Dear PT Students,

You know how when you’re a kid all you want is to be an adult? And then you get to be an adult and you’re like why did I wish away my childhood?

I think being a PT student is the same thing. But, being a STUDENT is a superpower that I hope you don’t wish away.

Trust me, I don’t want to go back to test, practicals, or working for free… but here are the reason why being a student is actually great:

1. PTs genuinely want to help you- Just like how adults want to help children, experienced PTs want to help students.

2. You’re not expected to have the answers- Yes you are challenged to know the answers, but this is a time to mess up and learn from mistakes.

3. You have time to experiment- You don’t need to know what you want to do for your career and if you don’t know, you are more likely to try new things.

4. Your classmates are awesome- After school, you have to work really hard to seek out others trying to learn like you...

When it came to deciding on which residency to attend, I took tours and sat in interview after interview.  Sometimes it felt like I was comparing the exact same program only in different locations and other times it felt like the variations made them impossible to compare. I also questioned whether the interviews and tours accurately represented the program or if I was only getting to see what they wanted me to see.  At the time, I had no idea how to use the experience to help me determine what was the right choice for me.

Whether this is your first PT job or your next job, finding the right fit and deciding whether or not to take a job can leave you full of uncertainty.  We all experience the doubt and hesitation that comes with wanting to make the right choice.  So, how do we choose?  Part of it comes from gathering the right information during the application process and part of it comes from understanding what is important to you.  There are 5 main...

“On a scale from 1 to 10, how lucky do you think you are?”

This was one of the questions on a job application I filled out years ago.  I remember reading it the first time and feeling very weird trying to answer it.  I believe in luck, but I don’t believe in all of someone’s successes being the result of that luck.

Many people living their ideal career and doing what they love are quick to attribute that success to hard work, but also being in the right place at the right time. But, it isn’t that simple. When you dig deeper into their stories it is not just the result of happenstance.

I know someone that does public speaking for a living.  He notes that it all started when he led a discussion at his small alma mater.  He says that by luck someone from a larger university attended and was impressed.  One thing led to another and now he speaks at conferences, universities and companies for a living.  It’s his dream and...

I was feeling stressed and hating the process.  As a result, Phil sent me a quote that changed his perspective.  He told me to read it so it could change mine too….

 "...fulfilling their role and serving the needs of others is part of the process. It's a positive thing tomorrow even if it is a pain now. It's these findings that have inspired me to view my obligations in life differently. I have learned to adjust my attitude about things I have to do, to complain less and realize that what I have to do is a blessing. I learned that when you have the opportunity to serve, you don't complain about the effort involved."

---Brendon Burchard---

That’s the quote.  And if I’m honest, I did not find inspiration.  I was annoyed by the quote.  Nothing about what I was doing felt like a blessing.  I wanted to complain about how much work I had to do, about how unprepared I was, and how I wish I could have just sat on the couch and...

I get asked this question all the time. “How do I get a job in professional sports?”  Recently I listened to one of the best personal accounts of how it is done on the Movement Podcast (mild language warning). It is with my friend and colleague Jon Torine.

In the first 15 minutes of the interview he describes how he was “lucky” to get an internship with one of the best strength coaches in the NFL while he was still a sophomore in college. Fast forward and Jon is the head Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts and had the honor of working closely with the Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts, Peyton Manning, Tony Dungy and many others for over a decade.

Jon tells the story of his class where on the first day, the professor (Coach Roys) asks an obscure question about a particular vitamin that no one has ever gotten right in this Coach Roys’ tenure. After they hand in their answers, the professor goes through...

I have no idea why I still remember this memory so vividly today. It was over a decade ago, but for some reason it made an imprint...

“I haven’t been here in a while,” she said sheepishly as if embarrassed. I took her membership card and scanned it. “Have a good workout,” I said as she walked into the locker room.

I looked at the login screen, she hadn’t been into the gym for 19 days and before that it had been over a month. I looked at her birthday and quickly did the math. She was 28 years old. I remember thinking to myself, “That will never be me.” I couldn’t understand how someone could be a member and could go an entire month without coming to the gym.

I remember thinking about that moment in undergrad when I’d stay out most of the night and still make it to the gym. I thought about that moment in PT school when I kept my workout routine even on the busiest of weeks.

But, then residency came and I remember skipping...

It is tough to know whether to leave your current job or not. In this video we discuss one crucial element that needs to be in your workplace. If not, it may be time to leave.

I listened intently during our last Rebel Elite Community call as Nicole of Mobility Athletes spoke about her upcoming athlete summit.  She excitedly told the group that she had some amazing speakers and that the event was gaining more and more traction.  I left the call invigorated and struggled to fall asleep that night.  There is something contagious about the energy of someone pursuing their dreams.  

This past week, another Rebel posted in the group that she had finalized the name of her future business and designed the logo.  My smile was immediate upon seeing the name and logo and that feeling of excitement is still present as I write about it.

We all know that it is important to have people surrounding you that are there for you when times are tough, but sometimes we overlook the need to have people ready to celebrate with us when times are great.  In The Leader You Want To Be, Amy Jen Su calls this the “victory lap.”  Who...

“It’s been pretty good,” she said, sounding optimistic.

Her answer threw me off.  She was the third PT I had asked that day about how things were going since COVID started.  She was the first one with a positive response.  She had a lot of great things to say about how her employer was handling the situation.  She described that they were in it together, that they were figuring out telehealth, and that they were all offering ways to stay engaged with patients.  Her pay hadn’t changed although her caseload had decreased substantially.

Her feeling of camaraderie was a polar opposite to others I had spoken to who felt isolated and overlooked by their employer.  We are fortunate to be able to coach a variety of physical therapists around the world and we have gotten to hear how people have fared through COVID-19. It has been interesting to hear the extremes of how employers have treated employees during this time and how PTs have...