"T.E.D. talks" From Insanity to opportunity.
"If you want a happy story, that depends of course on where you stop your story!"
~Orson Welles
I just finished reading a couple great books - one about personal insight called "The Untethered Soul" which I really needed as I struggled initially having started a quarantine right after the Pacific Dental Conference. Questioning myself. My lifes work. What my value to the world really was.
My Integrative Health Coach wife really helped me as I cried one morning a couple weeks ago...I was ready to quit. I couldn't handle the criticism of others. Despite getting a lot of REAL GREAT FEEDBACK from REAL GREAT PEOPLE, I was allowing a few to make me feel like a real piece of shit who fucked up everything. She helped me to really think about myself. Uncover my insecurities and recognize, once again, that only I have the power over how I feel inside. Nobody else. She brought me the book....it's deep.
Karen is my warrior queen. She makes me feel like a king!
I was also reading a book from Daniel Pink called "When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing"....this insatiable mind of mine started remembering all the books I have read in the last 6 months which ALWAYS inspire a blog!
Some inspiring reading takes you to the next level....
5:54am you are still dreaming, stirring a little bit. Snuggling back under that big comfortable blanket and soft pillow. With one eye open you peer over at your loved one and count the first blessing of the day..
"Thankyou "God/universe/life" for this beautiful woman lying beside me. Thankyou for our children. Thankyou for the grand children. My parents. Thankyou for the opportunity to wake up and serve others today...Thankyou for the talents you have given me, for the people in my life that teach me. Those that trust me. Those that I can help. Thank you for the ability to keep learning and doing better every day. Help guide me and make me a better man...."
Your first job of the day isn't to check your phone. Turn on the news. It's coffee...then a book.
Letting go of control and ego means opening your mind to what others have to say. The toughest books to read for me are often the ones I don't necessarily agree with like "The 10X Rule" by Grant Cardone ..it's not my style to jam things down peoples throats until they want to puke and then go back to jam some more in. Yet, I learn to recognize this is a skill in others. In every book I try to learn SOMETHING! So Grant Cardone - I think that perseverance and confidence are incredibly important in success as well...sometimes a modest approach with perseverance and confidence may come across as weak...I don't think so. You wouldn't like me.
Between "The 10X rule" book and Cal Newport "So Good They Can't Ignore You" I was inspired to write "The Most valuable clinics know this secret...." . The blog was inspired about NOT THINKING about competition! It's about being so good at what you do that others seek you out. Having confidence and perseverance. Believing in yourself...
These principals are the driving force behind SO MANY of the successful - HAPPY - doctors I work with!
Books like "The Third Door - the wild quest to uncover how the worlds most successful people launched their careers" inspired me! Author Alex Banayan dropped out of college to become a writer. Wanting to interview Bill Gates, thinking this would launch his career as a writer and discovering it wasn't as easy as it sounded. Reminding me of all the IMPORTANT PEOPLE that we all meet in life. People that may not seem to matter of the moment. Yet, all contribute to your overall success at the end of the day......
My inspired blog? "How to get the best jobs in dentistry"
The morning continues....
6:57am.
A few hundred pages read. You were so focused, but after a couple cups of coffee you now are focused on that direct path to the bathroom.
Wash. Wash. Wash. Singing "BETH" from KISS because "happy birthday" is just too passe....
NOW it's time to check all those messages. Starting with the "work" (note the parenthesis) stuff. Realizing that many of your friends don't sleep well as the time on the emails this morning ranges from 11:37 (right after Colbert/Fallon) to 3:32am well composed and structured emails about a product that will change dentistry forever.
Respond. Sip a third cup.
Then go up the message hill....What's App messages. Instagram Messages. Facebook Messenger. Linked In. Twitter. Last group is the text messages (I like to leave these for last to answer since most of these came overnight and some people actually leave their phones on and responding early wakes them!)
The brain has all the information and inspiration it needs....time to get busy and change the world!
Insanity to ingenuity?
The first few days in isolation seemed like it could be done....but the progress from March 11 onward was bad news followed by bad news followed by....
Insanity.
Friends upset and calling and crying. Businesses that had NEVER had to let anyone go suddenly faced with huge financial burden. This profession I had spent my lifetime (and that of my Daddy too!) growing. Shut.
Questioning every move. Still trying to wake every morning and follow routine, but forgetting some mornings to feel blessed. Gone down a dark hole while trying to maintain a cheery disposition.
Culminating in a break down. The acoustic guitar hole filling with tears and a slow strum of the minor chords and a broken voice singing the many, many songs written at the saddest times.....down, down, down.
It had to happen. There needs to be an end before a new beginning. The clouds only hold so much rain and then they dissipate and warm sunshine flows again.
The snow melts.
An opportunity broker!
There isn't enough time in life to hold onto the bad feelings.
It seems like a normal thing, at least for me, to go through stages.
When this first happened - I was probably the most irritating guy to live with in confinement and drove Karen crazy. Searching and researching EVERYTHING related to EVERY headline on Covid. We were both relaying headlines to each other as the world slowly caved in on itself.
Since I am very involved in business and investing - watching the market collapse and losing 30-40% of the value of our life savings....AGAIN....was really disheartening. As the protector of our little kingdom, it wasn't right for me to concern my queen with this shitty news. It was my job to get this back on track. To stay positive.
Stepping out of the shadows, into the light
So here I am this morning. Writing. Inspired. Doing what I LOVE to do!
Just like the 4 circles in this image...
My personal journey is EXACTLY this! My job as "an opportunity broker" is to help others by leading the way.
My journey is a highlight reel of this graph. Acting like a victim and feeling sorry for myself. Letting go of control and believing what others are saying. Searching for all the bad news.
Then it was time to take control. The TV receiver died! HAHA! For 10 days, we could no longer WATCH all the bad news as it rolled along every TV station. The only way to know what was going on was to look search for it....and that's not my mojo. I "stopped that which causes harm" from the news to what I eat and drink.....
Karen is HUGE on this! She teaches me to not only eat well....but inspires me to THINK and ACT on feelings. She posts things like you see here
Instead of looking for the bad every day, or giving up....it was time to do what I have always done!
Look for the opportunity!!
T.E.D. Talks....The Everything Dental Guy....
We can wash our hands....but it's time to wash all the LIFE SHIT away and get busy looking at what we can do to make a difference tomorrow!
A few months ago, I wrote a blog called "PIVOT" - it had NOTHING to do with COVID and everything to do with seeking opportunity in the most difficult times. Finding ways to turn bad news into opportunity. Competitive business into a niche.
LOOK at all the companies TODAY that are PIVOTING!
WE CAN and WE WILL do this in dentistry!
I'm proud to be a part of several groups of entrepreneurs. Involved with people that think every day of what comes next. As a matter of fact they were ALWAYS thinking about WHAT COMES NEXT in dentistry - and this COVID thing was only a bump in the road for what they were already doing...
These AMAZING and EXPERIENCED people have incredible attitudes! There are GREAT ideas! The world, in my opinion, has never needed dentists more than right now! WE MUST GET BACK TO WORK, AND FAST!
Why?
What other healthcare profession has focused so intensely on PREVENTIVE care? Since the day I started, we have been trying to PREVENT disease! The focus has worked so well that we have enjoyed DECADES of growth!
Roughly 80% of Canadians have a dentist, Approximately 85.7% of Canadians visit a dentist within a 2-year period....a large percentage of these people come every 6 months! Bring their kids! Encourage their friends....and with new invisible aligners, the growth has been phenomenal and brings in even MORE people than ever before!
THAT, my friends is OPPORTUNITY!
An opportunity to teach TOTAL HEALTH!
How many people work out regular, watch what they eat carefully...but have poor health because they didn't once go visit a dentist? SYSTEMIC health is very much aligned with good oral hygiene....this is a message we have delivered for years.
We now have an opportunity to educate the public about how very VITAL this care is and how much we need to continue. PREVENTION is the reason why the fitness industry is BOOMING! It's why my wife Karen has such a HUGE FOLLOWING and so many people are understanding that FOOD IS MEDICINE...
Its OPPORTUNITY for these well educated, dedicated people coming to your office every few months is still growing...
TOTAL HEALTH depends on DENTISTRY!
It's 8:25am.
I can type about 65 WPM. One of the best courses I took in high school (plus I was the ONLY guy in a class of 20! in grade 10! Bonus!). My mind works at warp speed. My most inspired blogs come out pretty fast. Generally it's a 5-6 hour process before I publish...but not today.
This is all about YOU. About helping use the many years of experience, the network of about 20,000 friends in this business. Relying on the expertise of thousands of years of experience among my friends to uncover new opportunity.
The story of dentistry....
The patient arrives for their Total Health check up. The exam that uncovers systemic health. A measurement and elimination of naughty biofilms, looking for inflammation markers. Measuring periodontal pockets as a sign of overall health.
Working together with the entire TOTAL HEALTH team, an analysis of medications which may be affecting saliva flow. Disrupting the healthy micro biome system. Tied together with other health care professionals and coaches from these regular visits with the entire family. Helping educate them on diet, health.
These patients leave MOTIVATED. Understanding how vital dentistry is to their over all health and happy to come back focused on creating the most beautiful smile the world has ever seen.....
Thankyou Dentists. Hygienists. Assistants. The team who helps make this possible and continues to spread the word.
This has been an incredible story....And it's only just the beginning.