Skin in the Game

I have always had a hard time charging people for the services I render so I have given a lot of my services away. I mostly do this because I don't see any value in what I do. Giving people drugs or doing surgery might just as well hurt them, as help them, and I don't think they should have to pay for non-information and poor treatment. I have often thought I would feel better if I could charge by outcome. If you get better I will charge, but if you don't, I won't. In fact, I thought I could charge based on the value of the information. If I found a diagnosis that was difficult, but lifesaving I would charge a lot. That would make me feel better, but it would be impossibly difficult because people would never know up front if, or how much, they are going to be charged.

What's more, I don't believe in profiting from the misfortune of another. How can I take money from one who is sick and destitute? I have a hard time with that.

Before, I could not count on anyone actually doing the plan I had to free them from illness because I didn't require a commitment. I would talk, educate, manipulate, and cajole into doing what I tell them, but they had no skin in the game. I have counseled people for years who have never made a single sacrifice to get well.

Doctors are generally taught to use various manipulatory sales techniques such as:

"If you don't take your blood pressure medicine, you'll have a stroke!" (this is NOT true, by the way)

"If you don't do the chemotherapy and radiation you're going to die!" (also not true; when they do those treatments, they die anyway)

I could never feel good about being a doctor and try to scare people into doing what I wanted them to do. I tried it for years, but I never felt good about it.  "I did it, but I didn't enjoy it."  I used to be uncertain about myself and my advice. I wasn't sure that the drug I was giving would help, or that the surgery I was recommending would do more good than harm.  I was doing what was "right" in the eyes of a drug company so I was always holding myself back, not believing in my ability to help.  I didn't believe it, in my heart.

Now, however, my outlook has changed completely. I now know how to teach people to get well. I can help them to find vigorous health. At this point, I can help almost everyone with almost any problem. Also, I know that all improvement or growth requires four things:

1. A goal

2. A plan

3. A commitment

4. A sacrifice

If any of these steps are skipped, the growth will not happen so people don't get better. I can help now where I could not before because I know this. I can help people find a goal. I can make a real plan that will help them reach their goal, I can commit them to the plan so that they will make the sacrifice.

 

The money I charge is no longer for me, it's for them. Sure, I take their money, which helps us keep our staff and supplies, but it's not my money that I deserve because I'm smarter than them. Now, the money is their commitment to a program. They pay for their benefit, not mine. If they pay the money up front, they will do the program. If they don't, they aren't committed to doing it anyway, and they will not waste their money and my time by coming to my office. Once they pay, they have "skin in the game" and want to get better. They want to learn. They want to do everything I tell them. They will do everything exactly as I tell them because they put their trust in me.

It's now no longer working for money, it's a labor of love. I love it because I'm truly able to help people get well. We really can, and do, turn around the most horrible illnesses that I was always told were incurable such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, psoriasis, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, strokes, heart disease, diabetes, and many more. I'm not just handing out drugs and watching people get sicker, end up in a nursing home, and die. Instead, I watch them get well, and continue to learn and grow. It's a great comfort to me in life. Life has meaning, and purpose. I can really make a difference in another person's life!

It's also a labor of love. Love is sacrificing for the growth of another. I give my time, and my heart, the most precious thing in the world, not for my own benefit, not for money or fame or anything selfish, but rather to help others to grow. I can help. I can give a talk to hundreds of people and give every one of them information that would help them in their lives. The purpose is not to generate income, as before, but to help others learn and grow and improve their lives. I can teach them how to fish.

Moreover, I have more freedom, now, to provide more love. I can go out to the streets and find anyone who has schizophrenia, bipolar, or other mental illness, and I can show them how to get better. I put them through the same steps: A goal, a plan, a commitment, and a sacrifice. The commitment for them may not be money, it may be just their word that they will show up and do what I ask them to do. The office staff calls these people my "projects." I am allowed to have one "project" at a time. If one drops off, gets well, or graduates from the program, I can take on another.

Yes, I require my patients to put skin in the game because I have put my whole heart into it. If I know how to reverse a condition and they don't follow-through then it breaks my heart. I can't coerce or force others to do what I want them to do, they must be willing.

My whole being is integrated into this work. My head and heart are working together.  For the first time in my life I have a mission instead of a job. I can put my whole heart into this without any misgiving. I no longer feel any skepticism or doubt. I'm not holding back. I can give from my heart. I believe! I have skin in the game.