As we head into Thanksgiving next week and we begin to round out this year; my theme has been steadfast to not just finish strong by staying focused but instead to run through the finish line at a full sprint. There’s a big difference. Yes, it takes the former to do the latter. However, the mindset gap is stark. Just make it to the end or leave it all on the field. You get to choose.
In fact, you get to choose this attitude, mentality, execution, determination every single day of your life. Reading that paragraph one more time will tell you everything you need to know in order to break through to the next level of your life, your practice and with your team, your patients, and yourself.
Over the last few weeks, we have honed your focus, expanded your vision, increased your deserve level, and fired up your future with some concrete strategies to employ.
No matter what you decide to do next there is one thing to grasp and fully appreciate about yourself that got you into this position in the first place. What you have done before today has led you to today. I know that sounds obvious, even trivial.
The reality of your success in your practice was thanks to you. You saw something bigger, you believed in something greater, you took action at a higher level, and you have created something more than what you once thought possible.
This, actually, is your greatest skill. Your ability to envision, believe, decide, take action, persevere, and ultimately achieve. But without first the dream, the desire, the choice you made you would just be stuck in the exact same place as you had always been.
Maybe, just maybe, this was an ‘okay’ place or even a ‘great’ place. And you know what, at the time it probably was. But that’s because you didn’t know better. That’s because your deserve level only allowed you to receive, accept, and live out that reality – instead of this one.
And now here you are.
Of course, this all works in the reverse too, but that’s for another day (albeit equally and maybe even more critically important to understand).
Today, though, isn’t about today. It’s not even about next week when you are giving-thanks on all that you have, when you are reflecting on all that surrounds you, and when you are filled with appreciation; for you, for I, for us – we exude those sentiments every single day.
It’s not about what was or even what is, it’s about where do we go from here. What must we keep doing in order to have more to be Thankful for next year. What else, what next, what is required to have a new version of your life in the future.
This brings me to my purpose here today.
The greatest gift you have is also the one that provides you the most thanks to give and gives others thanks for you.
It is that you are an Entrepreneurial Dentist.
My goal is for you to realize that everything begins and ends with your origin of thought, your clearest vision of the future, and your belief in deliberate design. And those are only obtainable if you accept the fact that you are not just any doctor.
Truly, this is what being a private practice owner is all about it. In fact, this is the definition of independent dentistry. You get to choose what you create for others by how you use your skills, where the value you attribute to them is the value you’ll get in exchange for them.
As we prepare for my upcoming 2024 Kick-Off Whiteboard Session for BIG Breakthroughs that will be all about this very topic (stay tuned for your invitation to attend), here’s what you gotta know…
Your belief about your potential and your desire for your own success is your greatest assurance to achieve something bigger, better, different than what you already have in your life and practice.
I often tell my doctors I’ve never seen anyone achieve something that they did not intentionally set out to accomplish and unreservedly believe was possible.
Of course, believing and wanting something is not ever enough. You have to have a plan and a method and means of making it happen.
As I emphasized last week, you can’t make your practice produce in dollars of dentistry more than it is designed to deliver.
Business is nothing more than getting several moving parts firing on all cylinders while being aligned with your vision. It takes a well-designed system built to deliver the results you want. This is why becoming an Entrepreneurial Dentist is so imperative to your success. Simply, success doesn’t happen on accident – it must be engineered with intent.
The pillars we have reviewed over the past several weeks make up the most critical components of the Entrepreneurial Practice. They give you a strong foundation to build upon. They work to galvanize your purpose and turn passion into profits.
It’s very easy for a doctor to discount, choose to ignore, or simply remain naïve about the key principles that are required for a successful business (so many believe just being an exceptional clinician is enough). This leads to frustration, burnout, or possibly resentment. You deserve better and so do your patients.
That is why your decision and commitment to transform yourself into an Entrepreneurial Dentist is so important – so you are no longer at the mercy of anything or anyone.
You are in charge of your own outcomes as you captain your own ship charting the course you want and enjoying the adventure along the way.
When Doctors ask me how I would describe the Entrepreneurial Dentist, that is the person not the pillars of the business. That’s easy…
An Entrepreneurial Dentist goes to work on themselves, they embrace and even look for change, yet they are steadfast in their practice philosophy, and resolute in their approach to their own life.
An Entrepreneurial Dentist understands that prosperity is driven by gratitude and appreciation to those around them and that pride in one’s work is as much about your confidence and self-worth as it is anything else.
An Entrepreneurial Dentist seeks out advice knowing they don’t know everything and expands their minds so that they can see more clearly what all is possible.
An Entrepreneurial Dentist loves their dentistry but does it (in addition to the purpose of helping people) for the lifestyle that it affords because they know what is earned should be enjoyed.
An Entrepreneurial Dentist is their patients’ health hero. They have skills and an expertise that others do not and are required to apply those to greatest effect.
An Entrepreneurial Dentist does not lose focus or become complacent. They strive to always do better and they always have the next challenge lined up.
An Entrepreneurial Dentist understands that the person who receives the greatest rewards (paid the most money) is the one who owns the greatest amount of responsibility.
An Entrepreneurial Dentist is most content when they are living a life and practicing dentistry by their own definition.
And like so many other things in life…
An Entrepreneurial Dentist believes it is always more about the journey than the destination. That fulfillment is achieved along the way and not delayed until the end.
Next week, we’ll bring it full circle as to how to assess and pinpoint what areas of improvement you really do need to make. As you move forward it’s important to see all parts of your business clearly.
I can promise you this: the more entrepreneurial you become and the more you shape your practice around yourself (while NOT DEPENDENT on YOU) – the more control, freedom, fulfillment, enjoyment, and prosperity you will have.
And best of all the more you will have to be thankful for and the more others will have thanks to give because of your commitment to being a creator, a designer, an engineer, a visionary, an action-taker, and an Entrepreneurial Dentist.
And this is really and truly what matters, what it is all about, what you’ve earned… one never-ending, overflowing, cornucopia of life.
You deserve that when you take responsibility for creating it.
