Dental Practice Advice-Real Problems v. Imagined
Would you like some dental practice advice from a professional ? Manage your TIME !
I’m a big fan of Dan Sullivan at Strategic Coach who developed the concept of 10X thinking for entrepreneurs. Most dentists are trapped in 1X thinking in an age where 10X and even 100X is possible; even for dentists. To reset your thinking, check out some of Dan’s podcasts at www.10XTalk.com.
One thing Dan says fairly often is “Your Problem isn’t the problem, the problem is that you don’t know how to think about the problem.” This can be interpreted as dental practice advice for us in dentistry. This is applicable to so many aspects of the business of clinical dentistry. The selling system I developed over the past decade deals with 90%+ of selling problems in dental practices because it takes care of all the wrong thinking going on in whatever practice allows it to work for them.
There seem to be more problems now than ever before. One downside to the information age is the distractions happening via the internet that vie for your thinking, that disrupt clarity of mind, and that exhaust the finite limited mental energy store you have on a daily basis all presents themselves as problems demanding some solution.
As a consequence, you and your patients routinely focus in on problems that aren’t even real problems. With most distractions pleading for your attention, I’d take Dan’s statement even further and say that: Your problem isn’t the problem because you don’t really even have a problem!
Because life is short, it baffles me that people freak out so easily and so often over so many inconsequential “problems” that matter not to person or business. I’ve given up counting how many people I overhear who could use a “CTFD” heart-to-heart discussion.
Other than health, time, and relationships, I don’t take many things happening around me or that “demand” my attention too seriously. If you are taking a lot of things seriously outside of the three biggies (health, time, relationships), it’s time to ask yourself why? If you want to have a happier life on a day to day basis, focus on getting things done TODAY and on planning for what you are going to do TOMORROW (and I mean tomorrow — not in a week,month, or 10 years) AND THAT’S IT.
…and stop dwelling on the past or the future because it will terminate virtually all creativity, productivity, and enjoyment of life.
What matters the most in a dental business besides your personal health is time. If you’re really serious about TIME, get systems in place for everything. [Michael Gerber who invited me to co-author with him many years ago explains why systems are important for small businesses so if you really need that kind of baby-step discussion find a used copy of E-Myth.]
Just to name a few critical systems: for your team administratively, for your clinical protocols, for your marketing and for the ethical selling of your services. Check out more advice in my #1 best selling book on Amazon.
FYI: If you want to ethically sell your services not only systematically but with science (at least science from Harvard, Yale, and Stanford—yes the biggies and yes just for dentists), then take me dental practice advice and check out my new training in The McAnally Selling System is the only place on planet earth for just that.
