Staying Motivated Thru 2024

Back by popular demand – Dr. Ludlow! Burn-out is common, and Dr. Ludlow has beaten the odds in so many ways. His large privately owned dental practice continues to grow and change in astounding ways. In fact, Dr. Ludlow excitedly embraces change year after year. So, Bethany asks an all important question of Dr. Ludlow – “How do you continue to stay motivated?” After twenty years in the field, Dr. Ludlow reflects on how he remains excited about his growing dental business. He also shares how he has tweaked his schedule through the years to give him more time and space to reflect and work on the actual business side of dentistry. If you are looking for inspiration, then this episode is for you! 

November subscription ends TODAY!!! Click the link below to secure your last chance at the November content. For December subscribers – Happy Holidays to you!! Dr. Kuba and Bethany are dropping TWO bonus episodes – “How to Make Your Gifts Count” and “Insurance Verbiage to De-escalate Upset Patients.” You don’t want to miss these bonus episodes! 

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Previous Episodes Worth Revisiting:
What to Do When I Just Don’t Care
Be YOU – Authentic Leadership

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Transcript

0:01
are you looking for a podcast where you can hear from real people regarding their real Dental drama if so then
0:09
you've come to the right place join hosts Bethany Penny and Dr Reena Kuba as
0:15
we dive into the solutions we've created and the mistakes we've made while
0:20
managing Dental drama let's get started Dr llo welcome
0:25
back oh thank you so excited to be here back by popular demand I I wish that was
0:31
the case but thank you for making me feel good it really was I was just sharing with you I had a ton of great
0:36
feedback if you haven't listened to drct Low's first episode The no manager model had had a ton of people afterwards say
0:42
it was really um Illuminating Illuminating I thought they were saying to put them to sleep but that's okay no
0:49
no it was good it was good so I have to have you back today though because I it's interesting as we were
0:56
talking before we hit the record button here I said you're just kind of naturally motivated person and I want to
1:02
hear you know what you do to keep that motivation up and you actually told me no I'm not a naturally motivated person
1:09
no I think I'm I'm just a good actor um no it's interesting I think like my
1:14
default or at least you know when I go to bed or when I wake up in the morning I don't know that I'm just hey let's
1:21
wake up and get the day started like I've been trying to wake up early for the past 30 years of my life and it just
1:27
can't quite do it cuz people tell me you got to make your mornings work work right so I don't know that I'm naturally
1:33
that way but I'm glad that it comes across that way um but I think that's
1:39
part of it because that's who I want to be and I I do like getting things done I feel very good when things are
1:44
accomplished but I do have to work on that like that's not my normal default
1:51
mode yeah well and even you know we're sitting here and we're on day two of a
1:57
major change in their practice and you are somebody that maybe that
2:03
doesn't come from motivation but it comes from something that drives you to
2:09
constantly push to make changes I mean I feel like when we look at your practice
2:14
and we talked about this in the last episode but you've got a fantastic practice large vibrant booming growing
2:22
all the things like you could easily just try to ride that into the sunset and just stay status quo and and you
2:30
know finish sounds like maybe we should have we should have done that um yeah no
2:36
you're right so we have we are all I mean it's become a joke in the office
2:42
there's a book called who Moved My Cheese that talks about change and and how important that is and so one of my
2:48
assistants is always talking about how I move her cheese every other week as we're trying to change and do things
2:57
and you say that I'm like what are we doing um but no from we've implemented a ton
3:02
of different stuff right we change softwares we have payment options that are different we have these membership plans that are different than than a lot
3:09
of things and uh I think what motivates us to do that is two things one for me I
3:19
like to do things that are different and new and like to try things just for the sake of trying them and number two I
3:26
think it's motivated on how can we make it that much better for the patient and
3:31
and for the staff as well and for whatever reason that that motivates me to make
3:39
things different M um and maybe I it's just I want
3:45
everybody to like me and so like so whatever I can do to try to make people happy except for right now everybody's
3:51
mad at me so maybe that's not the real reason this is going to be a great little therapy session for me as I um
3:57
try to figure thing out but I I think is motivated by that like what's new what can we do to make it better and make
4:04
things better and combine that with uh how that affects the patients and what
4:11
they're seeing as they come to our office yeah I think you're just the type of person that's always asking the
4:17
question could it be done better or could it be done in a more efficient way
4:23
even the staff meeting that we just had today you encouraged your team in that with this software change that you made
4:28
you you're encour encouragement to them was don't just come to me with problems seek out
4:34
Solutions figure these things out on your own and this is going to be better but you got to put in the time and
4:40
effort and energy to make it better so I think you preach that to your team but I also think you're maybe even unbeknownst
4:48
to you I think you're naturally living that that you're like okay if we've got if a big roadblock is our software well
4:55
then okay how can we make that better how can we find something that that better serves our patients and I think
5:02
that drives you in a way that produces a lot of change in your practice yes like
5:09
I my joke was going to be that I'm just like Hamilton that he was never satisfied right so so therefore I'm
5:16
never happy either but like but I think that's part of it like I I really do get frustrated when people do things the way
5:24
that they've always been done just because they've always been done that way and then when I've been on the other
5:31
side of that either as a patient uh or in some other aspect and that didn't make me feel good
5:38
right so like I don't like that excuse it that to me it shouldn't be that way it should be okay even though uh I can't
5:46
necessarily change the world but how can I make my little world and by that I
5:51
mean my patience and my practice that much better yeah um you want to hear a
5:58
little philosophical story where my yes my wife broke me down on this so so I read Steve Jobs biography and I I've
6:06
been talking about this for 10 years and there's a part in his biography where he talks about how he wanted to Dent the
6:13
universe and you could make a case that he did right everybody's got Apple all this and so I was all motivated you can
6:20
probably see that at me I'm like okay this is my chance I'm going to be just like Steve Jobs I call my wife and I'm
6:26
like hey I'm going to figure this out I'm going to figure out how to Dent the universe and she's like she goes you know what
6:33
why don't you just come home and take care of your kids and love on your kids and maybe they can go Dent the universe
6:39
so like but is a real reality check of okay I can't probably change the universe but I can maybe control and and
6:46
work on my own little world right and so I've kind of given up the dream of
6:51
changing whatever World changes I was going to make um to really focusing on
6:58
okay how in my little sphere can I make things that much better obviously personally that's important too but
7:05
especially inside of the practice how can my practice be that much different that much better so that my patients
7:11
have that different experience than maybe they're used to in healthcare yeah I think that's such a good analogy and
7:18
you led with something similar a little video in a team meeting that we had recently where it's like hey you're
7:24
probably not going to be remembered Generations from now you know yeah two generations nobody's going to remember
7:30
nobody's going to know your name I mean we barely remember the president's name right so so it's like it really is kind
7:37
of like live now in this moment and make the most out of what you've been
7:42
given and I think that denting your little universe is a philosophy that is
7:49
very motivating when you think about it in that lens yeah I I think so it's it's helped kind of give me some perspective
7:56
um it's also helped me say okay well we can try some things if it doesn't work out that we're going to Pivot and do and
8:01
I think another thing that that has been good for me is to be motivated with the
8:07
fact of okay if I'm going to have to get out of bed and if I'm going to have to go do things then I want to try to do it
8:14
at least the best that I know how to do it like otherwise what's the point what are we doing right and so so never being
8:22
satisfied and twisting and tweaking because ultimately we want to get to
8:27
this nice way of doing things and a better way of doing things I think that
8:33
does kind of keep me motivated mhm yeah I think so and I think if you if we look
8:39
back I mean every year I feel like in your practice there's not only one major change there's normally multiple major
8:47
changes that kind of happen throughout the year which is why it's the running joke among your among your team to just
8:52
kind of brace themselves and prepare for it but I think when you look at it through the lens of I'm willing to take
8:59
on the challenge of that change because I believe it's going to be better on the other side then it's like okay we can
9:06
power through change if we're just doing change for the sake of change well what's the point right but it's there's
9:12
an intentional Focus it's going to be better for the patient it's going to be better for the team and we could be wrong in that but we're willing to take
9:18
the risk you're willing to take the risk right and I I think that's because that's a a core principle of mine like
9:26
uh when my kids would come home and they're like complaining about something or they didn't get invited to the party
9:33
that they wanted to get invited to I mean my's kids were pretty cool so I'm sure that never happened but but let's assume that that happened right my
9:40
default response to them was always well what did you do to make show make it so these kids didn't want to invite you
9:46
right and so like so I kind of motiv that that's kind of rings in my head all
9:52
the time as okay if we have a problem or if we're doing this and and things aren't quite perfect or we're
9:57
complaining about something then we can either sit there and complain or we can shift and make some
10:05
change so that we don't have to complain about it anymore and then I just don't
10:10
like the philosophy of well that's just the way it is and we have to accept it obviously certain things we do have to
10:16
accept in life and deal with but for the most part I going to be like well if I don't like that then I
10:22
either got to change it or I can sit and be miserable right and so it's weird
10:28
that that's kind of as you say that that's kind of been the evolution of the practice we have changed a ton of
10:35
stuff and it's always just felt like that's the right thing I don't know why we wouldn't change the stuff right like
10:43
like yes but it seems to me that should be normal I don't know well and and it's
10:49
it's interesting though I think when you're a person that consistently Embraces change it's not so
10:57
overwhelming I think if you're a person that's just like let me just run my life in this same predictable pattern then
11:05
embracing some kind of major change is going to feel overwhelming I think when it's part of your
11:10
normal Vibe it's just who you are and it makes you confident even prior to change
11:16
I mean there's been been some big things that you've done where it's been a total and complete risk in every way a risk
11:25
and yet when we talk about it and the logic of it makes sound sense it's like
11:31
well why wouldn't we do that and then there's such a culture of change that we're like well of course we're going to do it like let's go do it yeah I I it's
11:39
weird that you say that because I I I guess that's just how my brain works because with this change that we did
11:44
this past couple days that was I was most frustrated with are people that were like oh this is just too much I
11:50
just don't like it I'm like well that's dumb like who this is better it's going
11:55
to be better why wouldn't we change yeah and I guess there's a lot of people that
12:00
don't think that same way but that just doesn't make sense to me like I don't
12:05
know that's maybe I'm a jerk that way but that just doesn't make sense like we just either have to make it better yeah
12:11
or we got to learn to accept it but I just don't like that very much either why would I accept something that
12:17
I don't like right right why are we willing to settle for that yeah rather than just even if we Embrace change and
12:25
it's super uncomfortable and it doesn't yield the results there's probably another solution
12:30
yeah yeah and we I think we talked about that a little bit last time like been real fortunate to have people around me
12:35
that have supported me and that are smarter than me and so I really do trust that if we go down a road some way we'll
12:42
be able to Pivot and and find the new answer um even if it means the total 180
12:49
even though it's never been that way it's been okay we maybe to change like 30 degrees or something like that as
12:55
things have evolved um so I'm just really lucky that I have people around me that
13:02
make it safe to make those changes um we've been really lucky with this practice that it's it's grown and
13:09
so it would take a lot to just make it a total catastrophic failure so I understand that like I'm in a little
13:16
privileged bubble because of that um but then my default is okay well much is
13:22
given much is required okay we better if we're going to be given this little privilege of being able to do that then
13:28
we better sure as heck make the most of it yeah and it's not fair to my patients
13:34
or whatever to not take advantage of this privileged situation or this
13:40
blessed situation whatever we want to call it uh we have to take advantage of that and
13:46
we have to give back and do it the right way otherwise we're jerks for taking
13:52
advantage right right well and it's interesting too like when you think of when I think of you know some practi is
13:59
that change is hard and it's not a part of their normal culture and maybe there's more that they have to lose with
14:05
change if I think about that situation compared to your practice and the level
14:11
of change I mean it's there's a an energy about it that it's like something's always going to be changing
14:17
but when we look back those changes I would venture to
14:24
say I mean 90 to 95% of the time have worked
14:30
yeah I I don't know really of a big failure that we've had other than maybe hiring the wrong people or doing some
14:36
things like that um yeah I mean absolutely this year from
14:42
last year to this year we've made some huge changes as far as getting out of network with
14:47
insurance implementing a membership plan that to my knowledge nobody else has
14:53
done before um but I said sat back and did the numbers
15:00
you did the numbers as well were up and you didn't even see the QuickBooks but the profitability is up like 100% from
15:07
last year so so right like those big changes those things that we did has
15:13
actually made a profound difference like we're not near as busy like from a volume wise but the
15:22
fees are up the profitability is up ultimately I'm hoping my patients are getting better care because of that yeah
15:29
um we need to make sure the staff understands that but uh so I do believe
15:35
that most of the time change is good especially like if you
15:41
feel feel good about it going into it right there's a lot of logic behind it I
15:47
mean all the changes that I feel like you've made over the years it's come out of here's a problem let's dissect the
15:55
heck out of this problem and look at all the potential Solutions let's mle over that potential solution
16:02
for a good bit I mean these are not Hasty changes that you make these are
16:07
this is you put time and energy and effort into this so I feel like when you do choose a path that you're going to go
16:13
down it's been well thought out and I think the the success rate proves that
16:19
yeah and I'll tell you what's been good for me and it it's taken me a long way to to learn this I think uh being
16:25
somebody that grew up as like people pleaser and you know all the things that go along with that is I learned not soon
16:33
enough that if I can make the decision to do something because it's my decision
16:38
and not because my parents wanted me to do it my wife wanted me to do it my consultant wanted me to do it the staff
16:45
wanted me to do it but if I could get to the decision of hey this is the decision that I want to do yeah and I'm not doing
16:52
for any other reason other than that I think it's the right thing to do that makes it so much easier to
16:58
implement and to own and then when if it's a mistake I'm like well I thought it was the right thing to do it's okay I did it
17:05
with the very best of intentions but also it doesn't tend to be a mistake as much because now we're really motivated
17:11
to implement what we thought because I've owned the the the decision right
17:16
and I'm not doing it because yeah my wife thinks it's a great idea cuz that
17:21
doesn't work unless it's taken out the trash um but like it's doing it when
17:26
when it comes from inside that's also very motivating yes and uh and so it's
17:33
taking me a while to learn to trust that mm but well and then I think it creates
17:38
the confidence to communicate those changes well to your team to your fellow
17:43
doctors to your patient base because you've done all the research you've decided this is my decision I'm owning
17:50
it 100% success or failure I'm owning it and then you communicate with a confidence that I think gets your team
17:56
behind you right and I think we saw that a little bit today with the meeting after this change of the software that
18:03
like I really tried to tell people we're doing this for a reason again you got to remember what the benefits are going to
18:09
be and yesterday everybody was complaining about it and then today everybody kind of like oh yeah I see how
18:14
that could work oh yeah this is going to be a little bit better and so if you have a little bit of a track record of
18:20
hey we did something and it worked out good then then I can leverage hey just
18:25
trust me on this guys it's going to be okay and uh so then you got to remind them of
18:32
that yeah well and I think it's that reminder too of all the other changes
18:38
that have been made that have proven to work out yeah you know cuz then you're like hey this is not we're not
18:44
constantly trying something new and totally failing we're having some pretty good success so we can trust even though
18:50
these decisions feel very uncomfortable we're we're going to be better on the other side of it you just got to wait through these these murky
18:58
Waters and going to be better on the other side yeah and I think I can I need to get better at like portraying that to
19:03
the staff or or being grateful that they're coming along with the journey with us CU I know that is kind of hard
19:09
for them and so having the right people that that will go with you can be can be
19:15
very important yeah um and so I feel fortunate that we do have a majority of
19:21
people that will come along for the ride yeah and especially some of those that have been there for a while they've seen
19:27
this and so they know that it's going to be okay um getting the new people to see that is sometimes a little bit harder
19:34
but it it it is helpful that when you got in general really good staff there's
19:39
a good there's a good level of trust yeah they're they're trusting you as their leader in the decisions that
19:44
you're making for sure yeah that sounds like there's a lot of pressure on me now dang it you're going to listen back to
19:51
this and say oh crap now I got to deliver um uh so a practical question
19:56
though that I have is we've talked about all these changes and and how do you kind of uh navigate those changes but I
20:04
would say number one how do you keep the motivation because here you are you know
20:09
20 years in on this like how do you keep that going and then I would say also how
20:15
do you even carve out the time to think about changes that need to happen yeah
20:21
so what was the first question sorry I should have asked him one at the time how do you stay motivated here you are
20:28
years right right so I think for one thing that that is really hard for Dennis and I don't think we talk about enough or maybe we do is it's it's
20:36
really hard to do clinical dentistry and Mo and and motivate your staff and run a
20:44
business and get old like it was easy for me 5 10 years ago to work a full day
20:49
dentistry and in between patients I can like work on something else and just really feeling those days I think now
20:56
that I'm getting old like the days I see p patience it wears me out and I I don't
21:01
even see that many patients like I don't know what the problem is I don't work near as hard as I I did not not as busy
21:09
schedule right but I I I get exhausted that way so so I think there are some real practical tips that we have to do
21:15
to protect ourselves from getting burnt out I've been fortunate that I got great Associates so I I don't have to see
21:21
patients every day four days a week 5 days a week and so I can have those extra days even if it's just in the
21:28
office to just check hygiene that I can think about the office and not get
21:33
distracted and work on those things that that can motivate it so from a practical think side I think we do have to be
21:40
protective of our time and it's hard though when you feel like you got to
21:46
just pound out production every day because you got to make bills but that's the quickest way to get burn out right
21:53
yeah and so I think that there has to be changes to protect us as dentist from
21:59
that whether that's hiring an associate raising fees um changing our
22:05
hours uh whatever that that can be different for every person but but I
22:10
think that has helped me and I knew 10 years ago that I didn't want to be in the chair all the time because that wasn't where my total passion was so I
22:17
had to look at ways to kind of get out of that but as I've gotten out of that it's made it easier to do both yeah and
22:23
so I think we do need to do better as a dentist profession in general of prot protecting both sides of that and in
22:30
truth that's not really fair to our patients right if we're getting burned out doing Dentistry we're getting burned out doing the thing then we're not going to be able to do our best dentistry and
22:36
it's just it's just not the way it's supposed to be done so practically I think we have to set good boundaries to
22:42
make sure that we're protecting ourselves uh as a clinician protecting
22:48
our mental health all of that yeah um and that takes a little bit of work and
22:54
it takes some help to to show you the pathway out of that yeah um but that's what needs to be done and
23:01
that's been really good for me yeah when did you feel like you started to feel
23:06
that shift in you in you where you knew you were going to need more time to actually work on the business side of it
23:15
well I knew 10 years ago that's kind of what I wanted cuz I just didn't love sticking my hands in people's mouth all the time you know if it was doing it
23:23
like on the desk bench without the patient then Dentistry is awesome right but by the time you working in that dark
23:29
hole all the time that can kind of we you out but I would so I'm I'm 48 now
23:36
right um I will tell you like I remember about 5 years ago that I could really
23:42
feel the difference of the clinical Dentistry taking it out of me right now
23:48
certain days were different like if it was a sedation day and I'm doing the surgeries that I kind of really like that but you're just your day in day out
23:54
general dentist Dentistry for me I could tell that that was really wearing on my
24:00
productivity on those days um and it could just be either the type of dentist
24:05
I was doing or you get to a point where you've seen one Crown like that next Crown doesn't get you that excited yeah
24:11
I don't know really what or could I was just old um I don't know what it was but I I could definitely see those days
24:19
where I'm like I did eight hours worth of dentistry and I I can't think anymore yeah um which is weird cuz it's not like
24:26
it's that thought-provoking to do Dentistry I don't know but you could feel the exhaustion of it which I think is important right and so so I was glad
24:33
that I was able to feel that and see that and then pivot to do some things um so that was helpful but I definitely
24:40
think that happens as as we get down the road in in dustry so that means we either got to shift and make some
24:46
changes like we've been talking about to either get rid of the more of the business side get that off our plates or
24:53
I mean I'm kind of in this hybrid mode that's working really good for me yeah um or or shift into less clinical
25:00
dentistry and do do that but I I think I think at least that's how it's worked out for me so then when you made that
25:07
shift to start spending more time on the business side of it less clinical more business side like what do you are there
25:15
books that you're reading are there podcasts you're listening to are there articles like what is it that like gets
25:21
you pumped up to go so I do I listen to
25:27
a bunch of podcasts but they're random from like Health ones to mental health ones to sometimes Dentistry ones to uh
25:34
like yours other ones that kind of get in there um I don't listen to a ton of music so I'm it's either a podcast or
25:41
sports radio on the way home yeah um so that's always going through my head but
25:47
I I I really am trying to look at things as if I was a patient I went to I was
25:53
supposed to I was supposed to go get uh uh like a medical checkup just a physical and all that right so here I am
25:59
being a patient and it was a terrible experience right it was just terrible and so then I'm like oh that's gross I
26:06
don't want any of my patients ever to fill that and so a lot of it is based on
26:11
the stressors or the things that I don't like about my experiences with we talked
26:18
about before like with bureaucracy or with healthc care um just those things
26:24
that I don't like so I'm trying to avoid that for myself and for the patient so so yes I'm I'm I'm trying always to soak
26:30
up Knowledge from other people but so even just using your life
26:36
experiences almost because sometimes I feel like what other people have done is great for them and that works for them
26:44
but dentists sometimes fall into the Trap of oh we're just going to defer our knowledge to somebody that's done it
26:49
before and they know everything and I I do I want that knowledge but I do think there has to be some critical thinking
26:55
of okay how does this really fit and for what I value and what my practice wants
27:00
and and how we're doing that so yeah I think a lot of it comes from personal experience and hearing what every
27:07
everybody says and says okay that's a great idea how does this work into my office let's go implement it so that we
27:13
have it customized to our patients yeah yeah I think that makes sense and I
27:18
think that's such a critical point of just even using your own personal experiences to constantly be equating
27:24
that back to whether it's a restaurant whether it's a doctor's appointment I think we can gain so much just by
27:30
evaluating what did I like about that interaction or what did I not like about that interaction and then just letting
27:37
your mind go to go okay how does that parlay over into my practice and what could we be doing
27:43
differently right and I do think you know we talk about my innate nature my brain sometimes does not slow down very
27:50
well right and I can't find a hobby that like distracts me very well like I've
27:57
looked for everything right and so so I don't have that outlet with the hobby so I've kind of almost translate that to
28:03
okay my outlet is how do I make my practice better how do I work on that how do I keep my brain focused on those
28:09
types of things and so for me I've just kind of embraced that yeah as that's my
28:15
my fun thing right and uh I think that's okay but I also think too it correlates
28:22
so well with your willingness to change because if you just had a practice was that was the same every single day for
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20 years it you at some point you go okay it's not quite that interesting anymore but I think if it's constantly
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becoming something new your curiosity is still peaked with it right and and and
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I've know I know that about me like I like new things I like trying new things I don't like the day in day out of
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managing something right so fortunately for my practice has given me that outlet
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of curiosity and will this work and can we make this better and can we do that
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and then like today I was just working on the software fixing a little treatment plan thing and when it was done I was like oh that felt good we
29:06
nailed that right like so so there is some reward that comes along to the change and to working on it you you got
29:12
to embrace those those benefits as well and uh and that can that can feel good
29:18
well and it gives you other little things to celebrate besides the Dentistry so something as simple as we got this new software and you were able
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to fix up this really great treatment plan in it and you're like okay I get to celebrate that little success it's not
29:32
Dentistry but it's like it is a success yeah it's funny that you mentioned that I'm thinking of when we had our old
29:39
system and I I'm not Excel person because I I was just invented when I was
29:45
in I don't even know like I just never got trained on it right like I just never knew that but we had to create this little payment option Excel
29:52
spreadsheet that our staff could use and all that right and it's funny that didn't have much to do with Dentistry by
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the time we got it done it looked good it was it was pretty for the patients it had everything we want on it and that
30:04
was just kind of like a cool small little Victory but then in turn made it easier for the staff made it cleaner for
30:10
the patients and so it kind of gets this win-win thing when it was just a new thing that we had to create so I think I
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think you're right on that that that there's some satisfaction in that and I
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think when we can put other things besides the clinical Dentistry into that category and experience satisfaction C
30:28
off of multiple aspects of the practice that can be motivating and it's like okay let's keep moving forward yeah it
30:34
is for me right I I don't get super excited about like little Crown margin or
30:39
something like that anymore right it maybe a big case is kind of fun and and I appreciate that when you know you
30:46
change people's lives and all of that right so those those were good but but a unless you have that type of practice I
30:53
mean my practice is pretty family oriented so right so there's winds in
31:00
there and I do believe that patients love coming to us I think we do Dentistry a little bit different so they
31:06
like that and those are wins and we appreciate that and those relationships and all that blah blah blah blah blah um
31:12
that's good yeah right but it can get a little bit mundane and so tweaking the
31:17
practice and making the way we look and present and how we treat those
31:22
people that's new and exciting and different and that does keep keep me
31:29
motivated I mean I think it keeps at least from what I've witnessed it keeps you motivated but it also keeps the team
31:35
sharp I think sometimes when we have a what what I would call more of a stale
31:41
practice that kind of just stays status quo then the team can become dull in
31:48
that process cuz they're really not they're just able to execute they become more Factory workers like just execute the same thing over and over again with
31:54
consistency and that's success whereas I think when the environment's constantly
32:00
changing our minds have to stay sharp our communication has to stay sharp and that keeps your team on their toes so to
32:08
speak so that they're sharper and better I think in the long run yeah I think so and I think you guys were talking about
32:14
that I guess with your dad or whatever how like these different cycles and going through covid and the world is
32:19
constantly changing right and so being willing to adapt and see that one thing
32:24
I don't love about businesses is they always feel like they have to grow and get bigger and bigger and bigger um but
32:31
I don't think that we're totally changing just so we can get bigger and make more money this year's been good
32:37
that way which is awesome um but for me it's like how do we get better right and
32:44
and we're fortunate that like you know talking to one of my associate about today like it you know sometimes it's
32:50
just about having the the consistency of the income and if that's good enough to live off and there's no reason to keep
32:55
growing and do all those things right um so we are growing as a practice but I
33:00
also feel like we're growing to try to be better and then we hope that the money pays off in the end but even if it
33:07
doesn't pay off like oh we're going to get this big payout or whatever I think it's okay to be motivated to make things
33:15
better yeah right it's like even if you lose at one even if the financial payout isn't what you wanted it to be at least
33:20
you won at one of them yeah totally right and so so that that's that's motivating to me is how are we better
33:27
it's not purely Financial actually I very rarely think of it as a financial
33:36
decision um it's is this good for the patients is it good for the practice and then okay now let's see if it's actually
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going to work MoneyWise right and so I am motivated to make things better
33:51
and would you say that that's cuz one of the questions that I had kind of thought
33:57
about for this is what's your comp like what in the midst of a lot of change what keeps you centered so to speak or
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how do you always make sure you're due north so to speak and I think you just said I feel
34:10
like it's if it always centers around making sure that something's better yeah does that is that kind of
34:17
like the lpus test I think so especially in my practice right like sometimes like
34:23
I I don't have the same motivation to twist and tweak on my home if we got to get this sprinkler better or the lights
34:29
better or whatever that doesn't quite get me excited but for sure with my practice I
34:35
think I mean I don't know why it wouldn't be right like like it just it
34:40
feels like a dumb so maybe that's the answer to your question is yes that's exactly right because it doesn't make sense for me not to have it any other
34:47
way right right and so when I'm showing up to work it's okay are we doing the
34:52
right things the right way for the right time and if not let's get it better right right and
35:00
uh I think that's a good I I don't know I just feel like in business that's how it should be yeah and only because I
35:06
feel the so so yes your answer what you said is exactly right because I also
35:11
feel like it's my responsibility to do the very best that we can for our patience in that way yes and maybe it's
35:18
it's really just pride and I want people to like me in my business but I do feel that responsibility of okay if the
35:24
patients are coming to our office we got to be as good as we can in all always and it's not fair to them if
35:31
we're at least not trying right right so it's almost like that goal to be better
35:36
should always benefit the patient like I can I can think of a lot of ways that from a practice standpoint we choose to
35:42
be quote unquote better but if the direct benefit is not the patient then
35:48
that's not worth pursuing it's it's it they should flow together yeah they
35:53
should align right but but I I do see sometimes practic will make decisions what's best for the dentist which we
36:01
need to consider that or it's best for the staff and and I don't know that that's
36:08
always the right way right right for me it's like okay is this best for the patient then we can see if those other things will fall into line or how we or
36:16
how we could potentially tweak that plan to make it fish exactly right so if this was best for the patients okay now let's
36:21
make what do we change with the staff to make sure that it works for the staff what do we change with the doctor so that it works
36:28
best with them yeah right um and so I don't know I just don't know why I
36:34
wouldn't be any other way you're like asking is that not everybody's moral yeah so maybe I'm just the idiot here
36:40
that has never thought that there's another way and maybe maybe it's time for me to change my course but like I
36:46
don't know why I've never thought of it that way I well and I would say it's not that
36:53
that lacks in other doctors I think sometimes the stress of just the
36:59
practice can prevent us from thinking about what is better it's almost like
37:05
what can I do to survive totally rather than what can I do to be better yeah and and I get that
37:12
like so I I know we've gone long here but here's like a little example of that is just this yesterday I'm feeling
37:18
overwhelmed because everything's out of control new software I don't know where anything is right and and so I noticed
37:23
myself going up and just kind of organizing some files to take them to get shredded that had like nothing to do
37:30
with fixing anything but I needed just to control just a little something right and so that's that's not lost on me I
37:37
understand those feelings right and and I don't like those feelings and so here
37:42
I am yesterday I'm like okay well I can just keep taking these files out to get
37:47
shredded which it doesn't me it's just not good other then it makes me feel better right I could have the staff do
37:53
it the Shredder's not com until Friday so we got plenty of time like just stuff so I totally get that but I was kind of
37:59
feeling paralyzed of oh I just don't like the way this feels
38:04
so so being cognizant of that was very helpful for me I'm like okay we'll take this one box maybe I'll do one box a day
38:10
just to kind of get there and then I knew I had to sit down and okay let's plug through some things so I can get some real accomplishment done on stuff
38:17
that's going to be good for the practice and now I'm getting both done I'm feeling better because I'm not so
38:23
paralyzed I'm active but I'm actually going to active on something that's going to make it better yeah um because yeah you get too
38:30
overwhelmed and you're just like well I'm in survival mode I don't care but that's that's where people H can't stay
38:36
there got to do something even if like you said finding something you can control that may not be very
38:41
consequential but okay take that little thing and control it so that you've got the energy to still power through and
38:48
becoming better yeah and so that's what happened yesterday I did this little things on the boxes and it was good it was clean and then I'm like all right
38:55
that's dumb now I feel better let's go do some real work right so having those little things is important but uh I
39:02
totally get that it's just when I'm my best self that's not the right answer
39:09
right the the answer is not to go away or shy shy away from things the answer
39:14
is to step into it and then it's going to be fine yeah
39:21
right if we don't lean into the hard stuff then we're never going to get where we want to mm no no and and again
39:28
I think I hope that this would be encouraging for somebody that's earlier
39:33
in their career because here you are you know sitting at 20 years in and you can
39:39
look back and say you've done a lot of hard things like you've made a lot when I say a lot of changes like it's just
39:46
looking back it's so many changes ridiculous it's a ridiculous amount of changes it's dumb but it it is worth it
39:53
I think you would sit here now and go looking back there would be nothing that you would unchange that that change has led to a
40:00
point where you're like no I stand by and I'm still pursuing that level of change to be better because I know it
40:06
pays off in the end so if you'll just Wade through the hard stuff the pay off's there yeah and I've had to changed
40:12
my mindset like I I hear this a lot or not a lot but I think a good way of looking at struggles and hard steps is
40:19
either you can either say well crap here we go again this is going to be hard or we can look at it and say all right here
40:25
we go again this is going to be fun because we know the outcome of it is going to be better right and so just
40:34
saying the same words of here we go again with the tone of ah crap or okay let's do it here we go again we know
40:41
that's going to get us somewhere and so whatever it's it's a mental game it's a
40:46
mental game that you have to play with yourself yeah and I have to remind myself of that yeah and cuz I'm not feel
40:52
like I'm just like everybody else is just trying to survive half the time but the more
40:57
I remind myself and the more I tell myself and look at it different ways and and try to keep myself that way I mean
41:04
it's paid off okay it's I think it's working it's working for you fine again it's not just me like we've had great
41:10
people and and lots of help and lots of support and so that's that's helpful you
41:16
got to find the people I was about to say you got to find the people and then when the people capture that hey this is
41:24
going to be a place where a lot of exciting change happens you tend to keep the people that want that and you tend
41:30
to to phase out the people that don't so it ends up being a really exciting
41:36
environment that in that yeah maybe they vocally are like oh gosh this is going to be terrible but ultimately they get
41:43
behind you with change mhm tot and and I would say that to keep myself motivated
41:48
gosh I keep talking here is I remember a time in my life where I was like okay I
41:54
got to start weeding out the crap whether it's my staff my friends my people around me and like
42:00
get surrounded with people that I can trust and have uh a uh support with and
42:05
then that doesn't keep me so feeling of stuck or paralyzed because I know I got
42:11
good people that can ask questions of that I can meet with that can push me along the way and so doing it alone is
42:19
not the way to do it but getting yourself surrounded by those that that will help you and support you makes it
42:24
easier to be motivated it does yeah because then you're surrounded by like-minded people totally and so
42:30
they're thinking the same way we're working on it and I know if I get tired I need to ask somebody to do they're going to step up and help or whatever so
42:36
it just makes it that much more important I mean it's it's stuff that we all should know but I think we should be
42:43
active on who we're putting oursel around us yeah because then you don't get so burned out you got the people to
42:49
help you and do that and that's that's what's worked for me and I've been grateful for that well and I think
42:54
you're right I think it's things that we know it's it's just the discipline of doing it totally totally right I've been
43:01
trying to lose like 10 pounds I know how to do it but like here we are I'm going to go probably go pound an ice cream sandwich when we're done with this so
43:07
you know oh my gosh well I love this episode
43:12
I knew you would bring it again so you're so kind yeah thank you hopefully everybody's feeling extra motivated
43:18
after this well yeah I hope so it was a great therapy session for me so I feel better again oh my gosh well thanks
43:24
again for being here all right awesome hey dummy I'm talking to you now that's
43:30
normally what I say to myself in the mirror but not today today the dummy is you if you haven't signed up for your
43:36
subscription because I have and so I am going to go get all my fresh content and
43:43
uh move on and do some good things and if you haven't signed up I'm talking to you dummy now go sign up
43:56