Bringing passion to your dental practice by bringing who you are to what you really do.
Paul Sletten
Getting on the path to self-discovery You face great challenges as a dentist today. You push yourself to grow and improve as a clinician, to be an outstanding leader, relationship builder, financial manager and personnel administrator of your dental practice. You become so fixated on this area that you ignore other aspects of your life and throw yourself out of balance. In the words of John Bradshaw, that fixation makes us “human doings rather than human beings.” The pressure to succeed today is enormous. to build a successful dental practice, you must be a high achiever. On the downside, this emphasis can create blinders and cause you to become inattentive to who you really are away from your practice. These blinders can be especially damaging when it comes to life after your practice. Dentists who are able to successfully transition into retirement and thrive are multi-dimensional human beings. They embrace their retirement years with a true sense of adventure. their heads and hearts are full of new possibilities. As a result, they live healthy, prosperous lives. This outlook is not a sudden shift, but has governed their life pattern all along. They have given full attention to all aspects of their being----career, family, community, spiritual growth, personal development, relationships and leisure. All of their identity has not come from being a dentist. Rather, they consider themselves to be human beings who have chosen dentistry as a wonderful career, and have remained passionate about it for the duration. At the finish line, they run through the tape with a burst of speed anticipating the possibilities that lie ahead. Norman Cousins wrote: “The tragedy of life is not death; rather, it is what we allow to die within us while we live.” Some wonder aloud if there’s life after death. More should be wondering if there’s life before death. You are the author of your future. Creating that future is an act of artistry, much like the work of a composer, artist or writer. You write the screenplay and then produce, direct and star in your own life film. Everyday, you are asked to make hundreds of decisions. If you have a clear vision of the life you want, you can make those decisions according to prior reflection rather than immediate reaction. Clearly defined goals give you a script for sorting through options and setting priorities. The key is bringing who you really are to what you do. Your practice offers the perfect setting for expressing your values through relationships with your team, patients and the community. It is your opportunity to be truly authentic. Start creating your life script by asking yourself what things you are most passionate about. On a scale of 1-10, list 4 or 5 things that would be 9s and 10s. This is your passion index--- check-in with it periodically. Next, ask yourself to what degree you are designing your life and schedule around your passions. Update your passion index annually, otherwise you will continue to script your life around passions that may no longer be significant. In that case, you live by default and not by design. That happens to all of us, to one degree or another. Our challenge is to recognize it and create an updated vision and action plan to help get unstuck and grow again.
You get 168 hours a week to live your life. How you set priorities and make tradeoffs determines the quality of your life. Be proactive by developing a holistic view of your life at work and outside of work--- and establish a creative balance between the two. This is your major challenge. According to Bob Buford, “The first half of our life is about success and the second half is about significance.” It’s time to take a close look at who you are. This is all about being. It helps you become more open and loving, less judgmental and angry, more candid and forthright, and more willing to assess and take risks. The path of self-discovery is your personal journey. It’s joy when you learn to reduce the noise in your life and play the music in your soul. Begin now.
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