It’s safe to say that everyone wants an enjoyable career as a doctor and a fulfilling life outside the practice that is fueled by the economic and professional success created inside the practice. To keep moving forward with that vision depends a lot on your professional narrative, which is how you perceive your journey, skills, and experiences. The self-talk of your narrative is a powerful tool that can either propel you on a trajectory towards greater success or inadvertently hold you back.

Empowering narratives

An empowering narrative is one that builds on your past achievements to quickly create momentum and energy for new goals. In this kind of narrative, highlights in the story focus on your strengths, skills, passions, and accomplishments. When roadblocks and challenges have occurred, your narrative celebrates how you persevered with creativity and focus to overcome the barriers and find solutions.

An empowering narrative brings some key advantages:

• Builds confidence and self-assurance
• Frames risks and roadblocks as healthy challenges
• Focuses on opportunities for further success
• Creates self-belief and self-worth
• Strengthens personal leadership and goal setting

Limiting narratives

By contrast, a limiting narrative is one that undercuts and devalues your progress. It focuses on how difficult the journey has been, the pain you experienced, and where you have fallen short of your objectives. When you have a limiting narrative, progress is often perceived as difficult, risky, and filled with doubt about whether you can achieve the result you want … or whether the result will even be worth the effort.

A limiting narrative saps motivation and takes the wind out of your sails. This happens even for people who don’t think of themselves as having a negative mindset. A limiting narrative creates just enough hesitancy and second guessing to stymie taking the first steps in a new direction or goal. It can even lead to imposter syndrome where you don’t believe that you are worthy of the success you already have, or worthy of making progress to the next level.

In our work coaching doctors, we hear limiting narratives all the time:

• My team isn’t ready or capable.
• I’m too busy or stressed every day.
• It will take too long or need too much effort.
• I’m burdened by debt that will take decades to pay off.
• I can’t take time off to enjoy my life or family.
• I don’t enjoy my practice.
• I tried it before, and it didn’t work or wasn’t worth it.
• Growth isn’t possible because of the economy/my referrers/etc.
• I don’t believe I can be as successful as other endodontists.

Changing your limitations

Experts will tell you that changing your narrative is often the first step to growth. But making that change can be the biggest challenge. Sometimes we are so stuck in our self-perceptions and so influenced by our past experiences that we can’t see the possibilities that can come to us in new ways.

As CEO of Endo Mastery, I get to be in the fortunate position to witness many doctors discover greater success driven by a new empowering narrative coupled with support from Endo Mastery coaches. Many of those doctors started their Endo Mastery journey feeling limited and uncertain about the path forward.

What was the turning point for these doctors? Often it has been the one-on-one experience they have at their Freedom Summit with Dr. Ace Goerig when they begin coaching. Ace looks at their practice and life from an impartial perspective. He sees things as they are, not as the story the doctor may be telling themselves.

As a mentor, Ace inspires belief and passion for doctors to embrace meaningful goals. He brings over 50 years of endodontic experience and he is one of the most efficient clinical endodontists in the world. He owns one of the most profitable endodontic practices in the country, has 3 associates (including his son), and only works two days a week. He is the author of numerous books on personal and financial freedom.

Married for over 54 years, Ace loves practicing endodontics, loves his family life and adventures, and especially loves mentoring other endodontists to fulfill their own visions with the same level of success that he has achieved. Honestly, he is such a gentle, kind and insightful person with the most positive mindset for endodontic growth and success, and life success too. You could not ask for a better mentor.

If you are ready to change your narrative, improve your goals and build on the success you have already achieved, I encourage you to join Endo Mastery and meet Ace Goerig in person at our September seminar in Orlando. We’re just 5 weeks away but there is still time to register and save on tuition.