Starting a business – any business – takes work. Lots of work. Sometimes, a lot more work than we’re used to. It’s not that we’re “lazy” or any of those terms that reflect negatively on our personalities.
It’s just that we (especially those of us in the psychotherapy world) are trained specifically to quiet down, listen, and focus on self-care. We’re trained to be, in many ways, calm and deliberate.
And that’s great!
In fact, many people start their psychotherapy practice in order to finally live that calmer life – to no longer slave away in the stresses of the healthcare environment. That’s part of what I’m training you to do here at Psych Fusion.
But still, businesses take work. They require doing things outside of your comfort zone. They require risks. They require quick decision making. They require the ability to focus on a task and know that you are able to do what it takes to complete that task.
And that can be hard! While working in a healthcare environment is stressful, a lot of the background decision making is completed by other people, and a lot of the motivation comes from the pressure of others.
- We don’t often have to self-motivate.
- We don’t often have to do things we’re uncomfortable doing.
- We don’t often have to find ways to push ourselves.
… At least not in the same way that one does when they own a business, at least.
So how do we learn to self-motivate in the business world, when we are trained to be therapists, and not necessarily business owners? How do we overcome the things we’re uncomfortable with in order to successfully manage a growing business?
We can actually look to the field of psychology. Specifically, performance psychology.
Performance psychology’s focus is typically sports. But the lessons we can learn from it are the same, and apply to those looking to grow their business as well.
Performance psychology teaches many skills and techniques that are directly relevant to building a successful practice. Many of these we’re familiar with as part of our counseling training, but may not realize that we can implement into our growth. For example:
- Goal Setting – Setting SMART goals and staying focused on those goals can be immensely valuable for someone starting their practice.
- Teaching Concentration Exercises – Trouble concentrating? You’re not alone. Concentration is a lot harder when you have to push yourself to do it, with the distractions of freedom all around you. Through performance psychology, we can often teach ourselves to stay more motivated and on task.
- Managing Stress – Another issue that often stands in the way of performance is how we handle stress. Even though we start a practice to be free of the high demands, high stress environment of the healthcare field, running a business is a whole new type of stress. Through the therapy practices found in fields like performance psychology, we can manage that stress to improve performance.
These are all just examples, of course. Sports psychology teaches resilience, overcoming failure, building peer support, and more. It’s also only one of many psychotherapeutic modalities that can have a fairly profound effect on our ability to grow a business.
But that is also the point. You HAVE the tools to build and grow a successful practice. With the right partners, the right support, the right guidance, and a little integration of the psychological practices you learned during your studies, you can use modalities like performance psychology to stay motivated, focused, work your hardest, and build a practice that is as fulfilling as you deserve.
If you’re interested in getting help unlocking these abilities, and want to work with a private practice coach to help you begin or grow your practice, please contact me today.