Idea for this article from EarlyToRise.com

Your vision, ideas and efforts to move away from a "usual and customary" practice toward a comprehensive care, relationship-based practice will be met by all sorts of dire warnings -- some sensible and some crazy, but all given to you under the banner of concern and common sense.

"It's certainly an exciting idea," people will say to you, "but have you any idea how difficult, if not impossible it will be?"

"And what will you do if it doesn't work out?" "They way you have been doing it is profitable, so why change?"

"And what will happen if . . .?"

Norman Vincent Peale tells this story:

"The directors of [a] firm had a project under consideration which involved considerable expense and some definite hazards as well as success possibilities. In the discussions regarding this venture, the obstacle man would invariably say, and always with a scholarly air (invariably this type acts wise, probably a cover-up for inner doubt feelings), 'Now just a moment. Let's consider the obstacles involved.'

"Another man, who said very little but who was respected by his associates for his ability and achievements and for a certain indomitable quality which characterized him, presently spoke up and asked, 'Why do you constantly emphasize the obstacles in this proposition instead of the possibilities?'

"'Because,' replied the obstacle man, 'to be intelligent one must always be realistic, and it is a fact that there are certain defining obstacles in connection with this project. What attitude would you take toward these obstacles, may I ask?'

"The other man unhesitatingly replied, 'Why I would just remove them, that's all, and then I would forget them.'

"'But,' said the obstacle man, 'that is easier said than done. You say you would remove them and then you would forget them. May I ask if you have any technique for removing obstacles and for forgetting them that the rest of us have never discovered?'

"A slow smile came over the face of the other man as he said, 'Son, I have spent my entire life removing obstacles, and I never yet saw one that couldn't be removed, provided you had enough faith and guts and were willing to work.'"

Faith, guts, and the willingness to work. That's the combination. But where does the faith come from? For Andrew Carnegie, it came from an overriding belief in the power of God to intervene in men's lives. For me, faith must also come from the habits we establish by our actions and by an unmoving dedication to our vision.

Carnegie says, "The first thing to do about an obstacle is simply to stand up to it and not complain about it or whine under it but forthrightly attack it. Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven't half the strength you think they have. Just stand up to it, that's all, and don't give way under it, and it will finally break. You will break it. Something has to break and it won't be you, it will be the obstacle."

Successfully standing up to obstacles will give you a sense of accomplishment and will cement in your memory the feeling of the power of your vision. Congruency to your vision will not allow you to compromise and will give you the courage to move on.

But not all obstacles can be extirpated. Some are best dealt with in more subtle ways. A wise man once said, "If I can't get through a trouble, I try to go around it, and if I can't go around it, I try to get under it, and if I can't get under it, I try to go over it, and if I can't go over it, I just plow right through it."

The point is, you can somehow manage and address all obstacles.

First, ask yourself if the obstacle is "real" or "really a hallucination." I would say it is a hallucination more often than not and can be ignored.

If it is a 'real' obstacle, see if you can get around the obstacle by using creative thinking. Your vision stimulates creative thinking. Let the ideas flow, and you will be amazed that the right one will emerge, such as creating a quiet, private consultation area in the office that does not have one; or ways to get patients who have been in the 'hygiene cycle' for years into a comprehensive exam; or scheduling the time to do diagnostic wax-ups. And so on.

If you can't get over, under, or around the obstacle, stand up to it firmly. This won't be easy, particularly if you are not used to confrontation -- but the more you do it, the easier it will become. That obstacle can be the insurance gorilla, the patient who chronically cancels or won't follow your treatment recommendation to go to the periodontist, etc.

Nothing worthwhile is easy. It starts with your vision. See the possibilities present in all the obstacles.