New Hampshire Business Review Column: Wisdom from my Physical Therapist

I am always on the lookout for inspiration, and it sometimes appears in unexpected places -- such as insights on life goals and resilience discovered in my physical therapist’s newsletter.

PT is fundamental to a healthy lifestyle, and my appreciation soared after successive knee replacements in late 2019 and early 2020. I spent a lot of time at Cioffredi & Associates in Lebanon, NH coupled with daily exercises at home, and it paid off. I don’t have 20-year-old knees (an unrealistic expectation!), but am back hiking NH mountains and skied Mt. Washington’s Tuckerman Ravine three times last spring.

I receive the Cioffredi newsletters (and contributed a plug with photos of my mountain adventures) and have been impressed with the wisdom of owner Bill Cioffredi who wrote, “While we strive for success, the satisfaction is tied more to the effort than the outcome.”

That is refreshingly honest from someone selling better health outcomes. For sure, process is almost always more important than product and, anyway, you won’t get the latter without the former.

In a similar spirit, I once read that having goals is more important than achieving them. The first time we met, my son’s high school friend exclaimed that she was sure to climb Mt. Everest someday. Now in her late 30s, she has not achieved that goal and likely never will. But she had a meaningful career as an educator and is raising two beautiful children. If she had never had that Everest goal (or something else equally ambitious), I wonder if she would be as successful today.

You can read my full column at https://read.nhbr.com/nh-business-review#2022/11/18/?article=4046348