Our motto here at ACT is “Better Practice, Better Life,” because I believe the two should go hand in hand; if you have a better practice, you’ll have a better life. I often hear our new clients complain that their practices suck out all their energy each day and turn them into a different person when they go home. You need to create a healthier work-life balance, and that starts with improving your work. I recently spoke with Dr. Kevin Groth about the greatest gift he’s ever received—books. Not just any books, of course, but a selection of books personally chosen by ten of his mentors. The gift came about when his wife wrote to his mentors and requested that they each write a message in a book and send it to him; she put them together in a box and gave it to him for Christmas.
I was happy to hear that one of the books Dr. Groth received is a personal favorite of mine—Gino Wickman’s The EOS Life. EOS stands for Entrepreneurial Operating System, and it’s crazy helpful for any entrepreneur, not just a dentist. Wickman examined his top-performing clients, and 100% of them listed that the EOS system gave them a better balance of life. There are five components to EOS, and when you abide by them, it makes everything better.
Do What You Love
You want to spend your days doing the things you’re great at and passionate about, because that gives you energy. Instead of charging forward with the tasks you don’t like, make a list of everything you do on a daily basis and classify them into the following categories:
- I’m great at it and I love doing it
- I’m good at it and I like doing it
- I’m good at it and I don’t like doing it
- I’m not good at it and I don’t like doing it
When you map out your tasks, it lets you plainly see the picture so you can start making changes. Instead of putting energy toward those things you’re not good at and don’t enjoy, delegate them to your team so you can focus your energy on elevating those things you’re great at and enjoy doing. My advice is to not try to change everything right away—just do one thing per quarter. Once you start stacking your progress, it’s crazy how powerful it will become.
Do It With the People Your Love
It’s amazing how often we surround ourselves with people we don’t enjoy. Dr. Groth noted that when he first got into practice, he would often complain about his employees, but once he became an ACT client we solved that problem with one simple thing—core values. Like I always say, “All roads lead to core values.” Defining your core values is the most important thing you’ll do, and when you surround yourself with people who share your values, it creates an incredibly strong team.
Make a Difference
You want to leave a legacy, and that changes how you want to do things. Think about where you can have the largest impact and focus your efforts there. When you feel like you’re making a difference, it changes your job description and puts more meaning behind what you do—instead of just putting in fillings you’ll feel like you’re truly helping people. It’s more than just having an impact on your patients’ health though—you can leave a legacy through your team. Great leaders produce more leaders, so express your wisdom and experience to your team so they can then package it in their own way and do their thing.
Be Compensated Appropriately
You provide great value to your patients and deserve to receive proportional compensation—the more value, the more money they’re willing to pay. When you let insurance companies determine your value, you’re going to find yourself feeling undervalued based on the degree of what you do. We created the ACT Dental PPO Roadmap to help, because when you’re able to move away from insurance, it allows you to get paid for the time and effort that you’re putting in.
Have Time for Other Passions
I’ve said it time and time again, but “Time is the new rich,” because when you have the time to sit back and have more energy, you’ll find yourself enjoying what you do. Dentistry is hard, but you shouldn’t be working yourself to the bone; you need the time to do what you love because it re-energizes you. Without that time, you’re a drag when you go home to your family, and it affects everything.
These five principles are simple, but incredibly powerful. We speak so often about the work-life balance, but it’s more than just spending less time at work. You have to spend time at work, so you need to make sure that time is positive. When you’re able to build a practice that doesn’t drain you every single day, your family will thank you, your team will thank you, and you will thank yourself. Schedule a call with the ACT team today, and let us provide you the same level of care we gave to Dr. Groth. He wouldn’t deny that it takes a lot of hard work, but being able to create a Better Practice and a Better Life for yourself is worth it.
Kirk Behrendt is the CEO and Founder of ACT Dental