Growth Goals with Dr. Jones

Dr. Jones is finally back, and he is passionate about today’s topic! In this episode, he reminds listeners what it takes to truly grow. He and Bethany discuss the challenges and setbacks to growing as well as the skills and determination it takes to make daily changes that lead to growth. Today’s episode will have you smiling and hopefully recommitting to the daily pursuit of growth. Rev up that engine and get ready! 

📢Want 30% off the Leadership Summit? Become a subscriber!! 

August Digest Available TODAY! This month we focus on HIRING! Grow your team and build your systems intentionally this month. Subscribe today! 

HUB HIGHLIGHT

Interview and Hiring Support Bundle

Hiring can be overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. This bundle gives you the templates you need to ask better questions, stay organized, and feel more confident throughout the hiring process. 

Offer Letter Templates Bundle

Start every new hire off on the right foot with professional, editable offer letter templates. 

Don't forget to check out our social media for more
Managing Dental Drama FB
Managing Dental Drama IG

Connect with the Managing Dental Drama Community!
Managing Dental Drama Membership Club Sign Up

Wait! There's More!
We want to hear YOUR voice!
Text a 2-minute voice memo to 214.326.4605 with your questions, comments, real-life examples, or tips for a chance to have YOUR voice on the air!

Interested in the Leadership Summit?
Join Us! Friday, September 18, 2026
8:30am - 4:30pm
In The Colony, TX
Inquire or register TODAY!
HelloBethany.com/Leadership

Transcript

00:01 Are you looking for a podcast where you can hear from real people regarding their real dental drama? If so, then you've come to the right place.

00:11 Join hosts Bethany Penny and Dr. Reena Kuba as we dive into the solutions we've created and the mistakes we've made while managing dental drama.

00:22 Let's get started.

Okay, Dad, you're finally back. Happy Fourth of July.

I know.

00:29 It's been a wonderful weekend. It's always sad when you leave and go back.

00:33 I know. I was just putting the kids down. They're like, “We leave tomorrow? Why? Why tomorrow?” They'd stay forever if they could.

00:42 I wish they could stay forever.

00:45 But we get to at least finish the weekend out with a podcast.

I know it. And thanks, Kuba.

00:52 I was going to say, Kuba would have slaughtered me if I would have come home without one. So, I told you that I just wanted to talk about growth, right?

01:00 The idea of how do you grow? How do you pick what you're going to grow in? How do you stay motivated to—

01:07 grow, et cetera? So, I just want to, like, open the floor. John, dive in.

01:13 So, when you gave me that idea, at least you gave me a little while to think about it. And so then my first—

01:20 thought was, well, when we're talking about what is growth?

Yeah.

First of all, what is growth? So, here's a definition that I like, that growth is—

01:29 the process of becoming bigger, better, stronger, or more developed over time.

01:35 And the growth then depends on the context. And so then I was—

01:42 thinking of, okay, in our world, what are living things that we expect to grow? So—

01:50 like a seed growing into a mighty oak, a flower blooming, grass spreading, a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, a—

01:58 puppy growing into an adult, a baby growing into an adult, a chick hatching from an egg, and then—

02:06 nature, too, continues to grow. Like, rivers change. Coral reefs grow.

02:13 So, it's something becoming better. So then, when you asked me about growth, then I thought, well, okay—

02:21 what are we talking about? So, there are different kinds of growth. When you asked me about—

02:30 growth, I know we're talking about the practice, but there's also personal growth, physical growth, business growth—

02:38 economic growth, plant growth, and we'll talk about, in the idea of growth—

02:48 how do we grow? But it is not normal for something to not grow. So, we—

02:56 think, if a child doesn't develop right, that's abnormal. If a plant doesn't—

03:04 grow and mature, that's not normal. So, in our world, growth is expected, and it's—

03:10 normal. And if it doesn't, then that's abnormal. But it's so funny, as human beings, you know, we have the greatest—

03:19 ability to grow, but we either get lazy or comfortable.

Yeah.

03:27 Because, in doing a little research this afternoon, growth is just, in our—

03:33 world, it just doesn't happen naturally like it does in the plant world or the animal world.

03:43 They just naturally mature. And, of course, we physically naturally mature, but then the growth of—

03:50 our minds, our personalities, our businesses, our family relationships, spiritual relationships, it's all intentional and takes effort.

04:02 Yeah.

04:03 And I think we get comfortable, specifically in our practices. Maybe we get comfortable—

04:12 with where we are, either financially, or our patient load, or the services that we—

04:20 provide. And we just get comfortable because maybe growth at that level is meeting—

04:27 all of our expectations or all of our needs. But then again, in nature—

04:35 nothing stops growing. It's always growing. So, let's just talk about that.

04:44 I mean, I think that's such a good point. It's interesting that our physical bodies, the natural part of us, grows—

04:52 but then the unseen or the intangible, like our mind and our skill set.

Yeah.

05:03 It's almost like there are so many things that can halt that growth from happening, and sometimes it's our own self—

05:11 that, I would say, oftentimes it's probably—

Sure.

—our own self that stunts that growth or—

05:18 thinks it's not possible, or even limits—

Yeah.

—self-limiting beliefs on how—

05:27 we can grow. So, I think that's a really good subject that we could talk about for a—

05:34 long time, just because we have so much potential—

05:43 but it takes effort to reach that potential. For us as human beings, we have to decide that we're going to grow. So—

05:51 when thinking about growth, it doesn't happen by accident. With the growth that we're—

05:58 talking about, so here are like seven or eight ideas, and then we'll get specifically into dentistry. Number one, set a clear goal.

06:08 Yeah.

06:08 If I'm going to grow, decide what area you want to grow in.

06:13 Is it my leadership skills? Is it my clinical skills? Do I want to grow in what we provide for our patients? Do—

06:23 we want to grow our staff? Do we want to grow our patient base? So, again, we have to decide or see in our—

06:32 minds what we want that growth to look like. We've got to have an idea. If I'm going to grow, I'm going to grow toward—

06:40 what? What am I going to go toward? And so then I thought this was a really good idea.

06:47 Part of setting a goal is great, but it's nothing without setting daily habits—

06:54 to reach that goal. So, I think sometimes, if I'm a dentist or just a businessperson in life and I want to grow—

07:04 sometimes that goal of where we want—I'm an acorn. I want to become a tree. Oh, man, that's a big leap.

Yeah.

07:13 So, I'm a private practitioner and I want to reach this financial goal, or I want to learn this new skill.

07:22 Sometimes that goal can be overwhelming.

07:27 But the key is just daily, little bitty, daily habits. I think that's just really great. Another—

07:37 idea that I looked at was just learning continuously, not being afraid to learn continuously. I know, when looking back—

07:47 I know when I got out of dental school, and maybe it's better now, geez, I knew nothing.

Yeah.

07:53 Nothing. I could take out a tooth. I could do a crown prep, probably not very well, and it would take a half a day.

08:02 Root canals took three one-hour appointments because that's the way we were taught. You really know nothing.

Yeah.

08:08 And I think maybe the schools are better now, but when we graduated, we knew nothing about running a business or leadership or anything.

08:17 Anything. We knew nothing.

Yeah.

08:20 So, learn continuously. And wherever your—

08:28 guys and gals are now, just don't be afraid to learn continuously.

08:33 For many of us, our school—and I'll leave my dental alma mater unnamed—

08:41 but, man, they were just mean. Really, most of school, all the professors, they were all like—

08:50 ex-military. You know, mean. So, it wasn't an environment that made—

08:57 you feel good about yourself. You just felt stupid and beat.

Yeah, you don't even deserve to live, much less be a dentist.

09:08 This would be something, and just thinking about growth before specifically practices. I'm not good at this because I don't want to hear it—

09:17 but as we grow toward whatever goal, asking for feedback.

Yeah. Oh, God, that's so hard.

09:25 So hard. So hard.

09:27 I don't have the, I don't have the stamina or the fortitude to take it.

09:34 It takes such confidence and humility.

Oh, yeah.

At the same time.

09:38 I, I, I hate humility.

Yeah.

09:45 It, yeah. It's so, I admire, yeah, yeah. Because then, then what do you do with that?

09:53 Does it crush you or encourage you?

09:56 I'm crushed easily. To strike the balance between, okay, I, I know initially I may be crushed by it, but then I'm going to be bold enough to—

10:05 Like that. I'm going to fire your butt.

10:13 It'll teach you to never be honest again.

10:15 Don't be honest with me.

Yeah. But part of growth is, is being able to ask—

10:24 How am I doing? Like, let me just give you an example. I was humbled the other day, and boy, it was an eye-opener for me.

10:33 For me, not an eye-opener for the staff. They were just ticked off about the whole thing. So I go into, but it—

10:40 Made me realize, boy, I need to improve. I need to grow in this area. So I go into hygiene. It's a young man—

10:47 Probably 15 or 16. His mother is, is in the room. My hygienist has already, already gone over what she has seen on—

10:57 X-rays, what she's, because that's just the way they do it. They just preheat.

11:02 This is what I see. This is what I think the doctor's going to say.

11:07 And so I've gotten lazy and just going in and saying, “Hey, what's going, you know, chitchat. Hey, what's going on—

11:15 With this patient?” And so there were some cavities, a tooth that probably would ideally need a root, I mean, a—

11:24 Crown. And the mother says, “How do you know that?” And I said, “How do I know what?”

11:33 And she said, “How do you know what he needs? You haven't even looked in his mouth.”

11:39 Ding. Ah, you haven't even looked at his medical chart that you guys asked me to fill out.

11:47 Oh, wow.

11:48 And the hygienist came to me and first said, “This patient's crazy.

11:55 Just crazy.”

No, not really.

Yeah.

11:59 Asking the right questions, right?

12:01 Nailed us, you know. And I was so, at first I'm like, that feedback, like when you get feedback and they make you—

12:09 Sad or tick you off. So at first I was like, “Who are you? I'm the doctor. I've been doing this 48—

12:16 Years, you know.” But I listened to her and realized, you, you have a valid point.

Yeah.

12:25 Why should you believe, because I haven't looked in your child's mouth, right?

12:29 I haven't looked. And, and she wanted to say there are health issues here that are going to interfere with your—

12:38 Treatment. Not really, right? There weren't any, but could have been.

12:46 Could have been. I didn't know.

Yeah.

12:50 So anyway, a learning process. That, that goes back to growth.

Yeah.

12:56 There was unexpected feedback. You can either take that and be angry about it, or you can choose to go, okay, what can I learn from this scenario? And the—

13:05 Optics are important. And you might have already looked at those X-rays. You might trust your hygienist's word.

13:13 But if that mom saw you didn't even look, now, now how would you know?

13:18 Yeah. So it's, it's, you're never coming back from that.

Yeah. She's never coming back.

Yeah.

13:25 And I wouldn't, I wouldn't either. And I tried to. So I grabbed her hand and I said, “What do I need to do?”

Yeah.

13:33 So then I took the time, it's too late, but I took the time to go through and talk about his health and talk about our—

13:42 Suggestions and that I still suggest a crown. It's the ideal, but you may not be able to afford the—

13:50 Ideal with your insurance. I'm saying that's the ideal, but there is another option. We can put a filling in there.

13:57 So that was growth for me.

13:59 Yeah. Yeah. And hopefully it will be growth for the office because we're going to talk about it, because they're all riled up about it.

14:08 Yeah.

14:09 Who is she? You know? No, she's a very smart woman with some very good suggestions.

Yeah.

14:16 So that was kind of, hold on—

14:19 Feedback. Feedback that comes from feedback and opening yourself up to that. And, and growth, again, for your—

14:25 Practice or physically or financially or personally. Embrace challenges.

14:33 Yeah. You know, trees face challenges to grow. Some don't grow because the—

14:42 Challenges are too, whether it be weather or animals or just things that trees experience. So the same thing with us.

14:53 We can set a goal. We can have daily habits, but there are going to be challenges.

Yeah.

15:00 There are going to be setbacks. There are going to be failures.

15:04 And those daily habits help. If you have those habits in place, then they become nonnegotiable. You don't have to—

15:13 Think. They're a habit. It's just a natural response. So you don't have to motivate yourself when you hit a challenge—

15:21 Right? You just keep, psych yourself up. You just, you just go, go back to the habits.

Yeah.

15:29 And I would say, too, you know, we were, it was funny. We were sitting out by the pool earlier with Mom today, and my—

15:35 Husband was pointing out the trees growing at an angle.

Yes.

15:41 For those of you that don't live around trees, trees can get really tall. How tall would you say your trees are?

A hundred feet.

A hundred feet. Yeah. Really tall.

15:49 And so we were marveling at how angled some of them are.

15:54 And my sister was out here, and she was like, “That is weird. Why are they growing like that?” And so my husband—

16:01 Pointed out, like, “Oh, well, they have to fight for the sun,” right?

16:06 So they, they grow. And I got to thinking about that, and I thought, really, that is—

16:13 Crazy to think about that. You look at this 100-foot tree that, that many, many, many, many years ago started angling a—

16:21 Certain way for the sun. And again, you think about the hardships of that and what that tree went through to get to the light that would make it grow.

Yeah.

16:31 And that's the kind of hardships we face. But it wasn't just, it decided one day, “Oh, I can't get light now. I'm going to—

16:38 Bend over and get it.” It decided daily habits, little daily habits, to grow a certain direction, so to reach its full potential.

16:48 Yep. Yep.

16:49 And without those, it would have died.

It would have died because it didn't have—

Yeah.

Sunlight.

Yeah.

16:56 Oh, shoot. I had something here. Oh, another part of that is—

17:02 So, set goals, daily habits, you know, embrace challenges.

Yes.

17:09 Ask for feedback. And another idea here I saw was persevere.

17:16 Just persevere. So your listeners, as we think about practices—

17:24 You just have to persevere through those challenges, through setbacks, through failures.

Yeah.

17:32 And you might not reach your goal. Let's say you have a goal—

17:42 And you don't reach it, but you are a better person having tried to get there, right?

17:48 So when you look back, I started here at level one. I'm wanting to get to level eight. I only made it to level four, but—

17:56 You were a one, right?

17:58 So it's still a win. So you can't let those, if you don't reach your goal, at almost 75 now, it's okay.

18:11 Yeah. Give yourself some grace. At least you had, you were intentional.

Mhm.

18:18 You wanted to improve your leadership skills or your office or finances or your systems.

18:30 But that goal doesn't have to be set in stone. It can change.

Yeah.

18:35 And you might, you might think, “Oh, this is the goal that I want.” And as you advance toward that goal, you realize—

18:41 “Oh, that's not really the goal.”

Yeah.

18:45 Just like the tree. Okay, I can't grow at this angle, so I'm going to pivot it.

18:49 I should be straight. That's the way God designed it. But I had to change course, a course to do that.

18:57 Yeah.

18:59 Yeah. And I think the idea of perseverance is not a popular one because perseverance is hard. And, and—

19:08 When you combine that with the idea of daily habits, that means it's hard. There could be periods of time where it's hard for days and months on end.

19:18 Yeah.

19:19 And that's not a real sexy topic that people rally around, but I think it's essential for growth. And I think—

19:27 Practice ownership is one of the penultimate ways of showing that perseverance and daily diligence, daily—

19:36 Habits. It does pay off. Maybe not in the exact way you had mentioned it, but it pays off.

19:42 Oh, sure. It's just like exercising. You know, I used to exercise, and I got really strong.

19:53 Yeah. But not overnight, right?

19:57 You know, it took a long time. And so you have to decide to be happy with small steps.

20:04 Mhm.

20:05 Maybe emotion shouldn't even be part of it, right?

20:11 It's just a habit, non-emotional. This is the step, the activity that I need to—

20:16 Take. Now, some of us, probably all of us, when we determine a goal, often we need help.

20:26 Yeah. Just like the trees need sun and rain, and—

20:34 As practice owners, as business owners, a lot of times, first of all, we don't know what goal to set. We don't even—

20:42 Know. But then we need to—it'd be ridiculous to think a baby could grow to adulthood without a lot of help.

20:52 Yeah.

20:54 So, let's consider you're a baby at whatever stage you are in your practice.

20:59 It would be silly to think that you can go from that to adulthood, or that to maturity, without someone helping you. So that's where someone like you comes in.

21:10 Yeah.

21:11 And helps you maybe overcome some of those challenges or prepare you for some of those challenges, and is there—

21:20 To help you persevere and keep watering and nurturing, because dentistry is lonely.

21:28 Yeah, it is really, really lonely because we've talked about this. I know you have some—

21:35 Clients that have camaraderie with other people and they can bounce, but most of us are like silos. We are just alone.

21:46 And thankfully I have a good staff that supports me, but there may be listeners that don't have that support staff.

21:56 You know, they're fighting. They have goals and dreams and they want to grow, but no one wants to grow with them, right?

Yeah.

22:04 You know, they don't have a flower garden. They have a garden full of weeds just sucking the life out of them.

Yeah.

22:12 So, you have to have some help.

22:14 And it's okay to realize, you know, I really do want to grow. I want to set some goals. I don't even—

22:22 Know what goals to set, but I want to be better because growth is normal.

22:28 I should want to be better as a clinician, as a leader, financially, for my family, for the team. I should—

22:37 Want that, but I don't know.

Yeah. I don't even know where to start.

Yeah.

22:43 But it's so hard for us to feel like, I'm a dentist. I'm a doctor.

Yeah.

22:49 I'm smarter. I wouldn't have made it this far.

22:52 Made it this far. Surely I can figure it out. But then you waste so much time and energy and discouragement and failure—

23:00 That a lot of times you don't reach your full potential.

23:04 First of all, you've got to set some goals. You've got to be intentional about it. You've got to have some daily habits. But help. You've got to have some help.

23:13 And that's okay. It's not a failure to need that help.

23:17 No, it's part of the process. But I don't know where along the way we develop that independence.

23:25 Yeah. I've got to do it myself.

Yeah. But boy, it's a tough road.

Mhm.

23:33 Costly, because you can lose a lot. Particularly from a leadership perspective, you can lose staff.

Yeah.

23:40 You can never develop the staff that you need or you want. So then your success is limited or impossible.

23:51 So, if you will grow as a leader, your team is going to follow you. You're—

23:58 Going to help them. You be the waterer, the nurturer for them and help them. If you can help them—

24:08 Better themselves mentally and clinically, it takes less stress off of you because—

24:16 You're surrounded with the right nourishment to make you, as a plant, grow into a big oak tree.

Yeah.

24:23 It creates this environment of, we're all growing together, rather than I'm the only one that's trying to drag—

24:30 This team along. And I'd like to say that I do that routinely. I don't.

Yeah.

24:37 You develop this attitude, or I've developed this attitude, that, man, you ought to know, you know?

24:46 Why do we have to talk about this? And I'm terrible. You are always much better at confrontation.

Yeah. I just hope it'll go away.

24:55 You know, I know it's not, but I just hope and pray. So I'm not good at those challenges, particularly with staff.

25:05 Yeah. I was better earlier.

25:08 Earlier, because your sister, who worked with me for eight years, will look at me and say, “What happened to you?” if she'll come into the office, you know?

25:18 Yeah.

25:19 And she was like, “Man, what happened?” I'm just tired.

25:26 Just, just, but, and that's an excuse too, because it's just easier. But I was—

25:34 I think I expected or demanded more from the staff earlier on.

Yeah.

25:42 So, I'm not a good example, not a good example of confrontation.

25:46 Well, but also I think that's where, you know, situations pop up where you're geared in one direction or another. And—

25:54 I think there are areas that, as a person, we're naturally wired to grow in certain—

26:01 Areas and naturally wired to avoid other areas. And I think that's part of the challenge with growth because really—

26:08 As a practice owner, you've got to grow as a clinician. You've got to grow as a business owner if you own a business.

26:16 You've got to grow as a leader. You've also got to grow just in who you are as a person, right?

26:24 Communication is a big one. Like, you're always wanting to grow in how you communicate with your patients, how you communicate with your staff, your—

26:31 Family, et cetera. It's like there are so many areas that you need to be growing in that I think that's what becomes challenging—

26:39 Because it's almost like we get, like, I'm dominant right hand and—

26:47 Seldom, if ever, use my left hand. I feel like some people are more evenly balanced, ambidextrous.

Yeah.

26:54 And I am like, I can't do anything with my left hand, you know? And so what do I do?

26:58 My right arm gets stronger and stronger and stronger because I always use it. Heaven forbid, like right now my daggum wrist is hurting, and I find myself—

27:06 Needing to use my left hand, and it's not equipped at all to do anything.

27:12 And I think about that with growth too, where it's like we're naturally wired to grow in certain areas. And I think—

27:19 Some people naturally lean into that and almost ignore the areas that they know they're weak in.

27:27 Yeah. And I don't know. I don't know whether that's good or bad. I'm not sure. I think maybe if we recognize it.

Yeah.

27:35 And then we can choose, okay, it's easy for me to grow in this area. Really a struggle here.

27:45 Are there people I can surround myself with that can take up this? Because—

27:53 I either don't want to develop the daily habits to strengthen my left hand, my left arm. I'm not going to do it.

28:02 I don't want to do it. It's too hard for me. So, can I surround myself with people? But—

28:09 Again, that becomes feedback that we give ourselves. Okay, I'm right-handed. My left hand, I'll never—

28:19 Strengthen it. I'm not going to go to the gym and strengthen that left hand. So, how am I going to—I'm not going to grow this—

28:27 But I'm going to surround myself with people that can use their skills, their skills. So, yeah, I think that's—

28:34 That's really good. And maybe, maybe sometimes with growth—

28:42 Maybe we should just choose, rather than thinking of all of the areas that I need to choose, what's the one area that's—

28:50 Going to have the most—if I grow in this area, what is it going to pay off more than any other? Because we can chase growth that's really meaningless.

29:00 Yeah. We're doing some activity.

29:04 We're chasing a goal. But when you look at it, it's really not going to make an impact. So, I think it's really important to decide, where do I need to grow first?

29:16 Yeah. Where do I put my energy right now?

Yeah.

29:19 And then almost, you know, once you get some traction going in that, it's like, okay, then can we layer on a new area?

29:26 Yeah. And, yeah, because I think success breeds success.

29:32 So then we have confidence and, I think, extra energy and extra excitement. Oh, man, I've grown here.

29:40 I think it's just a snowball effect.

Mhm. Yeah.

29:45 Once you get in the rhythm of that growth, it creates that almost, like, kinetic—

29:53 Energy. It's like momentum just gets going.

Yeah.

29:58 So, let's see if there was anything else I had down here about growth.

Yeah.

30:04 Oh, I thought this was really good, that growth is not about perfection.

30:12 Mhm.

30:13 And dentistry kind of attracts people that are OCD. They want to be perfect. So, I'm not going to be a leader until I can be a perfect leader.

30:23 I'm not going to do this clinical skill until I can be perfect at it. But growth is, again, those tiny steps.

30:32 Yeah.

30:34 For instance, for me, some of us get paralyzed by analysis.

30:41 So, for me, you know that for years I have studied, spent money, listened to podcasts about real estate.

30:50 Yeah. Oh, I think real estate is just it for generational wealth for you guys that I could pass down.

30:59 Have I done anything?

Well, you've learned a lot.

31:03 I've learned, but education without action is nothing.

Yeah.

31:09 So, we can just get—so, we can think an activity is really—we trick ourselves. Hey, I'm going to all of the—I'm studying all this stuff.

31:19 Someday.

Yeah.

31:22 But again, I'm trying to take too big of a leap. So, for your leaders and doctors, just take those daily habits, I think—

31:31 Are the key. And again, you probably need someone to help you decide those daily habits.

31:37 Yeah. Yeah. Not only what you're aiming for, to have somebody else help speak into that and where it makes the most sense to put your energy, but—

31:45 Then also, okay, what are the daily habits to get to that point?

Yeah. I think that's a good one. Not—

31:53 Chasing—I mean, chase perfection, but also know that if we're not hitting perfection, it doesn't mean we're failing, right? We're still growing. But—

32:02 And I think part of that for me particularly was dental school. They kind of really—

32:10 Instill that, you know, perfection. So that can really be a stumbling block. But we want to be the best that—

32:17 We can be. But in any skill that we learn, or any skill, it's going to take some baby—

32:25 Steps, baby habits, and you're just—you're going to progressively grow. A tree takes decades to grow.

32:34 Yeah.

32:36 So, for growth, I think it should be a lifelong pursuit, and it's always going to be hard. Growth is hard.

32:47 Yeah.

32:47 A plant, a seed has to burrow through the soil to come up, you know? So, it takes effort. So, don't be—

32:56 Surprised that it's going to take some effort, and be willing to commit to the discomfort of it, right?

33:03 That growth doesn't—I mean, even when we think about the natural body growing, you know, you develop those growing pains.

33:11 You know, our kids go through, “Oh, my shin is just killing me,” you know? And it's growing pains. And so, even what's very natural and is going to happen is—

33:18 Healthy for a child to grow, still causes pain, right? And then we think about that emotional side, or that inner—

33:27 Side of us that's not physical, that's maybe not natural to grow in, that's going to, I would imagine, be even more painful of a process.

33:35 But if we're committed to it, then we know we're stepping into some discomfort in the process.

33:42 And the scary thing that I thought about, too, is we all have a finite amount of time.

Yeah.

33:48 So, you know, you could kick this can down the road. I'm going to someday, and then you're 60 years old.

33:58 But there's a window of opportunity for you. We all have that. And growth—

34:05 Even a tree will mature, and you can go in a forest and there's—

34:11 Big dead trees on the ground. At 75, you know, my growth cycle is—

34:20 You know, I've stacked up a lot of rings on the tree. So, there's a finite amount of time, and you just—

34:28 Need to realize that I have a window of time in my life.

Yeah.

34:34 And I just want to take it. I want to grow the entire time.

Yeah.

34:38 Of course, I'm growing now. My body's not growing now. But mentally, we can grow. Skill-wise, we can grow.

34:47 Intellectually, we can grow. But there is a growth period for—

34:55 For all of us where we can really—where that growth is exponential.

Yeah.

35:01 It's no longer exponential for me, and that's just life.

Yeah. You know.

35:06 Well, and to your point, to do as much as we can with it and to really—

35:14 Maximize the time that we have, knowing that there will be a natural slowing period where our bodies don't work—

35:21 As well as they used to. And there's going to—it's going to stunt a certain amount that we could grow in, right? You know—

35:28 So, yeah, it does make—don't sit around and think about growth. Like, just start.

Yeah. Just do it. Baby steps.

35:36 Yeah, baby steps. But set a goal that I'm going to grow.

Yeah.

35:42 Decide where it's the most important for you to grow. Again, get some help in determining, okay, is my growth—

35:51 Clinical? Is that going to make the biggest bang for my dollar? Is it leadership? Is it communication?

Yeah.

36:00 But sometimes you need a gardener to look at the plant and figure out, yeah, is this plant healthy or is it not? What—

36:07 Does this plant need? So, yeah, we all need gardeners in our lives to help us grow.

36:14 And that goes back to that feedback, you know, seeking out that feedback and receiving it, and then doing something with it, you know?

36:23 Yeah. But just believing that someone, the person, the gardener, the person that—

36:29 Gives you feedback, really believes that they want the best, that they want you to grow. It's not a negative, but it's—

36:38 This is what you need to really, really grow, and then being able to accept that.

Yeah.

36:45 And then take action again. Knowledge without action is worthless.

Yeah. What's the point of it?

Yeah. Yeah.

36:52 Yeah. I think all of that, I feel like, is just almost like a roadmap to growth. You know, just like you—

37:01 Said, figuring out where you need to grow, taking it one category at a time or one skill set at a time, and—

37:08 Incorporating somebody to give you a guide map on, hey, I'm going to be blind to some of my areas where I may—

37:16 Need to grow that I don't even know about. So get that feedback, listen to it, and then chart your course with daily habits that you can build to get—

37:25 You toward that growth. And, yeah, I just like the idea. I heard someone recently about this. I never thought about it, that, you know, habits—

37:34 And we mentioned this earlier, don't require any emotion.

37:39 Yeah. I don't have to feel good about it. I don't have to feel great about it.

37:43 It's just, I've determined this action is going to produce results that I'm okay with, that I may be uncomfortable with, maybe afraid, fearful.

37:55 Yeah.

37:56 But I know if I do this, so it's just a commitment. And those baby steps, most times, we can tolerate.

Yeah.

38:05 Yeah. Well, they're palatable at that point because, again, we know it's headed toward a goal, but we don't have to think about that long-distance goal all the time. We just—

38:13 Think, today, what do I do just today?

Mhm. Yeah. One second.

38:18 And then you look 30 days, a year, and you think, wow, look at who I am today. Look at—

38:26 What—and it was just those, again, stacking. It's not one, but we get this daily habit down. And they say 21 days.

38:35 What if it's three months? It doesn't matter.

Right.

Once you've got it, it's there. Now you can—you don't even have to think about it.

38:43 Yeah. This is my response.

38:46 I've taught my mind and my body to do this. Then we move to the next.

Yeah. Yeah. I like it. I like the idea.

38:55 Good. I think it's a great topic. I think it's applicable to all aspects.

38:59 Oh my gosh. Every person in dentistry, I think, can benefit. Anybody can, but this is a dental podcast. So not only the—

39:06 Practice owner, but the manager, the staff, the hygienist, the lab technician. We all have that—

39:15 Opportunity to grow, and we just have to jump in. Well, and as being the practice owner, it would be—

39:23 Nice for us to be so comfortable with our own growth that we can then, in turn, look to our—

39:32 Team and say, “How can I help you grow?”

Yeah. Yeah. But they need to see your growth.

39:40 Yeah.

39:42 Otherwise, it just, you know, if you're a dead tree, you know. So I think we can do—but again, it starts with us.

39:52 Mhm. And then let's spread it to our team.

39:57 It exponentially—we just spread ourselves.

Mhm. Yeah.

40:05 And who knows what the Lord will do with that?

Yeah.

40:08 Yeah. I love it, man. It's a great topic. Thanks for putting your—well, I miss you already.

I know. I know. Well, we'll soon.

40:18 All right. Love you, Dad.

Love you.

40:20 Thanks for joining the conversation today. We hope that you are comforted in knowing that you are not alone, but we also hope that you're walking away with—

40:29 Some really great tips and tricks to try in your practice.

40:34 We value your feedback, so please take a few moments to rate and review the podcast. Finally, we—

40:41 Want to make sure that we're covering the topics that matter to you. So, track us down on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and let us know what topics you want us to cover.

40:52 As always, please know that we are rooting for you today as you manage your dental drama.