Unlock Freedom and Balance with These 3 Pillars

A dentist is more than just a dentist—they’re an Entrepreneur, a Clinician, and a Leader. Juggling these three circles, as the book The E-Myth calls them, is an overwhelming and exhausting task, but instead of letting your practice control you, you need to find balance and start controlling your practice. At ACT, we strive to help all our practices become Aligned, Smart, and Healthy, because when you follow these Three Pillars, you end up with an effective practice that empowers you to lead a fulfilling life and do more of the things that you love:

1. Find the Power of Alignment

When we talk about alignment, there are three important things to focus on:

• Vision
• Core Purpose
• Core Values

Without clarity around these three components, the truth is that nothing else you do really matters. The goal of a dentist should be, as Kirk says, to do “meaningful work,” but to do so, you’ve got to make sure every team member is aligned, and that means one thing—consistent meetings. Your team needs to know where they’re going, so once you’ve created your vision and identified your Core Values, regularly carve out time to make sure everyone is on the same page.

2. Practice Smarter, Not Harder

Practicing smarter means knowing your numbers, because tracking your data gives you an accurate picture of your practice, as well as empowers you to make decisions based on data, rather than a feeling. Those numbers measure the efficacy of your systems (or lack thereof!), but they also measure how well you’re engaging and taking care of your patients. Your data is a reflection of the health you’re providing—when the numbers are doing well, your patients are doing well, too. 

3. Create a Healthy Culture

The final pillar that will help you balance your life revolves around creating a healthy culture in your practice in which there’s a high degree of trust. Like Kirk says, “trust is your currency for the future,” because it empowers your practice to work at its best. At the heart of this culture are your Core Values, because they guide every interaction and decision in your practice, so part of building this culture means helping the team live those values. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you have the right people in the right seats?
• How trustworthy is the leadership?
• How well is the team communicating?

When you’ve created this culture of trust, you’ll find that the team is more effective, because they’re able to engage in productive conflict. They feel safe putting out opinions that may be contrary to the rest of the room, but in doing so, they’re providing new ideas and creativity for the practice.

As we enter a new year, this is the perfect time to start planning on how you can get more of what you want in life by getting more of what you need out of your practice. The ultimate goal for many dentists is to have a practice that runs smoothly and doesn’t require constant oversight, but it cannot happen unless you adopt these Three Pillars into your practice and create a business that runs on systems instead of your energy. Ask yourself, is your next year going to look the same as your current year, or are you going to take control of your practice and your life and give yourself the freedom you want?

To learn more about ACT and how we can help you build a Better Practice and a Better Life, reach out to Gina!

Tune in next time and learn how to make 2025 a year with fewer headaches!