“Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks.”
— Will Durant, Life, Oct. 18, 1963
One of the four metaphors in The Practitioner’s Journey is the River. It represents the uncertainty that separates you from your potential clients. Things like cost, fear, disapproval, time, skepticism, and other perceived risks. Attracting more patients to your practice is almost always about finding ways to get them across the river.
The greatest challenge, though, might not be the river itself, but the fact that we focus on it instead of the banks.
The river is competition, or a lousy economy, or lagging insurance coverage, or public skepticism. But everything that gets your clients across it–everything that grows your practice–happens on the banks. The bank is where we find the rocks for stepping stones. It’s where we build bridges.
The banks are within your control. The banks are where you can take action.
The river, like so much sh*t, just happens. Best to focus on the things you can change.
Thanks for providing this, its just as important to stay grounded with your practice as it is with yourself. Your practice is an extension of yourself!
We always looking for the solution somewhere outside of ourselves. In my practice i work specifically on expending our own abilities to be the bank and the river. The bank and the river – all the creation of ourselves, we have much more power then we think to change the flow.