Our thoughts are our most powerful possession, as evidenced by the scientifically proven placebo effect. A positive mindset positively affects the brain, which positively affects the body. A positive mindset also affects our attitude, behaviors, and actions, which translates into solutions, results, and performance.
Your mindset puts you on a trajectory toward success or away from it. A growth mindset will take you in an upward direction, where a fixed mindset will stagnate your practice.
The year is half over. If you’re on track to meet your goals for the year, congratulations! If you’re not—or if you don’t know because you don’t have written goals, or you don’t track progress—it’s not too late. A lot can be done in six months to get you onto a better trajectory of growth.
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First, though, you need to come up for air. Keeping your head down and just grinding out the work day in and day out is bad for your mental and physical well-being. It’s also bad for business. It makes you complacent about what you could and should be doing differently to achieve different results.
Put yourself in the role of a third-party observer. Ask yourself some tough questions, and be honest about what you’re seeing:
- Where is the practice excelling … and where is it not?
- How productive are you personally?
- How productive is each team member in their individual role?
- How effectively are you all working together as a team?
- Are you spending your time, energy, and money on activities and investments that will have the biggest impact on the business?
Reframe
Midyear is an excellent opportunity to reframe your thinking by reaffirming what success looks like for the practice. Based on a growth mindset and positive attitude, put your goals through the SMART filter—specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and realistic, time-bound—and tweak if necessary. Put them in writing, and communicate to the team in a way that inspires buy-in and commitment.
Refocus
Be intentional and purposeful with your actions that drive the results you want. Refocus on goals, then protect your thinking by avoiding negative feeds, and protect your time by having the discipline to stick to an effective time management system. Develop your people into real impact players by giving them the training they need to get focused on delivering a great patient experience and accepting accountability for shared results.
Reenergize
Reengage and reenergize yourself and your team members with opportunities to build new skills and grow professionally and personally. Change the self-talk from “I can’t” to “I’m still learning; I’ll keep trying” and from “I made a mistake” to “Mistakes help me learn.” Embracing change and effectively managing the stress that may go with it is rewarding and empowering. Lean into it, and guide your team to do the same.
Remotivate
If you’re complacent about your practice, how can you expect your team to be any different? Remotivate yourself and your team by creating a culture of “we’re all in it together” to achieve goals that are in everyone’s best interest. Track progress so you can celebrate success along the way, or take corrective action in time to get back on track.
Become an engagement multiplier
Harness your most powerful asset—your thoughts. Change your attitude from a complacent, fixed mindset to a positive growth mindset. Set goals that put you on a trajectory of growth and success. Then multiply the impact by engaging the team and giving them the training and development they need to perform at a higher level as individuals and as a team.
Editor's note: This article appeared in the July 2023 print edition of Dental Economics magazine. Dentists in North America are eligible for a complimentary print subscription. Sign up here.
