A book for physical therapy students

I Wrote A Book for PT Students Serious About Their Career | Tactics That Work

If you want to download one of this book’s tactics for free, see the end of this post!

Well, in true form, I’m up to more shenanigans with creating various forms of content for those interested in becoming a physical therapist. And if you know me (if you don’t, hi, I’m Jim!), you know I’ll create any content I can that offers any insight that can help others live stronger, more meaningful lives.

My latest release involves a book (some 30,000 words) I typed up on helping those interested in becoming physical therapists get the most out of their academic endeavours. Niche topic? Quite. But I’m okay with that. (Click here if you want to download the book and support my humble content creation pursuits)

Why type up a niche topic and do so in an unconventional way? Because someone needed to, and I am too passionate about my line of work to sit back and merely hope someone else does. I also love what I do too much to not give back my knowledge and expertise to those looking to become physical therapists themselves.

As a practitioner and ambassador to the profession of physical therapy, I’m called to do more than serve patients in the clinic; I am called to help those next in line looking to enter the profession, and this book is one of the many efforts I’ve undergone to do so.

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Background: What’s the deal with this book?

This book is about believing we’re meant to get more out of physical therapy school than merely a transactional academic experience. You know, the one where you give your school money, you get some grades in return, and then saunter along until you find a clinical job that seems to work.

This book was written for those who have a clear vision about what they want their clinical future to look like and those who are bold enough to believe that they can craft the clinical career of their dreams — one filled with meaning and the power to turn heads along the way. If you believe it’s important to have passion for what you do (in this case, physical therapy), adopting a mindset that supports this belief is essential.

Think about it: if you’re going into PT school in the US (as an example), the average DPT student walks away with $80,000 in student loan debt. If you’re going to go through with this, do you really want to walk away from your program with marginal, stunted personal or professional growth? Is a purely transactional experience going to offer you deep satisfaction and fulfillment and allow you to become the best practitioner you can ultimately become?

What if, instead, throughout your program, you framed your experience around a mindset that allows you to cultivate a stronger vision for the future you’re after? What if it’s not purely about grades but rather about fostering the mentality and belief that your clinical future is yours for the taking? That’s the theme of this book.

This is not a book that offers traditional walkthroughs and study tips for academic programs — that’s been done a million times before, and I have no interest in regurgitating what already exists in abundance.

A mockup of the book. The alternate title was going to be “The Jim Wittstrom Book for Physical Therapy Students Who Can’t Study Good and Want to do Other Things Good Too” (bonus points if you get that reference).

Related article: You’ll Survive PT School if You Develop THESE Five Traits

I am interested in writing about a topic that hasn’t been discussed and presenting it with a unique flavour. So, in this book, you get a breakdown for building a framework for adopting a mindset that can help you grow to a maximal extent (personally and professionally) throughout your days and school and then carry it on to clinical practice.

Assuming you believe it’s important to have passion for what you do, the result of adopting a mindset is the ability to acquire mental tools that help you carve out a career that is more than just personally and professionally fulfilling; it will help you build a legacy that changes the lives of those around you.

Here’s a screenshot of the formatting within the book. Downloading it will allow you to access it through PDF or ePub (for any Kindle or similar e-reader device).

The breakdown: Contents of the book

PART I
Chapter 1: What’s Covered Within This Book
Chapter 2: Three Things You NEED To Know Right Away
Chapter 3: Why You Need to Adopt A Mindset
Chapter 4: Don’t Think Twice
Chapter 5: Going All-in
Chapter 6: The Winds of Passion
Chapter 7: PT Students: Who Struggles & Who Doesn’t

PART II: THE BATLE PLAN
Tactic 1: It All Starts With “Why”
Tactic 2: Befriending the Unlikely Ally
Tactic 3: Sweeping for Landmines
Tactic 4: Dissecting the “Big Three”
Tactic 5: Attention to Detail
Tactic 6: Strength in Numbers
Tactic 7: Operate from a Zone of Passion
Tactic 8: The Anchor of Ownership
Tactic 9: Practice What You Preach

How to: downloading the book

If you want to download the entire book, you can do so on my buy me a coffee page. For the price of a latte, you can download all 30,000+ words in their glory in a PDF and ePub format.

If you want a free snippet, you can click below to download Tactic 7. This strategy deals with finding or creating the opportunities required to maximize your personal and professional growth and find meaning in what you’re pursuing throughout your time in physical therapy school.

Click here to download Tactic 7: Operate from a Zone of Passion for FREE!