Cultivate Your PT Career

 And you talked about beginning to seek opportunities that take you out of your comfort zone that is not something that’s second nature for a lot of people, do you have any ideas on maybe how students can cultivate that if it’s not in their nature or if it’s kind of sink or swim kind of thing obviously having guidance from a mentor that pushed you out the window a little bit is important, it’s a tough question but if you have any thoughts on that?

 I’m really fascinated by the types of people that pursue different professions, that pursue different industries and I think there’s some insights. When you’re looking at a profession, it’s more important that you know yourself, that you need to understand what your own strengths and weaknesses are, so in those like kind of personality tests that you may not think are all that important, they really are because the more insights you have about yourself, for example, this is somewhat of an epiphany for me recently, I’m an extrovert, I talk quite a bit, I like to be around people, I get my energy from other people, so when students and people are around me, it doesn’t matter what the setting is, I get energy and life out of that, I get excited, I get motivated, I’m inspired because I like being around folks who want to learn the passion.

 But when I’m by myself, because I’m an extrovert, I tend to get more pessimistic and kind of negative about that and even almost kind of somewhat depressed about where I am and what I’m doing, so having that insight, that has encouraged me to welcome lots of students, I love having students because I know that I’m a better clinician that way, so know yourself, I guess that’s a first thing. My analysis of our industry is that extroverts, people who can make other folks to be welcome and feel comfortable, they are the most successful and so I think fundamentally whether you’re in medicine or you’re in fitness and wellness, you’re clients need to like you. That might seem like cheesy or sort of a well dug kind of a moment but they have to like you at some level. Now I would like to back up my likableness with results and science and a service that they see value in, cause I don’t just want to be likable guy, I want to have a relationship and I want to have results, that’s part of my personal life statement but you have to like people. If you don’t have strong personal skills or high levels of emotional intelligence and you don’t connect well with others quickly, then you come in to find a different avenue for your mash, you find a different industry and so maybe research is for or writing or something else but in our profession, it’s service based and you have to be around people all day, you have to be comfortable with that and the more natural that it comes, the higher chance of success you’re going to have.

PT Degree & Certification

 I think you learn a lot more in academia then you probably give yourself credit for, you finish a bachelor’s degree, you are an expert in what you study for and I think it gives you a great foundation for learning more pursuing more learning, more education so you can’t go wrong with a degree. I think the learning doesn’t stop there and perhaps that’s where academia kind of get to that, that irritation is that, you meet someone who has the same qualifications, the same degrees, but has a very difficult product or different success rate. It’s not so much about the degree or where you went to school but maybe who you are as an individual, so how many times have you put yourself outside your comfort zone and pursued learning experiences that are very challenging for you and are very uncomfortable.

 For example my first year was great, very small clinic, there is nowhere for me to hide, my first two PT jobs they were larger practices with lots of clinicians and lots of patients and it was very easy for me to kind of take the tough cases and send them off with somebody else and hide behind the easy ones that were having success. But to be in clinic with your mentor, being challenged on a daily basis on the why I know what you’re doing, what you’re thinking, yeah there’s nowhere to hide, very challenging intimidating but well worth it so pursuing learning opportunities whether you’re in school trying to connect the academic portion of what you’re learning in a class room with practical experiences. Whether that’s personally the wait room or pursing opportunities to shadow coaches and trainers or therapists or doctors, physicians whatever and then when you get out, your learning doesn’t stop with your degree, each of you will become a lifelong learner, whatever it is your passion is about.

Study at PT School

How much do you feel you learned in school to come here to how much you went out and found yourself?

 That’s sort of a contentious issue, there is a lot of opinion about that. My first game at school, I think I was pretty dissatisfied with my academic progression in generally, I felt like I didn’t really learn what I thought I was going to learn, I thought PT school was going to give me a clear approach to muscular and skeletal examination to assessment, to diagnosis and then I came out with more questions than I had answered. There wasn’t an emphasis on movement as much as I thought there should have been so I was pretty critical of the academic system and I think I actually added to some of my objections to academia setup.

 I think in the last two years mentoring students, five PT students and I have had lots of undergraduates come through, I think that an undergraduate in a graduate school, they provide some really important qualities and here is an example. If you are out as a professional, you are thirty five years old and you are sitting in a course and you are listening to someone give a talk, how quickly are you going to be susceptible to their dogma or to their approach, how quickly are you going to be able to question or challenge what they are saying, in other words, the more experience you have and the more foundation in science you have, the quicker you are going to be able to say "No, I don’t agree with that, that’s not science based or that’s not evidence based or what I studied in body mechanics in undergrad doesn’t coincide with what that person is saying and I’m not sure I agree with that".

Learn from Colleagues

You bring up a really great point there about being willing to submit yourself to a professional and they talk to the students a lot about identifying people who are good and reliable sources of information and I know just from knowing you at the time, you have really put yourself in a position to learn from a lot of different people, I’d be interested if you could talk about maybe how you identified quality and that type of thing?

 It’s a great question because in our industry, fitness industry, medicine, there is just a lot more coming and that’s how a lot of folks gain money and gain popularity and it’s a part of the industry. It’s not that bad as long as you have the substance to back it up so when I am looking for someone to have a conversation with, learn from, go to their cores, collaborate with, cross brain with, I guess there are really 3 things I think about and I will be quite up front with you, I stole this straight up from Dave who owns and operates the lead FTS, what has that person done, whether that’s their degrees or their athletic career, who have they trained or rehabbed or coached, where have they done that and the third thing would be, who were their mentors, who have they studied under. I think it’s those three things, they are a combination of both academic pursuits, personal pursuits, both personal, athletic pursuits and then also, who have they submitted themselves under, who have you spent your time with and who have you learned from and who has challenged you to row so those are the things I look for.