Last week, I gave you a literal battle plan to better your best in the year ahead. I did it in two forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, your call to action to choose your challenge, define your victory, layout your meaningful mission, and set targets that would drive your purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You also saw that in\u00a0my New Year Video for the DST Universe<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blow by blow. Point by point. Quote by quote. Pillar and principle by pillar and principle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You won\u2019t find a more definitive and transformative gut check in your entire year than that video. It was intended specifically for an ambitious-minded, intentionally-renegade, extraordinarily-maverick, all-trends-bucking, mold-breaking, refusing-to-conform, record-setting, entrepreneurial independent private practice doctor \u2013 you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I backed that up with last week\u2019s Weekly Report with 10 of the highest value and most important areas of focus and prioritization for 2023 and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Champions show up in the New Year looking for all the ways they\u2019ve won, what could have gone better last year, and how they can leverage for growth by putting their focus on what they know they can control in order to create sustainable, profitable, and impactful outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the mindset from the video, the foundation from your Think System, the leverage from the pillars, and the priorities worthy of organizing from my top 10 areas of focus, you are destined for the greatest year of your life in and out of your practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And for those of you who are included in my Top 100 doctors, you received my Private Memo which contained the secret of all secrets to achieving more in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of this combined makes you\u2026 UNSTOPPABLE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is \u2013 almost \u2013 unstoppable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is one missing piece to this whole New Year puzzle. However, it\u2019s very simple. The newness wears off because the toil it takes to actually maintain the same as you are used to, the standard you\u2019ve set by the accomplishments you\u2019ve already conquered, and your ambition to level-up your achievements are always difficult. Somewhere around the middle of January, you realize that it\u2019s not actually ever going to be easy to do anything of great significance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a powerful revelation and a truth to embrace, rather than resist or resent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, understanding this and becoming one with it actually makes victory sweeter, success more significant, impacts greater in magnitude, and fulfillment richer in meaning. Truly, most don\u2019t ever get to live and experience these types of results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not difficult to \u2018think\u2019 about the 10 things from last week just like it\u2019s very easy to \u2018watch\u2019 the video I created for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, it\u2019s doing something with them, it\u2019s becoming better and more valuable, it\u2019s actually following through and executing that matters most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s why today I bring you the final piece, the prerequisite of all success, the part of any year that no one talks about; well they might complain about it\u2026 but they don\u2019t do anything about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Greatest is never possible with just the glory, it\u2019s the guts that matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, I give you your gut check before you need it to make sure you\u2019re ready. To make sure you realize the real rewards of your year won\u2019t just be about the accolades or the money or even the life changing stories of patients you\u2019ve impacted or the breakthroughs your team has or the vacations you took\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019ll be everything it took to make all of those things happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019ll be your guts that pull it out, that see it through, that delivers in the end, that give you a great not just a good year, that makes 2023 your very best ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you were to figure out one common underlining characteristic of the greatest performers in any profession (sports, business, entertainment, arts, dentistry \u2013 literally anything), what would you say it is?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps vision, ambition, focus, discipline, determination, tenacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What else would you add as Championship Players\u2019 traits?<\/p>\n\n\n\n You should have this list for your team members and you should check all potential candidates against that list before you give them the privilege and opportunity to work inside of your practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You should have that list for yourself too; if you want to be your best and keep getting better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, none of these attributes top the one that makes all the difference between the champions and the runner-ups, the haves and have-nots, the achievers and the wanna-bes, the real-deals and the pretenders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is one characteristic that makes someone great. It defines their guts and their ability to make the most of whatever is thrown at them and to always come through regardless (even in spite of) whatever challenge arises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s about the ability to be CLUTCH when it matters most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ability to perform and deliver, stay focus and finish \u2013 under pressure. When circumstances aren\u2019t favorable. When things aren\u2019t easy. When the deck is stacked against you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you have fallout in hygiene or you have half a team show up or you get a bad review or snow days that disrupt your schedule or a bad week or a worst month or failed procedure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everyone deals with all of these things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And yet, some come out on top despite it all, while most others do not. This is why we say winners win. It\u2019s just what they do, it\u2019s who they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no success without pressure. There is no winning without clutch play. There is no glory without guts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This does not mean you have to be super-fast or in a hurry \u2013 time is always a factor in everything but not speed. It does mean that you have to live the saying, \u201cWhen the going gets tough, the tough get going.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we enter the playoffs for football, there is a lesson to learn. The teams that make it not just to but through the playoffs: they have to keep getting tougher and tougher; they have to play to the finish; they have to be clutch under pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because the closer you get to your goals (your biggest case, your record month, your state of ideal, your perfect day), it will always get tougher to maintain and keep it there. It will be a fight to win because winning is not ordinary, it is not average, it is not common place \u2013 all of which you can coast and take it easy, anything more than that is a fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are a lot of people where you know immediately, just by their stated goals and their obvious actions, that they will never win at what they are trying to do. Because they won\u2019t be able to take the pressure. Having a million-dollar practice (or two or three or four or more million), just means that you have a bigger mountain to climb every month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Working a lifestyle schedule while increasing your income means you have to perform and produce more per day and per hour. Any day or hour that is off becomes a lot harder to make it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You want to play smart, play with leverage, and play with pressure because the best always thrive under the more difficult circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you go to work on using this to your advantage, you will see incredible things happen, things you never thought you could achieve, levels of success you never imagined your team members capable of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In all of the things we do, talk about, train on, and work at \u2013 this may be the most pivotal and critical piece that is missed\u2026 for every team member in every position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ask yourself: why do they practice the two-minute drill in football? Why do you shoot free throws at the end of practice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everything in sports, or any other type of performance, is all about being able to excel when everything is on the line. For your practice, that looks like…<\/p>\n\n\n\n I challenge you today to go to work on performing better under pressure, to keeping focused on your goals, and being able to handle anything without losing sight of the main objective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The days are never perfect, you know that. It\u2019s better to know how to win with all the what-ifs than to just pretend that they are never going to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For a team exercise, have each person define their own \u201cpressure plays\u201d when they lose themselves or get distracted or are running behind. Then, as a group, decide how you can overcome the challenge and win despite the increased difficulty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lastly, don\u2019t forget to define your list of Championship traits that make up your team. Make sure everyone exemplifies these winning traits every day and, if necessary, has a plan to improve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n