Wouldn’t it be nice to actually feel like you owned your dental practice instead of the other way around?

Wouldn’t it be nice to take a vacation without worrying about your practice the whole time?

As stressful as things may seem in a busy practice, I’ve discovered that most practices are not very far away from that being a reality.

During times of high stress, it certainly doesn’t feel very close. But these three tweaks might be the only things standing between you and your dream life.

Delegate to and invest in your team.

In our practices, we are probably the best at doing a lot of things. For example, I was the best at marketing in my practice. Nobody could market like I did. So, I did all the marketing. But what happened was I seemed to always get bogged down with marketing. I was constantly tweaking campaigns, setting up ads, and testing results. It was as if I was treating patients and marketing. I couldn’t move on to other important tasks for growing my practice.

A friend of mine had the same experience with packing cord. She was the best at packing cord, so she didn’t delegate it. She could do it faster, so she just did it. Eventually she realized she had to let go, train her assistant to do it, and accept that her assistant would take time to improve. When she first started delegating, she was right. Her assistant did not pack cord nearly as well or fast as she did. But with training and time, she got better. Now, my friend no longer has to spend any of her time packing cord.

It’s true that your team will not do as good a job as you. That is okay. Don’t let that stop you from delegating. Start delegating, and invest in training to help them improve.

Dial in to your inner circle.

Make sure you have like-minded, positive people in your inner circle. If you spend any time in dental social media groups, you will see several types of people. One group will always be negative. One group will always be positive and uplift you. With which group of those people do you want to spend the most time?

If you have a choice, the best thing you can do is choose to spend more time with positive, like-minded people. They will support you, share advice, and help you.

The best way to attract positive, uplifting people is to be a positive person yourself. Like attracts like. Be the person you want to attract.

Ignore the naysayers.

If I listened to all the people who said I couldn’t do or be something, my life would be totally different. I wouldn’t be a dentist. Seriously. I remember when I was going back to dental school. A supposed friend of mine discouraged me from going. He said I was too old. He questioned whether it was a smart move.

Well, I’m glad for many reasons that I didn’t listen to him. Most importantly, I met my wife at dental school. That alone was worth the investment. I also wouldn’t have built incredible relationships in the dental community.

But I didn’t listen to him. I did what I knew in my heart was the right thing to do.

Please do not give a rat’s ass what objections other people bring to you. You have value to bring. You have the ability and resources to give back. You can give back to the dental community, like we did in the Nifty Thrifty Dentist Facebook community. You can give back to your own community.

Are you ready to quickly improve your dental practice?

If you ever want to build a dream dental practice, you have to stop doing all the work yourself. You have to delegate to your team. You have to get negative people out of your life. You have to stop listening to the naysayers. It is the only way to take control of your practice and take back your life.

If you’re ready, jump on into the free Nifty Thrifty Dentists Facebook community and let us know you will delegate to and invest in your team, dial in to your inner circle, and ignore the naysayers! And be sure to tag me so we can celebrate your new commitment together!