The Complacency Trap: How to Escape and 2x Your Success

Maybe you’re feeling like I was 10 years ago… a nagging pull…. one that tells you there’s something more out there professionally? Well, you’re not alone. 

So many providers feel complacent but conflicted, knowing that the routine of traditional outpatient work isn’t fully aligned with their goals, yet unsure if taking the leap into something different is worth it.

Here’s the truth: both paths come with a cost.

But, one route breaks you free.

Going down the path of status quo and working in a familiar role has its comforts, there’s no doubt there. You know the workflow, the patients, the staff, but over time, that comfort can turn to complacency, and complacency has its price:

About 1 year into clinical practice, I started to feel a little stagnant. Everyday kind of felt like groundhog day… show up to the clinic, see patients, document, go home… just to wake up and do it all over again. I knew I wasn’t working with my ideal client so things kinda felt like the dragged on. In a loop, stuck on repeat. I knew I wanted more variety in my life, but wasn’t quite sure what that looked like. 

Around that same 1 year mark, after receiving a 2% raise (which I was stoked about at the time), the conversations about becoming a clinic director came into play. Initially I was excited, but when we started talking numbers, it didn’t make sense for me to go down that path. What would be next, a corporate role? It just didn’t feel like the route for me. At this time, I started to understand WHY the profession was so financially capped and I knew I didn’t want to simply trade time for money.

Looking back on what was really important to me at the time, and seems to be true for many people I talk to, was the lack of control over my daily schedule. I didn’t realize it at the time, but when I started to put myself into positions where I controlled my entire day… a lot of my stress went away. People say running a business is stressful, sure, it is… but it’s less stressful than being out of control in my opinion. 

Giving up control over these things is the cost of complacency… it’s the cost of inaction. The problem here is that we are CERTAIN about the outcome. That’s just something I wasn’t personally ok with. 

Now, it’s no secret that change is intimidating. The unknowns are nerve-wracking, and stepping out on your own is rarely a straightforward process, but the uncertainty tends to hold people back, costing them the rewards. 

Here’s what to expect with the investment of change:

The initial hustle might be tough, no doubt… You’ll need to plan, market, and maybe work a few late nights and weekends. But remember, the hustle is temporary, short term sacrifice for long term gain. And the outcome gets you stability on your terms.

You might be perceiving risk right now… but isn’t staying where you’re at just as… if not even more risky?

I might be biased but we make sure to structure our models to decrease the downside while maximizing the upside. In our Performance Provider Growth Model (PPGM), for example, providers set up recurring revenue streams to ensure long-term income stability all while making sure you don’t get stuck relying on in-person sessions.

One thing we find true, when the people we work with figure out the business side of things and learn the skill of generating revenue, the old desire for that biweekly paycheck starts to diminish. Because now they have proof of concept. And while they may not have complete certainty in the outcome, they have certainty in themselves. 

So here’s the bottom line: There’s a cost to staying still, and there’s a cost to change. One keeps you secure but perhaps unfulfilled; the other may feel risky but opens doors to the future version of yourself along with the growth and the opportunity to reach your full potential as a provider.

So what will you do? Incur the cost of complacency? Or the cost of change?