Friday Focus #71: Write Your Chiropractic Team's Goal in Code

The fastest way to get your chiropractic team to hit a real goal before the year ends isn't a new bonus structure or a bigger promise at the huddle. It's writing ONE number down somewhere you cannot avoid seeing it today... and if it needs to stay private from patients, writing it in code.

Let that one breathe for a second.

A goal that only lives in your head is a wish with better vocabulary. A goal you see every single time you sit down is a plan. That's the whole move. Today's Friday Focus is that move.

(Quick evergreen note: this Focus is built around the Q4 sprint, but the code trick works for any goal, any season. Save it for whenever your team needs to get honest about a number.)

Why a silent goal beats nobody, and a written one beats almost everybody

Most people save their big decisions for January 1st. The best chiropractic teams I coach make theirs on a random Friday, whenever they realize the year is closer to the end than the beginning.

Quick gut check. Right now, somewhere in your office, there's a number. A collections goal. A new patient goal. A retention number you've been chasing since spring. You've thought about it in the shower. You've thought about it at 11pm scrolling your phone. But if I asked you to show me where you wrote it down... could you?

Truth over comfort... a goal that only lives in your head isn't a goal. It's a wish. And wishes don't show up on your collections report.

I've been coaching Chiropractic Assistants since I launched Connected Chiropractic Assistant Coaching in 2023, and the offices that actually hit their numbers almost never do it by wanting it harder. They do it by making the goal impossible to ignore... and, if it needs to be, impossible for anyone else to read.

Where this one comes from... my own front desk

When I was chasing my next number after collecting $48K in a single day (still my personal best day, and I was only working three days a week when I hit it), I didn't write "60K" anywhere a patient could see it. I wrote 60. Just the number.

Nobody at that front desk ever knew what it meant except me. But I looked at it EVERY single time I sat down. Not once a week. Every time.

That's the difference between a goal you hope happens and a goal you watch happen. A post-it. A screensaver you can't scroll past. Somewhere you'll actually see it, every day, until it stops being a wish and starts being a Tuesday.

Today's focus: write your goal in code (do this TODAY)

This is not a project. It's not a system overhaul. Here's the five-minute version your team can do before they clock out today:

1. Get quiet for one minute. Ask yourself: if my team went ALL IN for the rest of this year, what ONE thing would shift everything?
2. Write it down. Not five things. ONE. The clearer the number, the more real it becomes.
3. Put it somewhere you cannot avoid it today. A post-it at your desk. Your mirror. Your dashboard.
4. Change your phone screensaver to it right now, before you set your phone back down.
5. Working the front desk today? Code it. Write the number only ("60," not "60K") so a patient walking up sees a note, not your money goal.

Five small moves. One number your whole team can actually see. That's it.

For my D.C.s reading this

You already lead. You already invest in coaching. You already show up for your team in ways most doctors don't. Truth over comfort though... this Focus isn't about doing MORE. It's about making the number your team is quietly hoping for impossible to hide from.

Two of you are reading this right now. I want to talk to both.

If you're the D.C. feeling the pinch of a slower-than-usual stretch... before you add another bonus, another incentive, another pep talk at the huddle, ask your team one question: what's our ONE number, and where does everyone actually see it today? You may not have a motivation problem at all. You may have a visibility problem. And that one, you get to solve for free, today.

And if you're the D.C. who's already crushing it... who lives inside the business podcast on the drive in, who runs your office like the CEO you actually are... this one still trips you up, because writing a number down feels too simple to matter. It's not. It's the whole thing. A phenomenal office runs on hustle. A legacy office runs on a number everyone can see and nobody can hide from.

Both of you: what you've built is real. AND there's a deeper layer of accountability sitting inside a post-it note you haven't written yet.

So try this one line at your huddle today: "Let's each write down our ONE number for the rest of this year. Come to next Friday's huddle and tell me where you put it."

Then ask this question out loud in the huddle: "Who wrote their number down this week?" Not who talked about it. Who wrote it down. Watch what happens to the room.

One frame I want to gently name, because I love you enough to: handing your team this task is delegating. Handing it over and never circling back is abdicating. You already know the difference. I'm just saying it out loud so you trust your team even MORE... because when the standard stays with you and the execution stays with them, that's when everything sings. Does that make sense?

What a silent goal really costs

Let's not sugarcoat it. Every goal that stays in someone's head is a Tuesday that came and went without anyone moving toward it.

Your C.A. wants to hit a number this month. A guessing team hopes it happens. A connected team writes the number down, puts it somewhere they'll see it all day, and checks in on it out loud, every week. Same person. Same talent. Completely different outcome, because one of them made the goal impossible to forget about.

❌ Someday teams keep the big goal in their head, safe and quiet and going nowhere.
✅ Connected chiropractic teams put it where they can't unsee it... and turn someday into NOW.

Are you the office that talks about the goal in the break room... or the one that writes it on the mirror?

For my C.A.s reading this 🤗

This isn't just a money exercise, and it isn't just for the office collections goal. Code your OWN goal too... the one that's just for you. Maybe it's a certification. Maybe it's finally speaking up in the morning huddle. Maybe it's a number on your own paycheck you haven't said out loud yet.

You don't need to announce it to the whole office. You just need to see it. Every single day. Until you stop hoping for it and start watching it happen.

You are not now, nor will you ever be, "just the front desk." You're allowed to have a goal this big, written down, in code if you want it to be.

Proof this is available to YOUR office too

I'm not guessing at this. I spent 20+ years turning connection into collections from the C.A. chair... $348K collected in a single month, $48K in a single day, named C.A. of the Year twice, all while working three days a week. None of it started with wanting it harder. It started with a number I could actually see.

Real research backs the same idea. Dr. Gail Matthews at Dominican University of California studied goal achievement and found that people who wrote their goals down, then committed to action steps and sent regular progress updates to another person, were significantly more likely to follow through than people who simply thought about their goals (findings presented May 2015, Dominican University of California). Writing it down is the first step. Seeing it every day is what keeps it alive.

So ask yourself the real question: are you the office that hopes for the number... or the office that CODES it? Because the offices that grow the way you want to grow aren't the ones who want it most. They're the ones who made it impossible to look away from.

Your conviction is your collection. And it starts with one number, written down, today.

Frequently asked questions

Does writing down a goal actually help you achieve it?
Real research backs this up, not just Friday-afternoon pep talk energy. A Dominican University of California study on goal achievement found that people who wrote their goals down and built in regular accountability were significantly more likely to follow through than people who only thought about their goals. Writing it down is the first step. Seeing it every day is what keeps it alive.

How do I get my chiropractic team to focus on ONE goal instead of five?
Ask everyone to get quiet for one minute and answer one question: if we went all in for the rest of the year, what ONE thing would change everything? Whatever comes up first, write it down before the second-guessing starts. One clear number beats five vague ones every time.

How do I track a team goal without patients seeing it at the front desk?
Code it. Write the number only, no letters, no dollar sign, no "K." A sticky note that says "60" means everything to your team and nothing to a patient walking up to schedule. It keeps the goal visible to you and invisible to everyone else.

How often should a chiropractic team check in on a goal like this?
Weekly, at minimum, inside your regular huddle. Ask one question: who wrote their number down this week, and where can they see it today? A goal that only gets discussed once, at the start, quietly disappears by week three.

Your one move before you close the tab

You don't need ten goals taped to your monitor. You need ONE, somewhere you'll actually see it. A post-it. A screensaver you can't scroll past. That's the difference between a goal you hope happens and a goal you watch happen.

Write your number today. That's the entire assignment.

🎯 Ready to build real accountability into your team, not just this Friday?

1. Bring me in to coach your team directly. If you want your team held to a number every single week instead of hoping it sticks, let's talk about what that looks like for your specific office. Book a no-charge consult and you'll walk away with one clear next step whether or not we work together → calendly.com/miranda-califecoaching/30min

2. Certify your team in the C3 method. Connect → Commit → Consistently Collect is my 90-day certification that builds exactly this kind of weekly accountability into your team, permanently → chiropracticassistantcoach.com/chiropractic-assistant-training

3. Get your team a weekly accountability room. Inside the Connected Community, your team gets live monthly calls, the Verbiage Vault, and a room full of other offices writing their numbers down right alongside you → chiropracticassistantcoach.com/chiropractic-assistant-coaching-membership

4. Forward this to your team. Copy this blog's URL and send it to your team with one honest question: "What's our ONE number, and where are we actually going to see it today?" Let their answer start the conversation.

If you liked this Focus, you might also like Friday Focus #64: How to Get Your Chiropractic Team to Think Like Owners... same muscle, different angle.

New Friday Focus every Friday. One quick win your chiropractic team can run today (TGIF... Today's Goal Is Focused). Let's grow. 🌱

- Miranda | Founder, The Connected Chiropractic Assistant