If not now, when?
When is the best time to make changes in your dental practice?
There’s an old saying that goes:
“The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same things and expecting different results.”
At the start of the year it’s a good time to reflect on what’s running well and what’s running not so well in your practice.
For certain, if you keep doing the same things that you did last year you will keep getting the same results that you got last year.
Maybe that is fine with you but if not read on…
If I were to give you one piece of advice for making this year better than last year it would be this:
Stop doing things you don’t enjoy.
Doing things you don’t enjoy is a downer. It saps your motivation and energy and keeps you away from things that make you happy and productive.
Let me give you four examples of things I eliminated from my practice:
Bookwork
Accounting is not my thing. My accountant and bookkeeper love it but me, not so much.HR
I have several strengths but managing staff is not one of them. Once I handed over HR to a trusted person I was happier and so was the staffDentures
Adjusting a denture for a finicky client gave me a huge knot in my stomach. So much nicer to let a technician do it.Children
Kids are great but when you get a bad one in the dental chair it can make you regret ever becoming a dentist.
Maybe your list is the same as mine. Maybe it is different.
What I found from personal experience was that each time I stopped doing something that I did not enjoy my productivity increased.
By cutting things I didn’t like out of my day I was happier and my practice became more profitable. Every time I eliminated a task that I disliked it was like a weight was lifted off me.
Hopefully it will be the same for you. It’s certainly worth giving a try.
