This week we’re taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming and our discussion on “Daily Doctor Responsibilities” to talk about an even greater responsibility that goes deeper than “daily” and “dentistry.” It is the defining moment in Doctors’ lives when they achieve their own independence from money, time, dentistry and ultimately all “have-to’s” once they arrive at what I call “Practice By Choice.”
I have long said that Dentistry is a vehicle to take you wherever else you want to go. It is a conduit for your life goals whether financial or otherwise.
Just like a car, it takes work, upkeep, maintenance and many other things. The most important requirement that no good car is without in order to fulfill its purpose is of course the…
DRIVER.
Unfortunately, most practices may have a dentist or an owner (in many cases, it is the same person), however, they don’t often have a driver.
They are sitting in the car idling going nowhere while not realizing how to step on the gas and use the steering wheel to take them where they want to go. That is often because they don’t know where they want to go in addition to not knowing how to get there even if they did.
Here’s the best part of independence in Dentistry (and beyond): it is that you get to be the driver and you get to pick the car you want to drive. You can truly design and create exactly the type and style of practice you want.
One thing has to happen before anything else can – no matter what you see your next breakthrough as or what your goals are – in order for you to dive into the next chapter of your life and practice to create your next evolution and achieve your goals.
Just like our great country did and what we celebrate next week. You have to declare your independence and define what freedom means to you. You need your own Declaration of Independence for your Practice.
In fact, this is exactly what I do for my Doctors. I help them to define and discover exactly what their ‘next chapter’ looks like, what independence means in their personal evolution and what type of practice can deliver their desired freedoms.
Some Doctors are scared or skeptical of reaching out for help and really you shouldn’t be. You do only know what you know based on what you have experienced. The only way someone gets to a greater place in life (other than hard knocks, taking detours, wasting time and suffering through frustration), is to get help from someone who knows how to achieve your ambitions.
What you want most of all is someone who will listen to and help you find what you want; not someone who tries to tell you what to do or force you down a path you don’t want to go based on cookie cutter, one-size-fits-all ideas. Doctors ask me ‘what I do’ and I always say first I am an architect of your ‘state of ideal,’ of your vision, of your plan that is suited to exactly what you want and what you want your independence to look like.
Here’s the thing, it’s just like what you ask your patients to do… give you a chance to get to know them, listen to their goals, assess their current state and then build a plan to make the two match up. That is what I do.
Learn more about my process to help you declare your practice independence…
The reality is most Doctors have the opposite of independence, they have a totally dependent practice. No matter how great your team is, how well you think your systems are, how great your dentistry is, how many new patients you get and so on and so forth, if there is anything on your wishlist to be more profitable or less work or fewer hours or more time off without feeling guilty or regretting it when you return or having your bank account suffer because of it then you are not independent at all.
It just sounds painful when you read, it doesn’t it? It hurts a bit when you have that revelation and understand the realism that you don’t have a business, you have a job.
And no, I’m not talking about plugging in Associates and you do no work. I want you to love the dentistry you do and enjoy walking in every morning but also have an even more exciting and fulfilling life when you walk out.
A business done right – especially in our great industry – is one that gives you independence to do everything you want to do inside and outside of your practice.
My mission for you today, in addition to declaring your independence, is also to really take an inventory of yourself and ask what you want next in your life, in your practice, in your future. What do you want your vehicle to look like and where do you want it to take you? This is so important.
The great quote from Zig was, “You can’t hit a target you cannot see and you cannot see a target you do not have.” You can’t end up at a destination you do not define and set, either.
Understand it is not just about where you are ending up. It is about the journey along the way and that is what I’m talking about here.
That is really what independence is about. Our nation’s independence allows you to have the opportunity and privilege of making your journey whatever you want it to be. I believe there is nothing more important to honor and celebrate our independence than living a liberated life.
The powerful saying from Nelson Mandela says it all, “There is no passion to be found in playing small – in settling for a life that is less than what you are capable of living.” Doesn’t that just hit you right in the gut.
What are you settling for right now that is less than you are capable of?
Let that sink in and then you tell me if you are ready to claim and declare your independence. That means you have to define it first and then liberate yourself from anything standing in your way.
I give you permission today to accept this challenge and move from dental dependence to practice independence. Make the most of the journey you have invested in and made possible for yourself.
One of the most important things I can tell you is that people most regret the things they never do, the things they never try, the things they never gave themselves a chance to discover.
You can either work harder and find it to be a diminishing return or you can choose to work smarter and create leverage for yourself. You will be amazed at how even small nuances and slight adjustments can make a dramatic impact on how you feel, how much you earn, how much control you have over your time, and of course your ability to achieve independence.
Right now, I’m giving an opportunity to a few doctors who know there is a better way, who are ready to achieve their state of ideal in and out of dentistry, and who deserve everything that independence means.
Are you ready? I’m offering to help you set free your full potential and…
