Right up until he passed away, Dr John Hinwood was a prolific blogger (an award-winning blogger in fact!). John’s blog’s shared musing from a rich history of experience, learnings, travel and wisdom.
The Hinwood Institute is named in honour of Dr John and to continue his legacy, we’re republishing his blogs to keep his wisdom, wit and wise words alive for the world to enjoy.
You can learn more about the legacy of Dr John Hinwood HERE.
I received these words below as part of a long email that arrived in my inbox on Wednesday morning from one of the participants who attended our workshop last weekend in Brisbane. He was so excited as the changes he had put into place this week have been hugely destressing for him and it has greatly changed the way he is interacting with his work colleagues in his upper management role.
A snippet from his email reads…
“…Anyway, I’m using the stress management tools I learnt on the weekend at the Stress to Strength Experience and it’s happening this morning and it’s working!! So, I’m doing some really ‘lousy work’ this week for sure! Thanks again.”
You may be wondering what he means by, “doing some really lousy work”.
Back to September 1977 after I graduated from Chiropractic College in Toronto, Canada I flew to Dallas, Texas to attend a four-day conference focused on the human side of practice, the ‘soft science’ that was then and still is now, generally considered to be not especially important in the realm of good patient care.
The first speaker on a Thursday afternoon was Dr John Thie from California. During his presentation he emphasised that often we don’t start something in life because we don’t believe we are ready to start yet.
Thoughts such as, I don’t have enough knowledge, I don’t have enough experience, I don’t have enough money, I don’t have enough skill can cause us to procrastinate and these thoughts also create a great deal of stress in our lives.
John Thie asked the audience of over 3,000 practitioners, assistants and students to complete the following statement out loud.
A job worth doing, is worth doing? The audience replied… WELL!
John Thei repeated the statement with the word he was seeking…
A job worth doing, is worth doing, LOUSY!
There was lots of audience chatter as virtually everyone in the Hilton Ballroom that afternoon had been brain washed by mother, father, teacher, preacher, that you only ever started a job if you intended to do it well.
The explanation John Thei gave as to why you just started the job, even if the outcome was lousy, was that it enabled you to enter the game of life in that area. Next time you performed the task you could do it a little better, and the repetition would eventually lead to mastery.
He went on to say, your profession is chiropractic practise, other health disciplines are medical practise, dental practice etc. You are always practising your craft.
This principle ‘fried my brain’ for a few weeks as my pre-conditioning from childhood was that unless I knew I could do a job well, I shouldn’t start it.
Eventually, I recognised the wisdom in this statement…
A job worth doing, is worth doing, LOUSY!
This has since become my mantra and I have witnessed many people I have taught this principle to, see an immediate reduction in anticipatory stress in their lives.
My suggestion is, give it a go and you will surprise yourself. This is the best tool I know to beat procrastination which is a major stressor for many people.
P.S. If you’re feeling shit today, maybe just go for a little walk (or flex those muscles!), why not try the shit quiz below!
How well do you roll with the punches?
How it works:
- Answer 25 simple questions
- Generate results instantly
- Receive feedback to enhance your score
Listen to the Podcast here
About the Author
Dr. John Hinwood is a Global Leader in Stress Management. He is a very experienced and respected executive coach, mentor, consultant, sought after international speaker and author. He specialises in facilitation that leads clients out of the stress and into the calm. He has a reputation for innovative and transformational work in stress-life balance and mindset change for front line employees, to managers and business leaders.
Dr John Hinwood has shared the stage with Dr John Demartini, Dr Deepak Chopra, Dr Wayne Dyer, Dr Joe Dispenzia, Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul fame), Dr Bruce Lipton, Dr Masaru Emoto and others who are at the cutting edge of human behaviour and mindset change.
He has written 14 books with 4 being Amazon international best sellers. He has had papers published in academic journals and was once Captain/Coach of the Danish National Rugby Team. Dr. John’s experience as a health professional by training, successful businessman by effort and an inspiration by inclination has given him an awesome array of practical tools for success.