DR. ACE GOERIG
OWNER & CO-FOUNDER DDS, MS, ABE Diplomate
Probably the best compliment that I hear from Endo Mastery clients is when they say, “I’m so lucky that I found you!” Usually, they go on to tell me how much happier they are, how their practice and lifestyle has soared, and how much more they are enjoying the profession of endodontics as a practice owner.
Doctors come to Endo Mastery coaching for a variety of reasons, but they broadly fall into 3 categories:
- Doctors who are naturally driven: These doctors are always striving for growth and self-improvement. Sometimes they are motivated by a lifelong curiosity and passion for learning, and sometimes they have a competitive personality that pushes them.
- Doctors with a vision: These doctors have a clear picture for the kind of practice, life and success they want to achieve. They are looking for a strategic roadmap and expertise to achieve their goals and ambitions.
- Doctors with burdens: These are doctors who have concerns about their practice or life, and they are suffering from roadblocks that create discord, stress or frustration. They are looking for solutions to problems that weighing on them and limiting their success.
My heart always goes out to doctors in the third category because that is where there is the greatest risk that the doctor is not enjoying the profession or their practice. They can feel like they are up against a wall, that nothing is easy, and that every day is an endless struggle or disappointment. If doctors always leave the practice feeling drained of energy like that, it can be a toxic influence on everything else in life.
Every doctor deserves to have a practice that makes them feel happy and successful every day. Rather than gritting your teeth in the morning, you should walk into your practice feeling excitement and anticipation for the wonderful day that you and your team are going to have providing care to patients. Each day should be productive, fun and rewarding.
At the end of the day, you should feel complete and fulfilled, and ready to leave full of positive energy for your family. Economically, your practice should provide you with the lifestyle and resources that empower you to enjoy your life to the highest level.
Falling in love again
That’s a beautiful framework to shape your vision for your practice, and to diagnose what is holding you back from being totally in love with it. The practice is, after all, your professional environment and your business to support your family and life. As a practice owner, it should reflect your values, goals, preferences and criteria for success. Everything should feel in harmony and alignment.
The first step to restoring love for your practice is sit down for a couple of hours and thoughtfully write out a wish list. A lot of doctors don’t do this because their attention is often dominated by whatever issue or concern is in front of them right now.
A wish list is simply an articulation of all the things in your practice, family and life that you need or want to improve. That includes problems, issues, annoyances, limitations, goals, opportunities, dreams, etc. You should approach it as a free-flowing exercise without any self-censoring. Imagine waving a wand and it all comes true. Visualize how that would make you feel in the practice, and outside the practice in your family and life.
The next step is to think about priorities. Once you look at your wish list as a whole, you’ll realize that not everything on the list is created equally. Go through your list line by line and put a check mark beside any item for each of the following criteria:
- What significantly moves the needle in a positive direction for how you feel on a day-to-day basis in the practice?
- What has the greatest impact and downstream benefits that make other wish list items subsequently easier and possible?
- What feels urgent and should be addressed sooner rather than later?
Any items on your list that check two or three criteria are your top priorities. Improvements in those areas are going to turn the corner for you faster than anything else. Whether that is 4 things or 10 things, it’s a blueprint for where you need to focus. It’s also a great insight to share with your practice coach to create a plan of action.
In my experience with coaching clients, doctors who are unhappy, stressed, struggling or feeling roadblocked can completely change the trajectory of their practice and life in as little as a year. Often the feeling of inner peace and success that they are looking for starts to come back just from having a plan to finally deal with longstanding frustrations and gaps.