Unwrapping The Perfect Christmas Gift

It’s not every year I get to write this on Christmas so it’s extra special because today I want to reflect on the Gifts that every Doctor has the ability to give themselves.

First, here’s a fact, and I’ve referenced this many other times because it is a foundational theme worth repeating…

Most Doctors simply take what they get instead of creating what they want.

They open their doors, set their hours, turn on the lights, hire a team, and then start seeing patients.  The schedule fills up, dentistry gets done, money comes in, and then rinse and repeat…


Day after day, year after year.

Then you add in stages of life, ages of kids, sprinkle some vacations, throw in some hobbies, and mix up a weekly routine from time to time but with the one constant cycle is: walk in, do the dentistry in the schedule, walk out, and start again tomorrow.

Now, I don’t mean to be facetious, I’m not, this is the deal.  Doctors end up trying to work their lives around the apparent – though not actually real – needs of the practice instead of working the practice around their actually preferences and desires for their lives.

Some wake up before it’s too late (a very small percentage), but most never do.

But, like all people after they have done something for long enough it just becomes ‘the norm’ and it is what it is so it doesn’t get questioned.

No one stops to ask: Do you enjoy it?  Are you fulfilled?  Is this what you had in mind?

And certainly no one asks: How much money are you making?  Are you okay with that?  How much money do you want to make to experience everything for yourself, your family, your team, your passions?

Very few people have the nerve to question anyone – let alone themselves – about why things are done a certain way.  No one ever questions if there is a better way.

We schedule this way because we’ve always scheduled this way.  We do our Emergencies and New Patients this way because that’s the way we’ve always done them.  

We work these hours because that’s what we’ve always worked… because that’s when patients will come in… because, because, because of every other possible reason and excuse except for the fact that it’s just what you’ve allowed to happen.

Every decision in dentistry, and especially the business of dentistry, is based on these false pretenses.  You can find a way to do ANYTHING you want DIFFERENTLY – it actually does not have to be done the way it’s always been done.  In fact, a Doctor can have any type of practice they want and run that practice any way they want.

You literally have a blank canvas of a dental practice that you get to design.  Far more important than the physical space or the treatment room layout is designing your business, your team, your patients, and your life.

It gets better… what you have been doing doesn’t have to be what you keep on doing.  What was in 2020 doesn’t have to be carried over into 2021.  Ultimately, you get to decide what stays, what goes, and how this business fits into your life.  

You can create exactly the practice (and therefore the income) that you want to have that makes your life work.  Which, by the way, I call that figure “the magic number.”  It is a very particular formula, perhaps for another time.

Now, if this is something you’re ready to explore and you’re tired of being held back by industry norms then request Your Customized 2021 Practice Success Blueprint.

Most Doctors reading this right now are veterans of living this out, taking it from idea to action, from dream to goal, from vision to plan, from typical to ideal, from ordinary to extraordinary, from accepting what you get to creating what you want.

Others, new to me, to my Weekly Reports might still be timid in even asking themselves the questions and challenging the status quo.

Regardless of how long you’ve been here, it is ‘that time of year’ where you get to reflect and then turn your sights towards the future to focus on what’s – NEXT.

Ponder this…

If you were to open up your Practice as if it were a wrapped present underneath the Christmas Tree – what would you want to be inside of the box?  What would you definitely want left out of the box?

Seriously.

This is the gift that I give to my doctors – not just some elusive dream, actually a way, a path, a method, a business that can bring to life the reality that you want to have.

We break every industry norm…

Dollars per day

Profit per month

Dentistry per patient

Vacations / Days Off per year

Scheduling norms, insurance norms, patient norms, team norms

There is nothing ‘normal’ about our Practices and that is because there is nothing ‘normal’ about our Doctors.  They don’t want to be ‘normal’ – they want to be like themselves.  They want to be true to who they are in and out of the practice.

Their (and I hope yours) wish list is filled with ‘other’ things… life things, family things, hobby things, personal things.  Dentistry is the way to bring those things to life, it’s not supposed to take away life from those things.

So, as you enjoy your family this Holiday, make sure you take time to cherish all that you’ve already made possible for yourself and for them, and then ask yourself what gift you’d like to be unwrapping in the New Year.

Next week, as the calendar turns over, I’m going to share with you the exact approach to take to do more with less and reclaim your time (both in your clinical days and also in your responsibilities as an owner of your practice).

Get a head start on 2021 with Your Customized Practice Success Blueprint >>>

This will be my greatest gift to you.  I, like Santa Claus, can’t give you more minutes each day but I can help you get more out of the minutes you have.  Stay tuned!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!