E601 | Start Saying No More

In this episode of the podcast, Doc Danny speaks about the significance of saying "no" in one's life. He puts forth the idea that people should assess their schedule and tally up the number of things they could have declined to do.

Danny believes that it is crucial to be cautious while starting a business and to be mindful of what one agrees to do; otherwise, it is easy to become overwhelmed with tasks that are irrelevant.

To illustrate this point, he recounts a story about Kelly Starrett. He revealed his monthly schedule in a notebook and shared his priorities, including coaching his daughters' practices and going on date nights with his wife. Our schedule is the reflection of our true priorities, says Danny, and thus, it is essential to be careful about what we agree to do.

Danny encourages listeners to narrow their focus and say "yes" only to tasks that bring them closer to their goals. He emphasizes the importance of flexing the "no" muscle and declining to do things that do not help in achieving their objectives.

By doing so, one can save time, reduce stress, and invest their time and energy in things that matter. The idea of saying "no" may seem counterintuitive to some, but it is a powerful tool that can help people lead a more fulfilling life.

In conclusion, Danny's message is simple yet powerful: be mindful of what you agree to do, focus on what matters, and be comfortable saying "no" to things that don't align with your goals.

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Podcast Transcript

Danny: Hey, real quick before we start the podcast episode, I want you guys to check out our new YouTube channel for PT Biz. We are putting out a weekly video on the most common questions that we get, and we are breaking those down in a way that's more engaging. Where you can learn better and really focus on one thing at a time.

So if you're interested in really learning more skills to upgrade your cash and hybrid practice, head over to YouTube. Subscribe to the PT Biz Channel and check out the weekly videos that we're coming out with to help you win in the cash-based practice game. So here's the question. How do physical therapists like us who don't wanna see 30 patients a day, who don't want to work home health and have real student loans create a career and life for ourselves that we've always dreamed about?

This is the question, and this podcast is the answer. My name's Danny Matte, and welcome to the PT Entrepreneur Podcast.

What's going on? Doug? Danny here with the PT Entrepreneur Podcast, and today we're talking about saying no. So let me ask you something real quick. Go ahead, sit down for a second, and I want you to think about your schedule, all the things that you're doing this week or next week, and how many of those things should you have Probably said no to.

How many of those things do you wish you didn't have to do? And how many of those things are not really moving the needle or pushing you forward in the areas that are most important to you? And the reason I want you to think about this in particular, if you're listening to this, you probably are either a business owner or you're thinking about starting a business.

Either way, you are either. Kind of time poor, really time poor, or you're about to be time poor if you're somewhere, along that spectrum. And I've been all of those and I'm at a stage in my life now where I'm probably the least time poorer that I've been in a very long time. And there's such a difference in terms of stress associated with that.

And o one of the things that. I wish someone had told me whenever I was starting my business in particular, was to be very careful about what I said yes to, whether it's hate you got an hour for me to pick your brain about X, Y, and z. Somebody that, that is new that you haven't met, which is hard cuz sometimes these relationships can be great and these relationships can be really fruitful.

Sometimes they're a complete waste of time. It could be, Hey, what do you think about starting a satellite office over at this location? Hey, what do you think about? Adding this online training, program, this subscription based training program to what you're doing. Hey, what do you think about partnering on this thing with me?

Hey, what do you think about playing on this black football team? Hey, what do you think about whatever it might be. And too often, I think we say yes. That just everything. I know I did, I said yes to almost. Everything for a decade of being out of the out of the military and starting my own business.

And along the way, what happened was I just became very time poor. And part of the reason that I said yes is because I didn't actually really know exactly what was the most important thing to me. I had I could tell you what was important to me, whether it be my family, My health, my business friends, these variables that are important that we say are important, but what we do and what your schedule shows you, if you were to look back at it, your schedule will show you where your priorities are.

And a couple years ago, we had Kelly Sette come to present at our mastermind event and. I've known him for years. He's somebody that I've gotten a chance to learn a lot from, and I very much appreciate, the time I've spent with him. But he said something that is probably the most important thing that he's ever said, and he said it not to me, said it to our group, and he does his presentation, and then he pulls out a notebook.

That's his schedule. And on his schedule, he reads out the last month of all the things that he did, how many practices for his daughters he was at and was coaching, how many date nights he went on with his wife, how many walks or mountain bike rides. He went on with his wife or his friends.

How many of these important things that, that he did that. Had nothing to do with business, had nothing to do with the things that are essentially paying the bills and building his company. And if I was to look at my schedule early on, it had nothing to do with my family. It had nothing to do with my wife, it had nothing to do with my own physical health in so many ways, even though.

We are helping people improve there. It's funny how we let those things go because we're so busy trying to get something to work, like a new business that is so challenging and terrifying that you do everything you can to put yourself in a place to where it's gonna work, at the expense of all these other things that you are saying are that much more important to you.

But the truth is in your schedule. The truth is in the decisions you make and the things that you say yes to. Because if I say yes to something now I know that means that I'm saying no to going on a bike ride with my wife. I'm saying no to coaching my daughter's team. I'm saying no to spending time with a friend that I haven't seen in a while and actually being able to help them maybe with something and someone that's very important to me.

Flexing that no muscle is important. And it's something that takes some practice, and it's something that more than anything, what you have to really nail down is what is most important to you? What are the variables? What are the things that mean the most to you? Because if your business success is a thing that means the most to you, then you are going to make decisions based on what's best for that.

And I'm not saying that. I actually don't know if you can have us this great balanced life along the way. I think there's probably stages of business where, you're leaning a lot more towards the business side than you are your own personal health and family and things. And if that's the case, then that's okay.

You have to communicate that with the people that are most important to you, and you have to let 'em know Hey, this is crazy growth stage. We've just brought on a couple people, but once we get this stabilized, I'll have a lot more time, but just over the next couple months is gonna be tough.

And I've been there and I've also had fucking shingles and panic attacks because of it. Understand that it's not the healthiest thing and you can't do it forever. You can't do it for years like I did. You can't do it for six years before you finally realize, damn, I can't do this anymore. Not like this at least.

And hopefully those important relationships around you are still there. You gotta communicate that with them. But along the way, you decide what you say yes to, what you say no to. And I said yes to a lot of stuff that didn't actually do anything positive for me. Because I was probably more than anything scared that if I said no, I would miss an opportunity cuz I actually didn't know what was important.

And if you can narrow your focus down and be like very laser focused about what you're gonna say yes to and what you're gonna say no to and what your priorities are, both personally as well as in the business, you're gonna be able to say yes to more of the right things and no to more of the wrong things.

And I know it can, you can feel like a bit of a dick sometimes by saying no to stuff. I still feel this way, I still feel this way. I, but the way I keep it in perspective is if I say yes to meeting this person for coffee that you know is interested in whatever, topic that they want to get into, but on the same, at the same time.

Could I, if I could have gone to. Go with my wife to coffee and grab breakfast and enjoy time with her when we're both as busy as we are. I pick my wife over some ran person, any, anytime. I don't care what, I don't care who it is. That's the exchange that you're making. So make sure that when you say yes, you're saying yes to things that are gonna ultimately move you towards the.

The goals that you have and you're saying no to things that aren't truly gonna help you with whatever it is that you're trying to do. So make sure you're flexing that. No muscle. You probably need to say no a lot more than you think, and if you do, you'll start to be a heck of a lot less time poor and a lot more focus on what really matters.

What's up, PT Entrepreneurs? We have a new exciting challenge for you guys. It's our five day PT biz part-time to full-time challenge where we help you get crystal clear on how to actually go from a side hustle to a full-time clinic. Even if you haven't started yet. This is a great way to get yourself organized in preparation for eventually going full-time into your business.

So we actually help you get crystal clear on how much money you're actually gonna need to. Replace with your business to be able to make a lateral transfer. How many people you're actually gonna need to see based on what you should be charging. We're gonna tell you three different strategies you can take to go from part-time to full-time, and you get to pick the one that seems like the best fit for you for your current situation.

We even show you all the sales and marketing systems that we teach within our Mastermind for people that are scaling to multiple clinicians, past themselves that you need to have in your business to be able to go full-time. And the last thing is we help you create a one page business plan.

This is a plan that's gonna help you get very clear on exactly what you need to do and drive action. That's what this is all about. We want you to win. We want you to take action, and in order to do you have to get really clear on what you need to do next. So go to physical therapy biz.com/challenge.

Get signed up for the challenge today. It's totally free. We think this is gonna be a game changer for you and are excited to go through it. Hey, real quick before you go, I just wanna say thank you so much for listening to this podcast, and I would love it if you got involved in the conversation. So this is a one way channel.

I'd love to hear back from you. I'd love to get you into the group that we have formed on Facebook. Our PT Entrepreneurs Facebook group has about 4,000 clinicians in there that are. Literally changing the face of our profession. I'd love for you to join the conversation, get connected with other clinicians all over the country.

I do live trainings in there with Eve Gigi every single week, and we share resources that we don't share anywhere else outside that group. So if you're serious about being a PT entrepreneur, a clinical rainmaker, head to that group. Get signed up. Go to facebook.com/groups/pt entrepreneur, or go to Facebook and just search for PT Entrepreneur.

And we're gonna be the only group that pops up under that name.