A lot of practice management consultants I know tend to over-analyze things. Go to five consultants and you get five different ideas on how to handle cancellations, how to present treatment, how to handle poor performing team members, etc.  All well meaning of course, but they tend to make the business of dentistry too complex.  The joke is that if management consultants taught sex education, it would be the end of civilization as we know it.  Too complicating!Want some advice that is NOT complicating?  If you want to achieve sustained success (is there any other kind?), follow what I call the Four D’s.  What are the Four D’s you ask? Desire.  I always talk about desire as an important ingredient in achieving success.  “Want” power is as important as “Will” power when it comes to accomplishing your goals. Many dentists have achieved their dreams and so can you.  But you really need to “Want it.”  What are your dreams?  How badly do you want it?  What’s on your “Want” list?

Dedication.  Dedication is turning desire into action, which requires a lasting commitment.  Football coach Lou Holtz said, “If you don’t make a total commitment to whatever you are doing, then you start looking to bail out the first time the boat starts leaking.” How dedicated are you to hitting your goals?  What are you willing to do in order to achieve them?  Are you willing to pay the price?

Determination.  Everyone wants to be successful, but those who achieve success are steeled by an unwavering resolve.  They are self-motivated – the kind of motivation that fuels athletes like Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter, and Kurt Warner.  Early in his career, Jack Nicklaus would hit golf balls for hours, well into dark.  “Let’s go, Jack,” his wife would call. “I’m hungry.” With hands so sore they bled from all the practice, Nicklaus would reply, “So am I!”  Just how determined are you to break-through those barriers that hold you back?

Discipline.  It means doing what you have to do when you need to do it, whether you want to or not.  Self-discipline – the only kind of discipline – is action oriented.  It doesn’t procrastinate and it doesn’t make excuses.  On a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being the highest), what is your level of discipline when pursuing your goals?  How do you score as a team?

There you have it: Desire, Dedication, Determination, and Discipline.   

 

If you looking for some valuable tools that will help you achieve the goals you have for yourself, your practice, your team and your patients, without all that complexity…learn to put the Four D’s into action immediately.  You won’t be disappointed!

Continued Success!

Art Deden
www.vista-practice.com