When I moved to Texas from the north 13 years ago, I had no idea what plants worked in the hot climate and Hill Country rocky soil. So I did what any good Yankee would do and went to the local nursery to find out. This black thumb (and I mean, I can kill a plant just by looking at it) asked the worker that saw me wandering lost and clueless among the aisles of unknown shrubs for the most resilient Texas plant.
Knock-out roses, she said. You can’t kill ’em even if you tried.
Watch me, I promised.
But she was right. We bought some knock-out roses, red ones, and boy were they resilient. They thrived and grew despite how much or how little water or sun or attention they got, and they were beautiful. Every house I’ve owned in Texas (and there have been three so far) I have planted them because, well, even I can keep them alive, no matter what.
I see these roses daily, in my own yard and on my runs throughout various areas and neighborhoods. They bring me such pleasure, especially knowing how hard they need to work to survive.
I talked about these roses with a client the other day. This client has experienced some particularly horrific life events, more in her young 18 years than most have in a lifetime. This client’s story is one that could have gone in a way different direction, but instead, this client is graduating high school and heading off to college and planning a future that is greatly unknown but wide open with possibility.
In our session, this client was running down on what she perceived to be negative qualities, such as “I’m self-destructive in relationships,” “People don’t like me as much as I like them,” “I hate most of my appearance,” and so on and so forth.
You need to give yourself credit, I replied. I compared her to a knock-out rose – resilient under the most trying of circumstances, and even thriving through it all. That’s a gift that you have, I told this client, and something that no one can ever take away – the ability to persevere and keep growing despite everything and everyone else.
At the end of the session, she was smiling. “I guess I am pretty resilient,” she said. “I hate that I always have to be, but I am.” We talked about where resilience can take you in life, and how she has already, unknowningly, applied it to her own life in many different areas.
I know I will think about this client every time I see those roses. And I know that she’ll be okay, no matter what comes her way. (more…)
I met Shane Petty, the founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Revved Business, at a networking breakfast earlier this year. We exchanged business cards, and I was super-impressed with an email he sent me later that afternoon, thanking me for chatting it up with him but also telling me he looked at my website and would love to offer ways to improve my traffic.
We had a phone consultation, and within a few days, I received a video link to him going through my website and talking me through his suggested changes – all of which were spot-on, and all of which drove more traffic (aka paying clients) to find me.
Revved Business concentrates on delivering leads and clients to small businesses through online marketing. In previous blogs, I’ve written about the importance of marketing, and Shane was gracious enough to have a Q & A with me to give his expertise on how a business can increase visibility – and get new clients.
JS: Hey Shane, thanks for talking with me today. Tell me about yourself and what your company does.
SP: Well, first I’m a husband of 21 years and a father of 3 kids. I grew up in San Antonio and after attending Baylor University, stayed in Waco for 19 years. I’ve been working in traditional and online marketing since 1996, and launched Revved Business in 2010.
JS: Therapists are notoriously horrible at marketing themselves. How do you suggest someone starts?
SP: You’ve got to define your target market. Write down a description. If Johnny or Sally walked into your office – who are they, what do they look like, what are their ages? Then you need to research your competition. Who are your biggest competitors, who are you up against? A person also needs to know how much a month can you spend to acquire a new client. Say, for example, if a therapy client is worth a lifetime amount of $1,000, you should plan on spending 5-10% to acquire that client.
JS: What are the biggest mistakes you see with small business owners and their marketing practices?
SP: I think one of the biggest mistakes is that they don’t know the ROI of their marketing spend, and that goes back to understanding the basic value of acquiring a client. If you spend $125 for a $500 client, you need to look at that.
Another thing is they don’t understand technology. Today, it’s adapt or die, because it’s all changing so quickly. For instance, Twitter was so popular and now that’s changing – people are on Instagram and SnapChat. So you need to know where you’re ideal client is hanging out.
Also, people don’t have clear, concise, measurable goals. They don’t know what they can or cannot spend. Make a business plan, and revise it as needed. You really should visit it at least quarterly, but it’s better to do it monthly. Especially if things aren’t going as well as you want them to be.
JS: A therapist has started out but has limited marketing dollars. In your opinion, what gives the biggest bang for their buck?
SP: You need to understand, again, where your clients are. Figure out where they are hanging out. Do your legwork so you aren’t spinning your wheels. Are they on YouTube? Then maybe you make some value-based videos. Are they on FaceBook? Facebook Ads are a cheap and easy way to target specific populations.
JS: What are the apps you use and can’t live without?
SP: I use Freshbooks for my accounting system, it’s easy to use and tracks everything. I use Dropbox to manage all my files and share with clients. Facebook is the social media I use the most. People generally are not buyer-intent on Facebook, but they are always looking at you. That could turn into a client eventually if they see you enough.
JS: What is the best advice you can give to someone starting out?
SP: Here’s the thing – you have to figure out if you have more time than money, or more money than time? Probably it’s the former at first. 10-15% of the population are willing to do whatever it takes to be successful. If you have more time at first, then get creative. For example, I was watching the Spurs play on Sunday, but I was on my computer and working on stuff during the game. And always, always count your costs. I’m amazed at business owners that don’t track their costs.
JS: Thanks, Shane, for speaking with me today.
SP: It was my pleasure. Thanks for having me.
You can find out more about Revved Business at www.revved.biz, or contact Shane on LinkedIn.
The headlines are full of the horrific story of the Penn State Hazing incident, which left one boy, Timothy Piazza, dead and 18 – yes, 18 others charged in his death. As a drug counselor, as a mom of a boy about to embark on his own college journey to Baylor University, and simply as a human being that works in a field to help others, this binge drinking story is rough to read. And to comprehend.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking that brings the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of a person to 0.08 percent or above. This typically happens when men consume 5 or more drinks, and when women consume 4 or more drinks, in about a 2-hour time span.
My own binge drinking story took place in a dorm room at Snyder-Phillips Hall, on the campus of Michigan State University. I was 19. We planned “Century Club Night” with my brother floor on a Saturday. For those unfamilar with this game, Century Club consists of everyone sitting with a shot glass (typically 1.5 oz), and filling it with beer. Every minute for 100 minutes, you take a shot of beer. Sounds easy, right? Think again. This equates to just short of 9 cans of beer in just over 1.5 hours.
As a small person in stature (at the time, I was 5’2″ and clocked in at about 110 pounds) and not much of a drinker, I remember dropping out after about 21 or so shots. (For the record, that’s about 3 beers. In 21 minutes. Smart, right?) And I was wrecked. Completely, utterly wrecked. It could have gone way, way worse had I tried to keep up. I could barely walk after 21 shots of beer. Thank goodness I didn’t try.
But I still remember the peer-pressure. I remember people calling me “lame” and “light-weight” and goading me to continue. I honestly don’t remember who (if any) finished our Century Club Night. I just remember I felt horrible the rest of the weekend and vowed never to undertake in any more drinking “games.” Of course, at the time, I wasn’t thinking about binge drinking. All I know is we were college kids, doing what I thought college kids were supposed to be doing, buying shot glasses and calculating how much beer we would need for one shot per person for 100 minutes.
According to the CDC, about 90% of the alcohol consumed by youth under the age of 21 in the United States is in the form of binge-drinking. I have a client that tells me that her friends at school (a large Southern University) drink to the point of blacking out. On the regular. I shudder to think of these girls passed out, semi-conscious, on couches, beds, and God-Knows-Where-Else with their cognitions distorted, their inhibitions down and possibly no one watching out for them – or in some cases, not even knowing where they are located.
Over the past weekend, I was speaking with another college student home for the summer, and she told me that some of her friends – male and female – always, and she said always, plan to “drink until they pass out” on the weekends. She and I talked candidly about the dangers involved with this planned behavior. We discussed how many drinks are appropriate to consume within a particular time frame, the importance of drinking water with alcohol, eating enough before any alcohol is consumed and knowing, quite frankly, when to say when.
Parents, I beg you to warn your kids: binge drinking is no joke. Consuming many drinks in a short amount of time can have deadly consequences. The difference, literally, between life or death could be that one extra drink. Encouraging others to do so is just plain wrong. Watching others do so, without intervening (as the 18 charged at Penn State), could land you in jail.
These conversations need to be held, early (in elementary and middle schoool) and often (during high school and college).
I think about the Piazza family and how they’ll never get to watch their son Timothy graduate college, land his first job, walk down the aisle, start a family and so much more. I think about my decision to drop out of Cenury Club back when I was 19, the same age as Timothy, and what might have happened if I had not.
Lives can be ruined, cut short and everything in between by binge drinking. This needs to stop before another tragic headline emerges.
It goes like this: I get a phone call from a potential client. We chat about therapy and their individual needs. We discuss appointment days and times. Then they ask if I take insurance. Instead of simply saying, “No, I don’t, I’m cash-pay only,” my first instinct is to say, “I am really sorry, I only take cash.”
Another scenario: I charge full-price to clients that fail to give a 24-hour notice of cancelling an appointment. This cancellation policy is clearly stated on my website, as well as in all intake paperwork signed by my clients. I also verbally state my policy to all clients in person when they fill out their credit card form (which I keep on file to charge no-shows). I’ve had to implement this policy on ocassion, and each time I found myself telling the client, “I’m sorry, but I have to charge you.”
Why, oh why, am I always compelled to say “I’m sorry?”
Studies have shown that women like to apologize. A lot. We do it in our personal and professional lives on a daily basis. In fact, in a 2010 study in Psychological Science, it states that women are more likely to see a need for an apologies in everyday situations, and suggests that men apologize less frequently than women because they have a higher threshold for what they consider offensive behavior.
So here’s the thing.
Nearly one-year into running my private practice, I am going to stop apologizing for my business policies. The truth is, I’m not sorry I don’t take insurance. I’m not sorry that I charge no-shows for my time. And I’m certainly not sorry that my latest policy is to charge for my intake upon making the appointment (no-shows at 8:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning or 8:00 p.m. at night – and I’ve had both – make me totally not sorry for this one).
I’m in a person-centered, helping profession, but at the end of the day, I have a business to run. My policies are sound and fair, and clearly spelled-out from the get-go. Apologizing makes me sound as if I did something wrong or am worried that I offended someone.
So I’m sorry – wait, not sorry, that I’m done apologizing. I’m proud of my business, and my practices, and for that, I’m not sorry.
Most senior parents (like I am) are in the throes of picking out XL twin sheets, hoarding Bed Bath & Beyond coupons, planning graduation parties and trying not to bawl like a baby at every senior night event.
Aside from the hunting and gathering, there are other things to prepare yourself – and your kids for – as they prepare to leave home. The number one thing I ask parents of the college-bound is how much allowance do they plan on giving them? And how do you plan on giving it?
One friend told me her child is getting $100.00 a week. Cash. “How is she getting it?” I asked. “Why, the ATM,” she replied.
Her answer, as my daughter would say, was cringy.
Not the amount. The amount was not cringy – heck, give your kids as much money or as little money as you think is reasonable. That’s purely a budget decision. But please, please, pretty please, this Drug Counselor begs you: do not give them access to large amounts of unaccounted cash. Period. Do Not Do It.
Why?
Because your friendly neighborhood drug dealer only accepts cash. And because the students who could potentially supply your child with large amounts of alcohol for a binge drinking night only want cash. Cash is untraceable, as is your child. So limit this option.
I see a few college students in my clinic that got in way over their heads with some serious drinking and various drug use. Luckily, there were no sentinal events, but two landed in the hospital, one is now in rehab, and all were extremely lucky. Their parents were completely unaware of the level of their partying of course, because how could they possibly keep tabs on someone that’s not under their roof 24/7?
I know, I know. You’re reading this and thinking to yourself “Oh, this won’t happen to MY kid. MY kid’s not like that.” Trust me, I get it. That’s what we all think. The aforementioned kids all came from “good” families that live in “good” neighborhoods. But here’s the thing. According to a recent study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, almost 60 percent of college students aged 18-22 drank alcohol in the past month, and almost 2 out of 3 of them engaged in binge drinking during that same timeframe. And, in 2015, a University of Michigan study revealed that 38 percent of college students reported smoking marijuana in the past 12 months.
I plan on giving my son allowance, but he will use the credit card and debit card for most to all of his transactions. I know there are times when he will need cash, and he’ll have access to it, but it’s going to be extremely limited. And he’s going to have to account for every dime.
So please, please, add “little to no cash access” on your college kid’s list in the number one slot. This item is way more important than choosing the perfect comforter.
“Were you happy you woke up?”
It’s a question my boss taught me to ask people that came into our clinic, a 24-hour, 7-day a week, 365-days-a-year free Crisis Clinic. Many that walked through the door presented with suicidal ideation (S/I), or had made previous unsuccessful attempts.
This particular client was a young Hispanic female, maybe mid-20s, with a history of past attempts, the last one being an overdose of prescription pills. It was one of my first S/I cases, and I wanted to make sure I did everything right. As I staffed the case with my boss, she asked if I asked the client if they were happy they woke up after last attempt. I hadn’t even thought to ask.
Some of the questions we were trained to ask clients who expressed suicidal ideation included the following:
- Are you planning to kill yourself?
- How are you planning on killing yourself?
- Have you tried to kill yourself in the past?
- How did you try and kill yourself?
Notice the words “kill yourself.” We didn’t use “hurt” or “harm” or “do something” – we were trained to look people straight in the eye and use the word “kill.” We were also trained to say it in regular conversation voice, as if we were asking them what they ate for dinner last night, or who happens to be their favorite celebrity crush of the week.
But asking someone if they were happy when they woke up? That wasn’t part of my “formal training.”
“Go ask her,” my boss said. “See what she says, then take it from there. But always, always ask that question, and document the answer. Her answer will change how you treat and approach this case. It personalizes it beyond the ‘checklist’ questions.”
I went back to the room, monitored now by a co-worker (standard protocol for a person with S/I). I asked the client again about her past attempts, then asked her to think about the very last time: when she woke up in the hospital, was she happy to wake up?
She hesitated for a long time, staring at the floor, then looked at me. “Yeah. Yeah I was happy to wake up,” she said. “I was glad it didn’t work. My mom was sitting there crying and I’ll never forget it.”
Turns out no one had ever asked her that particular question. I told her how happy I was that she came to get help for herself today and how I wanted her to wake up tomorrow. We talked about her current plan to kill herself. She was feeling depressed and hopeless but was also, what we call in clinical terms, futuristic. She wanted to feel better but talked about upcoming events she needed to attend, school she wanted to finish, things she wanted to accomplish. Her depression was untreated and unmanaged
Our clinic staff put her on the road to treatment. I told her how happy I was that she sought help and how I wanted her to wake up tomorrow in her home, not in a hospital, or worse….to successfully complete the suicide and not wake up at all.
I now always, always ask clients that express S/I or have attempted to kill themselves in the past if they were happy they woke up. It starts a rich conversation and explores areas to apply to a treatment plan. We examine days that they were happy when they woke up, what was going on that particular day, and if they don’t feel happy now…..what do they need to do to get there, or what do they want to be different? We implement safety plans to remove means from their environment.
Sometimes, one simple question can make a huge difference. We just need to ask.
When I wrote my original business plan, I had a concrete vision for what I wanted my private practice to look like and the clients I wanted to serve. Adults, 18 and above only, 8-5, Monday through Friday. Period. This was my plan from the beginning, and whenever I closed my eyes and pictured my clients, that was what I saw. Although I had experience working with youth in during my graduate school clinical rotations and previous agency work, I was calling my own shots now and wanted to see only the clients who I wanted to see. And that meant adults, 18 and above only.
Did I say that I only wanted to see adults, 18 and above only?
Rookie mistake Numero Uno.
Guess who my very first, paying client was? One who called and wanted my very first available appointment, same day or next day, if possible? You guessed it. The parent of an 8 –year-old boy.
My next call was for a teenage girl. Then my next call was a middle-school aged girl. And the call after that was for a teenage boy at-risk for substance use and abuse.
Well, you get the picture. None of these calls were for adults. None of these clients were over 18. But guess what? They all wanted to see me. And I had many slots to fill in my practice. And since empty slots don’t pay the rent, I booked the appointments.
The teens and tweens, as I like to now call them, starting coming in. And a funny thing happened. I was enjoying my work with them. They gave me a new energy and excitement that spilled over to my counseling approach and to my practice. There’s something awesome about a kid bouncing into your office, kicking off their shoes, plopping down to LIE on my couch, covering themselves in one of my blankets and stating, “Mind if I just lie here and be a load today while we talk? I have a lot to tell you and I need to be comfy!” Adults simply don’t do that! And it’s great.
I began reading up on the latest research on cutting, social media trends among middle and high school kids and brain development through the ages. I ordered games that encouraged talking and interaction, stocked a shelf with coloring books and colored pencils and printed out many “worksheets” for 8-18 year-olds that focus on core values, anxiety, anger management, gender/sexuality and depression. I attend “teen-centric” CEUs on bullying, cyber bullying and social media. I now assign journaling, and keep up on Netflix Series such as “13 Reasons Why.”
So much for my practice of adults, 18 and above only.
My business plan changed just like that, and I changed along with it. At this point, nearly 10 months in my private practice, more than half of my clients are under the age of 18. My hours are heavy from 3-8, Monday through Friday, and occasional Saturdays, not 8-5 as I originally thought. Kids can’t miss school for therapy, so I accommodate them as needed. I still see many adults, 18 and above, per my original plan, but I love love love working with my tweens and teens.
If your business plan veers off in an unexpected direction, or you find a niche that needs to be filled – go with it – as long as the clients you serve are within your scope of expertise. Change it up when and where you have to ensure success – and a full schedule. If I didn’t change it up, I would’ve missed out on these great kids. And the personal and professional growth that they’ve brought – most unexpectedly – to my career.
I am nine months-plus into owning and running my private practice. From my first night in grad school through successive various agency work, it was my goal to work for myself as a sole practitioner. I opened my official doors on August 1, 2016 and want to share with you so far what I’ve learned.
There have been successes and set backs, and pretty much everything in between. I’m going to write about all of them here. I want to teach others who are considering hanging their own shingle over a shop certain things to do, and absolutely what not to do based on my own humble (and eye-opening) experience.
There’s a huge misconception in the mental health field about opening up your own business. The misconception is this: that people will care. I mean….don’t flatter yourself. You might be great at what you do. You might be marginally good-looking and charming. But you are 100%, absolutely, completely, unequivocally wrong that anyone will care. Trust me, I was one of those people with the same misperception before I started.
No one, I repeat, no one cares about your business.
Yeah, I said it.
Why does no one care? Because. Because there are other people out there that have the exact same thing, offer the exact same service or the exact same product. They’ve done it longer than you. They know more about it than you. Even if they don’t do it better than you, no one cares about that, either.
But you care. Of course you do, otherwise you wouldn’t have taken the leap of faith and done it.
So how do you make other people care? Here are five things I did to make my private practice turn a reasonable profit in nine short months, and to make people care about (and utilize) my business:
- Find Your Niche – In San Antonio, counselors are everywhere. In my zip code alone, there are 40+ counselors within a 10-mile radius. So why choose me? Because I meet people in their homes. Because I provide “Walk & Talk” sessions, where I meet people at work, parks, trails, etc. Because I have dual licenses in Counseling and Substance Abuse. None of those other 40+ people do what I do. And that’s not an accident on my part.
- Hustle – I am a constant marketer. I tell people what I do all the time and am shameless about self-promotion. In the hours I am not seeing client, I am busy marketing. I launched this website (with help). I had marketing materials and business cards made that I hand out on the regular. I’ll write more in-depth about my marketing practices – and the hustle – in future posts.
- LinkedIn Yoself – LinkedIn has been invaluable for me in reaching out to the local mental health community (and beyond) to let people know I am available. I engage with local businesses and agencies as well as individuals about my practice.
- Meet Up – My goal this year is to have one meeting per week with an agency, individual or company that could utilize my services (and that I can refer clients to if needed). This has proved invaluable during the hours that I don’t see clients. If I have a blank day (and believe me, there are some of those), I reach out and set up a meeting or tour of a facility. I’ve had three of those “meetings” so far this week. I’m aiming for 52 meetings (minimum) in 2017.
- Social Media-ize – Build a social media presence for your counseling practice. It doesn’t take a ton of time or energy, just some effort and advance planning. You can find me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook as @jenniferseelpc. I am on Linkedin as well (see #3). I have a blog on my website (duh, obviously, you are reading). All of these help build my presence and spread my message, as well as connect with a vast audience and potential future clients.
I care about my business. I care about it a lot. I know you care about your counseling practice, too. So start making others care about it. Good luck to you, and check back here for more Private Practice Chronicles.
The woman looked at me with tears streaming down her face. “I know I should be over this already,” she said. “But I’m getting worse.”
This particular woman had lost her healthy husband of 40+ years suddenly in an accident. About six months had passed when we spoke. We discussed many things about the death and their relationship leading up to it. The accident was particularly horrific and it made many people around her uncomfortable to discuss it. She found herself resentful of other’s good health and as a result, was feeling guilt comingled with sadness and anger just about every emotion in between. She also had children and grandchildren that were grieving and felt responsible to be strong for them, and in the process, pushed her own grief aside.
In my work with clients and grief, I have discovered there is no clear-cut formula, no “correct” timetable of events or feelings to check off a list. And I hate the phrase “get over it.” I just hate it. People grieve at their own pace, in their own way. Grief is deeply personal and manifests itself differently in everyone. One person might want to talk about the loss at length to process it; the next person might retreat inward and not want it mentioned at all. Grief is fluid, and hits at certain, random times – usually when its least expected.
The client and I continued to talk. I was pretty direct with my response. “Why do you need to be over it already?” I asked her. “It was a tragedy. You’re still in shock and grieving. You lost someone you love and you miss him. Don’t put a timetable or expectation on yourself to be a certain way at a certain time. Allow yourself to grieve and don’t ever apologize for it – to anyone.”
I know this woman is still grieving, and will be in some stage of grief forever. And I hope she feels permission to do so.
If you are grieving: grieve. Don’t apologize for it. Ever. Sometimes, there is no “getting over it.” There is coping, sure, and figuring out how to move forward in an unexpected direction. But getting over it? That’s simply at times impossible. And an unrealistic expectation that can minimize and impede the grieving process.
If a loved one is grieving, don’t judge their grief or tell them how to grieve; be a safe place for them to rant, vent, laugh or cry. Never tell someone to “get over it “ or that “it’s time to get over it.” People deep in grief need people that can listen to them on the good, bad and ugly days. Above all, encourage them to see a professional counselor or therapist that specializes in grief, and can be there to help them navigate their journey forward.
Recently I had a client facing a tough weekend situation – a family reunion of sorts, and he had no idea what the outcome would be after the visit. Of course, he knew what HE wanted the outcome to be……a reconciliation…….but had zero clue which way it would fall out. Because he is at high-risk for relapse, there were many concerns on my end how this client would handle an end result that wasn’t what he would consider to be a positive one.
In session, I talk a lot with my clients about feelings, actions, reactions, thoughts, emotions……well, you get my drift. I did the same thing with this client regarding pretty much every potential scenario. At the end of the session, I told him his motto for the weekend, no matter what happened, was this: productive or destructive.
This technique is pretty simple, and easy to implement in any facet of our lives. I ask clients to stop and consider these four questions, which apply to most situations:
- Are my words or actions productive or destructive?
- Do I consider the other person’s words or actions productive or destructive?
- Will I frame my reaction in a productive or destructive way?
- Can I change something from destructive to productive? Or is it not possible?
From this point on, I’ll refer to this technique as POD.
ACTIONS There’s nothing worse than doing something we either instantly regret or stew about for days. Of course, once our actions are out there, we can’t take them back or change them. But we can prevent them from happening by pausing to think if the action will be POD, then act accordingly to the result we would prefer, or on which side of the action coin we would rather be.
REACTIONS Of course, it’s Counseling 101 that we can’t control anyone else’s actions. What we can control is our own reaction. This is where POD is extremely helpful. If someone is being destructive, how helpful is it to respond likewise? What is the reaction(s) that would be most productive in x, y or z situation?
WORDS Much like our actions and reactions, we can’t change them once they are said and done. Words (spoken, written, texted) must be thought out and used mindfully and carefully. Before you send that email, text, or say that snarky reply to your partner, consider if those words will make the situation POD. How will those words be received?
RELATIONSHIPS I use POD often with couples in solving or working on conflict. I ask couples to think about the characteristics of their relationship that are productive, and the ones that are destructive. We focus on why certain aspects are productive, and how we can take the destructive ones (if we can) and move them into the productive category.
WORK What is your style at work? Are you a productive co-worker or a destructive one? How do you handle POD bosses? Is your overall work atmosphere POD? Many times clients talk about work issues, and we use the POD technique to sort out myriad challenges and issues. POD can also be used to assess whether it’s time for a work or career change.
But back to my client. POD helped him through his situation, even when the outcome wasn’t necessarily what he wanted. He also used POD to apply a productive, positive coping skill, instead of resorting to his past destructive one of self-medicating with drugs.
This week, if faced with something challenging, hard or unexpected, stop and think to yourself: is my reaction going to be POD? Will my words make turn the situation POD?
I hope everyone has a productive week.
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