Wouldn’t it be nice to just chase after your dreams like a mad man? No worry for what people would think, whether or not you’d succeed or how you would feed yourself and your family while on that journey? Dreams and aspirations can be really scary sometimes. The trails of what ifs and fears of failure make you give up even before you take the first step.
But then, there are so many stories of success, of people who chased their dreams, staked everything that they had and became those mad men who don’t take no for an answer in life. And then….
There are also stories of failures. And these stories sound realistic and true and easier to relate to. So what do you do? Who do you listen to? How do you find a realistic approach to achieving your dreams? Where do you draw the line? When do the stakes become way too high? So many questions, so many aspirations, and so little guidance.
Having been on a similar journey, time and time again, I know the struggle of dental practitioners who want more from life. The monotony of a regular life scares them, but they really don’t know whether desiring more is even an option. More is always an option; and it is always achievable. All you need is a solid plan to compliment it!
Be Clear
Dream of running a 100 mile marathon? Or contesting for a beauty pageant? We all have those moments we reminisce on things that ‘we always wanted to do.’ But do you question why you want to do those things? What is the aspiration behind that dream? Are you sure you aren’t just carrying baggage of unfulfilled fantasies rather than aspirations that just get lost in the busyness of life? If it is the latter, then time to start planning ahead. If it is just something that you’ve always wanted to do because your neighbor’s cousin thought you couldn’t, then perhaps you just need an intervention. Your ‘why’ will give you the direction and the motivation required to move forward.
Have a Game Plan
I am constantly formulating game plans with clients. Everyone needs a road map. We need to do the critical thinking before we can formulate a plan that meets our needs. What do I want to achieve? Where do I start? Having a game plan helps create realistic and achievable goals that won’t seem so far-fetched anymore.
Create long term and short term goals that will help bring you closer to achieving your dreams. Ask yourself what you need to do today, tomorrow and two years from now to make your dream a reality. You may not always be able to meet those milestones, but they will create the road map for success on your terms and give you guidance and motivation when you most need it.
Ask For Support
Our brains are wired to focus on the negatives. This is known as the negative bias. When we think about achieving our goals, we think about all the adversities that we’d have to face from the world at large, and especially from those around us. It is your dream, your goal, why should anyone else be concerned? Perhaps because they value the relationship that they have with you?
There is no reason for you to be alone on that journey of success and self-discovery. By asking for support, you become a team. Let your friends, family, mentors and other stakeholders help you on your journey. Let them in on your plans and ask for support wherever needed. Oftentimes, we use obligations like a lack of finances or family obligations as excuses so we feel better about not pursuing our dreams. In the long run, this leads to feelings of resentment. Wouldn’t you rather communicate your feelings and your goals and become a happier team that strives to build each other up?
Have the Right Mindset
You can never achieve goals with a failing mindset. If you think you can’t then know that you can’t. Walk, talk and act like a leader from day one. If you would like to become a Grand Slam winner one day then act like a Grand Slam winner each day, every day, starting today! Don’t ever, for a second believe that you aren’t capable of doing something. Or let the fear of failure influence your decisions and your determination. A positive mindset can make the most mountainous of goals become a walk in the park. Take that walk like a winner.
Find the Opportunities
If all that sounds way too poetic for you then try reading any story of success and it would read like a sonnet. Fact is, when you believe in yourself you start identifying the opportunities around you. You become more aware of situations that could be assistive in reaching your goals. And it is only when you seize these opportunities can you truly create stepping stones to success.
Let’s take an example- a rundown dental practice is up for grabs at a really good deal. You’ve always wanted to invest, but only at the right time. The Doubtful You would question your ability to purchase, manage and successfully run the practice. This is not the right time, you’d tell yourself, I am not ready. But, all the romantic notions of success will make you believe in your abilities and the Confident You would know that this is an opportunity that should not be missed. You’d buy the practice thinking of yourself as the winner that you are, and like a self-fulfilling prophecy would take that dream to culmination.
Have a Solution Focused Approach
All this positivity does not mean there wouldn’t be any roadblocks on the way. In fact, there’d be one too many. But what will determine their outcome is how you handle those situations. By focusing on the solution rather than the problem, you decide to dust yourself off and continue moving forward. Train yourself and your team not to focus on the obstacles but rather on ways to objectively handle them.
Sure, setbacks are going to hurt, they will be demotivating and challenging to go through. It is not humanly possible to ignore a setback and its effect on you, but having a coping mechanism in place will allow your emotions to take their course and then you could finally bounce back to the person who doesn’t shy away from a challenge. Give yourself some time, an hour, two hours, a day, whatever it takes to cope with the setback. Let your emotions out untamed and unchecked. Allow yourself to feel the pain, but only within the confinements of the time limit you have allowed yourself.
Find Happiness
Success is not happiness. And always chase after the latter. Whoever said happiness would come find you is probably still waiting for it to knock on the door. Fact is, happiness needs to be found. Your objectives should be to create a life that will bring you happiness. And if achieving a certain dream is the ultimate source of happiness for you, then by all means run after it like your life depends on it. But meanwhile, you could also run after rainbows and butterflies and try to find those little sources of happiness too.
P.S. Whenever you’re ready …. here are 4 ways I can help you grow your dental practice:
1. Grab a free chapter from my book “Retention – How to Plug the #1 Profit Leak in Your Dental Practice”
The book is the definitive guide to patient retention and how to use internal marketing to grow your practice – Click Here
2. Join the Savvy Dentist community and connect with dentists who are scaling their practice too
It’s our Facebook group where clever dentists learn to become commercially smart so that they have more patients, more profit and less stress. – Click Here
3. Attend a Practice Max Intensive live event
Our 2 day immersive events provide access to the latest entrepreneurial thinking and actionable strategies to drive your practice forward. You’ll leave with a game plan to take your results to the next level. If you’d like to join us, just send me a message with the word “Event and I’ll get you all the details! – Click here
4. Work with me and my team privately
If you’d like to work directly with me and my team to take your profit from 6 figures to 7 figures …. just send me a message with the word “Private”… tell me a little about your practice and what you would like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details! – Click here
