a busy practice in Guernsey, the same island where I now have my practice. When I was growing up it was a bustling and busy practice, in which my Dad would be rushing around treating several patients at a time. Some would be administering their own ultrasound treatment; some would be riding on the static bike; and some would be behind curtains being treated.

I am not sure that by today’s standards my Dad’s treatment area would be looked upon favourably, with only a few curtains separating patients from each other, but back in the 1970s nobody seemed to mind.

He also started another practice in a different part of the island and would run the give miles between them for an evening clinic on the second premises, often seeing in excess of 30 patients a day.

Sadly, in his 50s he developed a heart condition and he didn’t really work much beyond 55. He died at the relatively young age of 73.

As I said in the introduction, many of the reasons for me going into health care are as a result of my Dad, but also many of the reasons why I became a coach to health practitioners are to do with him also.

In many ways I saw a man passionate about his job, simply burn out. He pushed himself harder and harder, and found it difficult to balance his work with his family life. He also struggled financially at times, with the charging and chasing up of patients, often non-existent.

When I went into coaching it was with the desire to help people avoid the pitfalls that I had seen my Dad suffer from. I work with my clients on finding an improved balance in their lives and I work with clients who have money issues. But one of the topics I am most passionate about is helping clients who have achieved success with their practice, but then do not really know what to do next.

You see my Dad’s answer to running a full practice was to just get busier and busier and see more and more patients. I would suggest to all of you reading this, perhaps that isn’t the way to go.

You must look at leveraging your time once you get to this level. Don’t just work harder, but put some deep thought into what you want next from life. This is often the trickiest part of business: you have built a thriving and flourishing practice but are now faced with the “what next” conundrum.

Often when I work with clients at this stage of their practice’s life, we find hidden gems that can guide the next steps. These gems can range from exciting new challenges to simple “I want to spend more time with my family” truths. And the intervention is most important – the time to reflect on success and look forward to the next stage of life.

So, whatever stage of business you are in, be sure to take the time to “smell the roses” every now and then. After all, it’s all about the journey and never about the destination. I sometimes think that if my Dad had had someone around to tell him that, then he might not have had the physical breakdown he did.

In the end he was a great man who had a tremendous impact on so many people around him, and for that I will always be in awe of him.

Take care, Dad, and I hope the great physiotherapy clinic in the sky treats you as well as you treated all your thousands of patients over the years.

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