One of the biggest sources of frustration for every dentist is the feeling of being overwhelmed—after all, you’re simultaneously a leader, and entrepreneur, and a clinician—and that constant juggling of roles takes a toll. The headaches drain and distract you, forcing you to lose sight of what matters most. What you need is a practice that works for you, not against you, and that starts with a few simple concepts:
- Own Your Time
When you’re constantly putting out fires in your practice, it’s impossible to focus on your priorities. You need to start owning your time, and that begins with learning how to intentionally block your time:
- Allocate specific hours for clinical work, admin tasks, and personal time to maximize your productivity. Utilize mornings for your high-focus work, and afternoons for meetings and team check-ins.
- Strategically plan when you start and end your day. By showing up 10 minutes early each day, you’ll have time to prepare. Additionally, if you stop seeing patients 30 minutes before the end of the day, you’ll give yourself time to process and plan.
- Delegate Like a Pro
One of the biggest pitfalls for leaders is trying to do everything themselves, but remember what Kirk says: “In order to grow, you have to let go.” Learning how to delegate is an amazing skill, and when you adopt it, it will free up thousands of hours of your time! Get started with the following steps:
- Identify your three key priorities for the day. These are the most important things you want to focus on and devote your energy to.
- Audit your remaining tasks. For each one, ask yourself, “Is this something only I can do?”
When you learn how to trust in your team and delegate, you can truly elevate your practice.
- Automate What You Can
Automation is an incredibly powerful tool, because it reduces repetitive work, minimizes errors, and frees up team members for more valuable tasks. For example, you can automate the following to save yourself time and energy:
- Set up recurring time blocks for consistent tasks
- Schedule your upcoming communication needs to be automatically sent
The key is knowing how to choose which tasks to automate, so look for tasks that are time-consuming, repetitive, or prone to human error—these are prime candidates for automation! Remember, if you can set it and forget it, it will save you so much time and maximize your efficiency!
When you own your time, free up your energy, and improve your efficiency, your practice will work for you. Getting started on this journey doesn’t have to be intimidating, either—pick one strategy to focus on and make one change this week. You’ll make incremental progress over time, and that progress will eventually leave you headache-free!
To learn more about ACT and how we can help you build a Better Practice and a Better Life, reach out to Gina!
Remember, you’re not alone on this journey; join us at the January meeting of our To The Top Study Club and learn how to take your leadership to the next level, and keep the conversation going by joining the Best Practices Association!
Tune in next time and learn how to use your schedule to maximize your profits!
