Do you want a more balanced life, but don't know where to start? It’s not as complicated as you think! To help you simplify the process, Kirk Behrendt brings back Dr. Christian Coachman, founder of Digital Smile Design, and his guest, Dr. Konstantin Kross, to share the dentist’s life management system, a simple way to organize your time and energy so you can succeed in your practice and beyond. Get more out of your days, your years, and your life! To learn how, listen to Episode 767 of The Best Practices Show!
Learn More About Dr. Coachman & Dr. Kross:
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Episode Resources:
Main Takeaways:
Quotes:
“What I think is very important besides having time . . . is having energy because energy is our most important resource in our lives. We all have time, and we all have the same time. Like you said, Kirk, we have 24 hours, 24/7, 365. We all have the same time. You also say — and I love it — time is the new rich. Exactly. You're right because time and energy are both important. If you want to succeed in your life, you need both of these. You need time, and you need energy.” (9:05—9:47) -Dr. Kross
“We all have time, but people don't succeed or achieve their goals because they don't have energy. The most important thing is to organize ourselves and to plan, to have routine, and to have systems that help us to keep our energy high, because if you don't have energy, you won't even be able to step out of your bed.” (9:59—10:29) -Dr. Kross
“If you want to be successful, you need time, energy, and love.” (10:55—10:59) -Dr. Kross
“You have to dedicate time for whatever you want to achieve. If you want to learn a language, or you want to be a business [person], or whatever, you have to dedicate time, invest energy in it, and do it with love. If you do these three things, you will be successful.” (11:00—11:17) -Dr. Kross
“You can have all the strategies to manage time, manage people, and manage health. But there is an extra thing that is energy, and energy is not only from health — it's a mindset as well. So, you can be in good health, but still not have the energy. Energy has to do with being passionate, or having a clear goal, or feeling that if you don't do this, you have a plan B. There are many emotional strategies that can, even though you're very busy, keep your energy. So, I would say that energy comes, 50% of physical energy, being healthy. But the other half of energy comes from other things that are mental and psychological. Sometimes, you see people that are unhealthy, but they still have energy. They may pay a price in the future because they're not healthy. But they have the energy now, showing that it’s not 100% linked to just physical health, but there's a combination to be energetic, to have the energy to do something.” (12:48—14:04) -Dr. Coachman
“You can manage energy. You cannot manage time. Time is fixed. We have less and less time. But you can manage your energy.” (14:07—14:17) -Dr. Kross
“The most important thing for you to understand is, if we’re speaking about work, what is it you love? You have to focus on the things that you love to do, and you are good at, and automatically delegate other things that you don't really do or don't really want to do. This will help you to be very efficient.” (16:44—17:09) -Dr. Kross
“The first life hack that I learned is you need a place where you can upload the whole thoughts, the whole house of these thoughts, ideas, anxieties, tasks — everything that is in your head. So, the first step is to make your head free of all those things that are sitting inside. They take the whole energy out of you because they are there.” (18:02—19:36) -Dr. Kross
“You need your head to think and to create, not to have your head full of something that you don't need.” (23:31—23:43) -Dr. Kross
“[Freeing your head of mental clutter also] affects dental clinical execution because these little ideas that are almost unconscious behind our minds are not allowing us to perform 100% in that moment. And this is not with dentistry, but with sports, with art. If you practice an instrument or if you practice a sport, you want to be 110% focused in that moment there. Sometimes, I have an idea as I'm about to enter the court. And if I don't write that down 10 seconds before I'm going to play tennis, there is a chance that that little idea will drop my performance a little bit because it's going to be in the back of my mind. So, have something simple that you can immediately throw that idea in that bin and always be 100% in the moment.” (23:44—24:41) -Dr. Coachman
“You have to filter. So, you want to leave only those tasks, ideas, and everything that you want to do or implement, what you really want to do, and you don't have to — because sometimes, we have influence from outside. We get this marketing from other companies or people. We think we want it, but we don't actually want it. We don't even need it. So, it's very important to have a filter and say, ‘This is something I really want.’’’ (25:28—26:09) -Dr. Kross
“[Ask yourself], ‘Is this really what I want to put on my calendar? Is this really what I want to execute in my life?’ Everything you don't want to do, and you don't have to do, throw it away. This is very important because this helps you to filter out all this mess out of your life.” (26:53—27:14) -Dr. Kross
“Even though you have ten ideas that look very good, and you pick two or three, don't feel bad about throwing the others in your mental trash. Just move. There's too much in life to be done. We spend energy rethinking and thinking over, and over, and over about things that we will never do because they are really not a priority, and they will take time from what really matters.” (27:38—28:06) -Dr. Coachman
“What is your purpose, of what you do and why you do this? This would be the next filter that will filter out other things that are not aligned with the mission of your life. In my case, I live a fulfilling, exciting life. Everything that has to do with having anxiety about this and that, this won't make me fulfill an exciting, happy life. Right? . . . The question is, what is your purpose in this life? What is your talent? For what are you here? What is the best you can do?” (28:38—29:35) -Dr. Kross
“[Fifty percent of your energy] comes from being healthy. The other 50 comes from being in line with your purpose.” (33:45—33:52) -Dr. Coachman
“The amount of great ideas that become nothing is huge, and the amount of simple ideas that go nowhere is huge. The amount of tasks that are not performed that should be performed are huge. And the number-one reason for me is that nobody put the energy to write down a very clear goal, ‘This is what we want. This is what we need. This is the first step, second step, third step. These are the stages. This is the timeline that we want to go to finish this task.’ So, I think this is very, very — even for simple, personal things, ‘I want to start working out two hours a day.’ That's a very broad statement. What are the goals? ‘I need to free my calendar. I need to leave my kids a little earlier. I need to tell my secretary that there are no meetings before 11:00. I need to change the dynamics of my work a little bit. I'm going to do this, this, this, and this. I'm going to start Monday. This, I'm going to change tomorrow.’ So, you bring this wish into the concrete world by setting the goals.” (35:31—36:55) -Dr. Coachman
“The biggest problem with us is that we have mostly, in our heads, thoughts about work or business and we have less thoughts about ideas or goals concerning our health, concerning personal development, family — all the other fields of life which are there. We neglect them, and we focus on maybe only work and business, mostly. We don't want this. We want to have balance, so we want to have some goals for different fields of our life.” (37:08—37:48) -Dr. Kross
“[By using the dentist’s life management system], you have a very easy big picture of where you're putting your energy every day, every week. When you look at this diagram, you see, ‘Oh my god. I picked ten ideas that are related to dentistry. I have no ideas or energy put on creating something with family and hobbies.’ So, you have a clear picture of where you're putting your energy right now, this week, this month.” (38:48—39:18) -Dr. Coachman
“When I feel sad or I feel like my energy is going down, I can always enter this board and have a look at what are the big goals I want to achieve, where it's all going, why I'm doing all that I'm doing today, what is the purpose, where am I going. It gives me a good feeling because I know everything I do today, even if it's really hard, and so many things are happening, and good and bad things, I know that this all has purpose. I know the direction. I know the meaning of it.” (44:52—45:30) -Dr. Kross
“It happened to me many times where you have a day or a week that you feel like nothing is moving, nothing is happening. Like, ‘Oh my god, I'm stuck.’ But if, by chance, I look at my notes of six months ago of the things that I wanted to accomplish, I'm like, ‘Oh my god. Almost everything happened.’ Many times, things just happen. You don't realize how much you did, how effective you were, and how projects actually moved forward. And this is just a random thing that you find out. By using a system like this, you can constantly revisit the processes and the things that you wanted to do in the past and realize that you're really moving forward.” (46:34—47:30) -Dr. Coachman
“Life is sometimes difficult, and I think that we all need a supportive community that helps us, helps each other, shares knowledge, shares information, and support each other.” (50:11—50:26) -Dr. Kross
“The key is not to succeed in dentistry. The key is to succeed in life. And succeeding in life will include dentistry. Many times, as dentists, we are so focused on trying to succeed in dentistry. It should be a consequence.” (51:14—51:29) -Dr. Coachman
“Success, happiness, balance, achieving things — to achieve things, you need systems. It's very rare that somebody without systems can do much.” (51:32—51:46) -Dr. Coachman
“At the end of the day, the good things that will happen in our life will happen because you put energy into it. So, since we have to put in energy, why not put energy in an organized way? Then, you're going to be able to achieve more. If you don't put in energy, nothing is going to happen.” (52:23—52:40) -Dr. Coachman
“Exercise the process of being in the zone. And to be in the zone, you need to free your mind.” (53:52—53:58) -Dr. Coachman
“What messes up our minds is the feeling of, ‘Oh my god. Too many things are out of control.’ Systems help allow us to have the feeling that anything that can be in control, I'm controlling. I know that half of everything that will happen to me is out of control anyway, so we're not talking about that. But the things that I can control, I'm controlling as much as I can, and I have that feeling that most things are under control. And what is the consequence? It’s to [free] your mind. When you [free] your mind, you perform better. When you perform better, you save time. When you save time, you can do more of what you love. When you do what you love, you're happier.” (54:07—54:55) -Dr. Coachman
Snippets:
0:00 Introduction.
3:39 About Dr. Kross and the dentist’s life management system.
7:23 You need time, energy, and love.
11:20 Learn to manage your energy.
16:10 Free your head of clutter.
24:44 Filter and prioritize the things that matter.
28:09 Understand your purpose.
33:56 Formulate very clear goals.
36:56 Consciously create balance.
45:34 Build long-term plans.
47:33 Create monthly plans.
49:58 Final thoughts.
Dr. Christian Coachman Bio:
Combining his advanced skills, experience, and technology solutions, Dr. Christian Coachman pioneered the Digital Smile Design methodology and founded Digital Smile Design company (DSD). Since its inception, thousands of dentists worldwide have attended DSD courses and workshops, such as the renowned DSD Residency program.
Dr. Coachman is the developer of worldwide, well-known concepts such as the Digital Smile Design, the Pink Hybrid Implant Restoration, the Digital Planning Center, Emotional Dentistry, Interdisciplinary Treatment Simulation, and Digital Smile Donator. He regularly consults for dental industry companies, developing products, implementing concepts, and marketing strategies, such as the Facially Driven Digital Orthodontic Workflow developed in collaboration with Invisalign, Align Technology.
Dr. Konstantin Kross Bio:
Dr. Konstantin Kross is a dentist and specialist in periodontics based in St. Gallen, Switzerland.