The Single Biggest Mistake Dental Practice Owners Make

They Are Not Clear On Their Why!!!

Are you clear on your why?

Think back to when you first decided to pursue your profession and enter dental school. You knew it wasn’t going to be easy. You must have had some profound reason to begin your education and the pursuit of the professional you are today. Didn’t you?

That reason was so powerful that it got you through all of the late nights, massive stress, tough exams and lengthy papers…..Maybe you ate ramen noodles for two years to be able to afford to go to school. That’s a pretty powerful why to keep you going through all of that stress and heartache. To finish and not quit.

What was that why?

Did you decide to do it for yourself? To prove to yourself that you could do it and were worthy of it? Perhaps you did it to prove something to others. Maybe you held an old grudge, somebody told you that you couldn’t do it, and you decided to put your head down and get it done to prove them wrong……

You might even be on a journey to find significance. Maybe that’s why you decided to pursue your profession.

Perhaps your why is something as simple as money. Maybe lifestyle is why you’ve decided to pursue your profession. You want to live in a certain way, live in a particular home, drive a specific car, eat in nice restaurants and take luxury vacations. You’ve pursued one of the highest-paid professions in the world and there is no shame in earning a high income as a result of all the education and skill you have acquired.

Or maybe your why is a little more altruistic than that, and you wanted to pursue your career to help others. Maybe you want to help others become healthier.

Perhaps your why is a little bit of all of the above.

Without a profound why, there is a high likelihood failure will ensue and people either quit, self-destruct, lose fulfillment or become jaded or bitter. Scaling a business and growing your dental practice is no easy task. There will be plenty of obstacles along the way. A profound why will help you learn from these challenges, dust yourself off and move upward and onward. Without out it, we often question why the heck we are putting ourselves through this intense stress and often succumb to the pressure. This shows up in multiple forms, but most often as poor mental/physical heath, relationships and finances.

As Stephen Covey wrote in his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, “Begin with the end in mind.” Imagine the lifestyle you want to have and everything you want to achieve, and then think backwards and reverse engineer your why. When you first decide your lifestyle, then you can build the business that brings that to fruition, because the emotion that comes when you think about that lifestyle underlies your why.

Your why, your lifestyle, dreams and purpose is unique to you!  It doesn’t have to be absolutely out of this world or one single thing. You can’t rent someone else’s dreams. Remember what leadership guru and best-selling author Robin Sharma says. “Run your own race. Who cares what others are doing? The only question that matters is am I progressing?”

1. Think about the lifestyle you want to have. The house you want to live in, the car you want to drive, the types of vacations you want to take, the amount of time you’d like to volunteer, the charities you would like to support, the people on whom you would like to have a positive impact, the gifts you’d like to buy and the total amount of time off you’d like to take annually.
2. Ask yourself WHY? Why do I want these things? Do you desire significance, want to provide for your family, become your best self or positively impact others?
3. This why will keep you going when you hit roadblocks in your journey. Refer back to it to remind yourself why you signed up for this process in the first place.
4. Take massive action and begin implementing the steps required to build the business of your dreams. This part requires well-defined business goals, a road map or strategic plan to achieve them and consistent execution until the goals are achieved.