How are You Contributing Within Dentistry and Your Community?

There are many forms of Contributions deemed in Society and dentistry.  Let's focus on daily Contributions that occur throughout the year; every day.  It is important to make the distinction between achievements and contributions.  An Achievement is defined as something accomplished successfully, especially by means of exertion, skill, practice, or perseverance.  Therefore, achievements can easily become a task that is simply checked off our "to do" list once accomplished.  On the other hand, a Contribution is defined as something contributed such as money or an idea.  It can also include your time.  The correlation between the two is quite simple; our contribution is the entire Picture seen through those snapshots of multiple achievements.  They are imperative in reminding ourselves that "we can make a Difference."

Put First Things First in Your Dental Office

In Habit 3, Covey demonstrates a parallel division of distinguishing leadership from management in that leadership is more of an art, referencing a right-brained activity consisting of asking the ultimate questions relating to life whereas management is implementing this perspective into action.  Effective management is implementing first things first, while leadership involves the decision of what the first things are.  This is where prioritization plays an important role.

It is imperative that in your Dental Practice a clear understanding is distinguished.  There are a few ways to assist in making more profound Leadership and Management decisions.  A couple of pertinent questions within your personal and professional life might include…

Habit 2 Begin with the End in Mind in Your Dental Practice

When you understand how the mind works, you can leverage this to create some amazing results within your dental practice. All things in life are created twice - first the mental creation then the physical creation comes next. Without first the mental creation, the physical one will never happen. This is something all dentists understand very well when it comes to clinical dentistry. When they look into a mouth, they all have a pretty good idea of what the outcome will look like. When it comes to the business side of the practice, this step often gets skipped, unfortunately. An example of the two creations would be with a building. The mental creation of your building is the architectural plans, the physical creation is the actual building. Everything in life is created this way.

Habit 1 Be Proactive Within Your Dental Practice

When looking at your dental practice you can choose to be Proactive in your approach or Reactive in how you handle things. Too often we tend allow the world around us to push us into Reactive behavior. This might sound silly and too superficial but how we respond in life is predetermined by how we think on a daily basis. Hence why the type of language we use and how we think is important. Let's explore more of what I am referring to.

The reason why this programing is important is when something happens to you in life, there is a very brief moment where you have the ability to respond before you see the outcome of that event. An example might be, you see a car accident. Immediately you have the ability to do a few things. Do you run over to the car and help, do you stay where you are and dial 911 or do you do nothing and just keep going about your business. We all have the ability to respond to everything in our lives, the question becomes, what do we choose. Another example I hear in dental offices all the time, "The economy stinks and because of that my business is struggling." I would argue that you are allowing the economy to negatively impact your business. Have you heard of the Lottery Curse? About 70% of people who win the lottery within 5 years declare bankruptcy. How in the world is it possible to take such a great problem and end in such tragedy? Poor decisions is the answer.  This is why I believe even with a tough economy you can make great decisions and have a positive outcome.