I read a very interesting post by Charlie Cook today that reports on research by Fiona Lee and Larissa Tiedens of Stamford 2004 that showed that businesses that blamed themselves and internal factors for poor performance performed better one year later.
Now, of course as a counsellor or healing professional in private practice you are very different than a large business. However, the idea of blaming yourself for not getting the results you want is a good practice.
I am not talking about blaming yourself to the point where you become immobilized to do anything to the change the situation. I am referring to taking responsibility for what isn’t working in your private practice and then finding the solutions to turn things around.
If you are not getting the number of clients you want, accept that you are doing something wrong and find out what you need to do differently.
The more you take responsibility for your failures, the more opportunity you have for learning how to do things better next time. Marketing a private practice or any business successfully is not something you can learn to do overnight. It is a skill that takes a lifetime to master.
