I’ve been known to issue this challenge to Doctors I’m speaking with… sit down with your team, hand out a piece of paper and ask everyone to write down your Practice Mission, Philosophy, and Purpose. And have every team member read it aloud.
I understand what you might be thinking. The point, however, is about more than just being on the same page. It is more importantly about DOING MEANINGFUL DENTISTRY. The only way to do this is to first identify what Meaningful Dentistry is to you.
The most important point of this part of your Lifestyle Practice Manifesto is that it is not enough to just ‘work when you want.’ No doctor in my life would be content with only this and certainly not just by earning a lot of money, because…
Meaningful Dentistry Matters.
It matters for two reasons:
First, if you aren’t invigorated by what you are doing then nothing else is sustainable. You can have all the fulfillment in the world in terms of schedule and even income but if you aren’t doing something powerful with your patients (if you are stuck doing discount crowns or just drill it and fill it dentistry, for example), then it’s just not going to be something you can tolerate long term or execute at a high level. No one could or would want to.
Of course, I’m not here to tell you that you can have a practice where you never do another filling, but I am telling you that you do have control over the type of dentistry that you do. I’m telling you that if you don’t leave it up to chance and you have a comprehensive vision for your patients’ mouths then you absolutely can create a practice approach and business strategy that is specifically designed to cultivate and BE ABOUT Meaningful Dentistry.
Second, if you want to have lifestyle leverage and if you want to master the first part of your Manifesto that we discussed last week then – guess what – try getting there through volume-based, churn-and-burn, roller skate dentistry. It’s not going to happen and it would never be sustainable even if it did.
Therefore, you must find your path to Meaningful Dentistry. Whatever THAT means to you. It is the secret leverage point for time and money that makes everything else possible and allows you to realize the rest of your Lifestyle Practice Manifesto (Team, Patients and Profits).
The pride felt when you are no longer ‘just another dentist’ puts a little lift in your step, brightens your smile and above all else feeds your purpose and strengthens your confidence.
There is only one way to develop the second part of your Lifestyle Practice Manifesto and that’s deliberately defining what Meaningful Dentistry is to you and what you want it to be for your patients.
Define. Describe. Develop. Diagnose. Do.
The best way to make it possible is to continue to develop your skills, find the things that motivate you and identify your passion so that you are never resenting what you are doing. Finally, you’ll be looking forward to every day of dentistry.
This is why the second part of your Manifesto is so important because before we can create it we must define it.
When you think about the fulfillment of your own life outside the practice, you then have to do the same thing with your life inside of the practice because that serves the other and allows you to have balance with both sides of your life.
It’s possible this is review for you because you have a well-defined clinical identity already. That begets the next challenge: it’s not enough to know what you want, you then have to have a plan to create it.
And that will be the result of our completion to your Lifestyle Practice Manifesto as we have three more key parts to move through… Team, Patients and Profits.
The morale of today’s story is simple: you can’t have a fulfilled doctor without meaningful dentistry and you can’t have meaningful dentistry without a fulfilled doctor. These must be in alignment.
That compass we talked about last week must be pointed true north towards your clinical calling so that you arrive at that point where you love what you do so much so that it drives you forward. You should feel at peace with the sacrifice you make to achieve your practice goals.
One of my most powerful driving motivations to do what I do and to choose to help create the path for my doctors is because with dentistry you have the ability to literally decide what kind of dentist you want to be and what kind of dentistry you want to do.
Free from judgment or force by anyone or anything. You are, if you choose to be, in total control.
And this control begins by finding your center clinically and to do life changing care for your patients through your own definition of what meaningful dentistry is to you.
Our next three pillars to your Manifesto will be built on the foundation of this one right here. We’ve set the compass with the First Pillar – Fulfilled Doctor. We’ve begun building the foundation with the Second Pillar – Meaningful Dentistry.
And now we move forward to the Effective Team. Before we go there, you should reflect this week asking yourself: what is your clinical vision for your practice as it stands today, where do you see that going in the future, what percentage of your time are you doing meaningful dentistry now and what do you need to change in order to get closer to your Center.
Part 3, building an Effective Team, next week.
