EP48: Doing It Right When Nobody’s Watching

It was a missed rep in the gym that sparked this episode.

In a moment where no one was watching, I had a choice. Count it and move on, or hold myself to the standard I say I believe in. That pause turned into a bigger question. Where else in life and business are we taking quiet shortcuts because no one is keeping score?

In this episode, I reflect on the unseen moments that shape who we become. The missed morning huddles. The rushed exams. The skipped transitions. The small decisions that don’t break things immediately, but slowly erode excellence over time.

We talk about why integrity is built in the quiet. How habits of excellence are formed long before results show up. And why clarity, commitment, and consistency always compound, even when it feels boring or unnoticed.

I also share observations on leadership, influence, and community. What happens when visibility grows. How to handle critics on the sidelines. And why I believe there’s room for everyone to win when we lead with support instead of insecurity.

This episode is a reminder that people are always watching, especially the ones who matter most. Your team. Your family. Your patients. And ultimately, yourself.

Because doing it right when nobody’s watching is where excellence actually lives.

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Transcript

0:00

This is the Austin Cohen Podcast where we talk real strategies for chiropractors ready to grow beyond the adjustment. If you're building a business, developing your leadership, and trying to build wealth without burning out, you are in the right place. Let's get to work What is up everybody and whoa. We are now what, 48 hours out of Growth Summit, which the testimonials that I'm hearing from so many of you have been really humbling. We sold this event out back in Thanksgiving and about three months ago, four months ago. It really gave me time to just focus and get clear on exactly how to deliver the greatest experience possible to chiropractors. There was 85 of you in the room, so I was oversold by 10 people, and what I found was that the people that were supposed to be there were supposed to be there. Like we had the right people in the room. And for those of you that are listening to this right now, that were there, you know what I'm talking about, I just know in past I've ever, anytime I used to go to chiropractic seminar, it was always like them pulling up. It's ah, who's in the million dollar club? Who's in the thousand a week club? Who's in the blah blah, blah? And it was none of that. We recognized everybody, like everybody is at a certain point on their journey.'cause like you can have a million dollar clinic, but you don't make any money'cause your expenses are so high. Or you could see a thousand a week and charge 20 bucks a visit. That doesn't matter to me either. What matters to me is the people that are willing to change their standards and their systems to create the goals and the life they want at the end of the day. To me, that's all that matters. And those people were the people that were in the room on Friday morning. There was about six of us that went on a run and then jumped in the pool at 29 degrees. And then on Saturday morning there was almost 20 of us to do that. Why? They were consistent with the process. They knew what needed to happen, and then they were also committed to that process as well. And man, what a fricking weekend this was. And the test, the text message I'm getting from so many of you about how 25 years in practice, this is the greatest event you've ever been to 15 years in practice. Great event I've you've ever been to. You're now starting to look at your practice and seeing where you average in your practice and where you can be. Excellent. I'd recommend how I'd recommend going back to all the podcasts we've ever done. Why? Because some of them will now start to make more sense to you. You're more clear in your brain for exactly who you want to be and where you want to go in life, and that was the purpose of the weekend. So if you enjoyed it, which so far, I would assume so, because we're already over 80% sold out for 2027. Yeah, next year has less than 20 tickets left. And if you're listening to this right now and you want to come next year, I would encourage you to go to roone.com, click on a 10 Growth Summit and use code podcast, and I'll give you$50 off next year. We're also including breakfast on Saturday morning as part of your ticket to enhance the experience. Why? Because what we found this year was these restaurants cannot handle, 80 to a hundred people coming there for breakfast before we get started. And if you know me, I start on time and I may end a little bit later on time. This was, I delivered about seven and a half hours of pure content over the weekend. Charlie delivered about three hours of content over the weekend in if you take in some of his dinner that he did, man. But all I gotta say is what a weekend. To me, this was one of my greatest weekends of chiropractic because. I'm just so tired. I was so tired of going to these events where all everyone talked about is what's your volume? How many see a week? What's your monthly revenue? Who cares? Nobody cares. These things don't even matter. It's what do you do? Excellent. How can you be better? Share that, Hey, how are your kids doing? What are you doing to take care of yourself? What are some cool things you and your friends have done recently? Wow, we're a interesting profession. Always talking about volume and monthly revenue, that's all everyone cares about. And that,'cause at the end of the day, what matters more than all of that. Profit. How much do you take care of your staff and pay your team? What's your what's your payroll to your revenue percent? Show me that number because I hope it's on the higher side. Why? Because you're taking care of your people. This weekend was all about taking care of your people. And I listen I would bet people who've been on my team before or maybe even they're currently on my team, they think he doesn't take care of his people. Let's look at the math. Is the math there? Because if you look at the math, I actually. Take very good care of my team relative to what I see that's going on outside this thing.'cause I wanna create opportunities. I want them to be making a significant amount of money. That's why we keep profit margins real tight. For those that were there, once again, it thank you. And I'm not gonna go any longer. If you wanna be there next year, go to.com. Attend Growth Summit and click and use Code podcast. Alright, today, if you were there this weekend, then you know where some of this is gonna go to today. And it's a lot about what do you do when nobody is watching? That was something that stood out to a lot of you this weekend was the concept of commitment. What do you do when nobody is watching? And the phrase has definitely followed me for a long time. And this morning is when it also showed up, and it shows up every day, by the way. And hopefully some of you guys after this past weekend are starting to see that in your life. Like today, my workout today was it was like 50 assault bike row. 50 kettlebell swings, 50 cow row and then 50 burpees. Touching a bar, touching a rig that's six inches above you. Now on number 25 burpee, I was doing the burpee and I jumped and I didn't touch the rig, the pull up bar. And guess what I did? I counted it as a rep. Nobody corrected me. Nobody saw me and nobody cared. And for a split second I was like, eh, I'm fine. Nobody saw it. But then when I got to 26 and then 27 is when I started to feel it, the nudge that shows up when you've trained yourself to listen. The moment that asks a better question, if I'm willing to let that slide here, where else am I doing that? Not some big draw drama thing. That's not how it usually shows up. It shows up as subtle, quiet, and it's almost like a justifiable thing. And guess what I did? I did an extra burpee. Why? Because where else in my life is that showing up? Guys? Where else do you walk by? Trash on the ground. Yeah. No one's gonna see you pick it up and throw it away. But where else are you? Ha Where else are you having that standard of your life where you're allowing that to happen? And that was one of the biggest things that I heard so many of you say to me is that. When nobody's watching you or you think nobody's watching you, the standards you have for yourself are lower than average, and what we really honed on this weekend was being excellent at every single thing you do in your life. Because at the end of the day, if I skip a rep, I know I skipped a rep. It doesn't matter that nobody saw it. I know. And I should really care about myself and who I am as a person, my character, my judgment. Everything else about my life should really matter. And so when you like, think of your days, like when do you miss morning huddles in your practice because it's just too busy or you rush through an exam, the schedule's full, and you're like, I'm just gonna skip the range of motion part. Nobody saw it. Patient's not gonna know. Or where it's busy in your practice and you skip a part of your transition doing a handoff to your office manager, they'll figure it out, right? You're letting standards drift because you think things are really good. And listen, none of these things are gonna just happen to blow up overnight, all right? It's not like an atomic bomb is gonna come to your practice and blow it up. Think of it as erosion. It will slowly erode away and then you'll get to a reactive point of your life and you're gonna start to realize that you're below average. You need to become excellent again. And I will say this a hundred times until the year 2030, but those who are average will have a very hard time over the next five years. And those who are excellent will absolutely dominate the next five years. I've seen this lesson play out in many areas of my life too, as well. When I was doing my ultra marathon, there were long stretches where nobody was around. There were no people, there's no cameras, and it's me. The trail, the voice in my head, and there's permission that I'm trying to justify and negotiate my brain to slow down. Take shortcuts, walk a little longer. If I just cut this corner right here, it'll take off some time, or it'll take off some mileage. Nobody will know, but I will. And that's the part that people miss. Integrity is rarely tested. When the lights are on in your life, it is tested in the dark. In the quiet, in the moments when no one is keeping score. And that same thing holds true in business. The same thing in leadership and the same thing in parenting. And I noticed this with my kids. And for those that were there this weekend, you got to hear this from my daughter, they're always watching even when they look like they're not. How do we finish things? How do we handle frustration? Whether I do what I said I would do when it's inconvenient. The reps, I don't count the reps that I don't count. Matter just as much as the ones I do count, by the way. And one of the most important things we can do for ourselves is to build habits of excellence before they are required. Not because someone is checking in, not because there's a reward, but because consistency leads to compound growth. And if you were there this weekend, you know the formula. You're telling me you want an excellent life. So you're clear. Then you've gotta move into the commitment. What are you willing to do? And then you're consistent, and then you create the compound growth. Think of it as the roots in the ground for those that were there. You know that it's not sexy, it doesn't sell shortcuts, but it works every single time. That is the formula, and what I found fascinating. As my coaching program sold out and Growth Summit sells out and Adventure Summit sells out. My Freedom program sold out for cohort one and cohort two and CHI 80 has significantly grown. Is how visibility changed the environment. What does that mean as influence increases? So do the voices from the sidelines, the lurkers, the anonymous opinions. The people behind. People be hiding behind their screens, often carrying more insecurity than insight. And honestly, I'm at an age right now where that part actually doesn't bother me the way it used to at all. It actually has zero impact. Doesn't even take real estate in my brain. I know who this community is for. And to those that are on the sidelines and they don't support wins and they have their own insecurities and their lack of growth, putting it on other people listen. You're welcome here. I support people who are trying, I celebrate chiropractors who win. I cheer them on. I cheer other coaches on when they crush it. Like I don't have competition. I love when other chiropractor coaches win. I love when other chiropractors host great events, and I love when they share that on social media. I freaking love it. Excellence is something that should be shared, not hoarded. There's literally room for all of us right now in this profession to lead well and. The circles that I associate with, if I was ever out there in my circles talking about other people, my friends would 100% call me out and they would call out the fact of the insecurities in my brain and the limiting beliefs I have and my own faults.'cause at the end of the day, it's like they don't want to hear those things. They don't care. It doesn't help them grow. And you know what? It doesn't help. Negro. So for those who are on the sidelines, listen, jump in. Come to Growth Summit. Check out Cone 80. Come to Adventure Summit. If a slot, when a slot opens up for when Cohort three starts for my Freedom Program and I teach you how to build a practice of recurring revenue, jump in on that. Many of you don't even know I have that. We haven't even had time to promote that yet online. There is a lot happening right now in this profession. There's a lot of good leadership and there's a lot of good growth, and you can either be part of the solution or part of the problem. What matters to me more now are the people in the arena, the ones that are showing up early, the ones that are staying late, who's running that extra rep back, who's doing the right thing, would be easier not to. People are always watching, but the ones who matter most aren't the vampire on the sidelines. They're the people that are closest to you. Your team. Your family, your patience, and most importantly, your future self. You do it right when nobody is watching because that's where the habits are formed. That's where trust is built, and that's where excellence actually lives. And as I said on Saturday, go be excellent. See y'all next week. Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. To learn more about building your business, leadership, and life on purpose, visit chiro one eighty.com or follow Austin on Instagram at Dr. Austin Cohen.