Last Thursday I had a really good cry. I can assure you it was a good, long, ugly cry. And it felt so good. That day was the one-year anniversary of my last targeted chemotherapy infusion. It’s been quite a year, a tough one for many. But given how 2019 was for me, 2020 has been a breeze. I’ve been happy. It seems almost suspiciously happy, the kind of happy that you don’t think is humanly possible. Most of the time it’s a carefree feeling. I’ve not been bothered by the small things, and when I am, I can quickly […]
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Ever wonder why some organizations run like well-oiled machines, and others face problem after problem? It all comes down to one thing: leadership. Leadership creates the culture. Everything trickles down from the top. I have worked in several different offices during my time in dentistry, and they were all different. One of the offices had okay systems in place but also got by without systems. The boss was more of a dictator-type leader. He was always right, and what he said went. We rarely challenged him, but I learned over time that if I could suggest an idea in a […]
When I look back on my career in dentistry, the parts I loved the most were networking and creating relationships with other dentists. Working in private practice was not that fulfilling for me. I always felt burdened, like I couldn’t do enough to please my patients. That left me feeling empty and unappreciated. But when I went to the Pankey Institute to try to save my career, I absolutely loved the learning environment and the friends I made. When I got involved in the local dental society, I loved the sense of community that brought. Now that I am hosting […]
In January of 2018 I started a new series of interviews titled Celebrating New Beginnings. Each week I featured a dentist or hygienist who had an innovative dental career or made a career transition outside of the traditional roles in private practice. It was really fun to highlight how other dental professionals were finding career happiness. Life got in the way, and I had to shift gears for a bit, but now we are back! I often focus on dentist career changes, and today I’m excited to highlight a hygienist’s career change. Welcome my guest, Amy. Amy grew up in […]
It’s your lucky day if you’re getting a little bored of reading my blogs… I have another podcast interview to share with you today! If you’ve invested so much of your time and energy to get into dentistry that you’re in it for life, think again. It’s scary to consider walking away from this career you’ve built, but it doesn’t have to be impossible. You can safely plan a career transition or modification before you feel too stuck. Sure, it’s still possible to diversify after you feel stuck, but why not get started early? There are many ways we can […]
Many of us graduated dental school thinking the only way to be a dentist was to have your own private practice. With practice ownership, you get to have all the control, make all the important decisions, and be the one in charge. However, with practice ownership, you have to have all the control, make all the important decisions, and be the one in charge. That responsibility isn’t for everyone. More and more, we are starting to see that dentistry doesn’t have to be a one-size-fits-all profession. Today so many young dentists are finishing school with massive debt, that they don’t […]
Welcome to my guest blogger, Dr. Michelle Mudge-Riley! Dr. Mudge-Riley is a physician, an entrepreneur, and founder of Physicians Helping Physicians. She runs multiple businesses and has spent over 15 years assisting physicians with career strategy. In a 2010 book that she co-authored, Physicians in Transition, she was called the “Doctor’s Doctor” because of her success in working with other doctors. Dr. Michelle Mudge-Riley is here to share her knowledge to help you in your search for non-traditional careers for dentists. She is also my co-host for the upcoming FREE Dentist Career Change Masterclass and the big NEXT Dentist Conference […]
How much did you know about dentistry before you chose it as your forever career? If you’re like me, not much. Many of us interviewed a few dentists, spent a handful of afternoons shadowing them, or just found teeth interesting as patients. We chose dentistry based on a somewhat superficial impression of the work involved. You can see how easy it would be get into the career and then realize it’s totally wrong for us. Imagine if you did that with your romantic relationships. Imagine marrying someone after you’ve only met for coffee 5 times. It would be kind of […]
Getting through the current events will either require or create a lot of resilience in each of us. It seems like there has not been a time in our lives where we have felt so much discord. With Coronavirus, the economy, politics, racism, the media, social media, and more; life just feels hard these days. Despite all of the negativity we experience in this present moment, one good thing will come out of it: we will all become more resilient– no matter what. We might struggle to see the good that can come out of this, but becoming more resilient […]
Why does it always take a big shake-up in life to get our attention? We often go through life on auto-pilot, making decisions and taking actions that we think will give us the life we want. Over time we get so caught up in our routine, that we don’t even think about what our priorities are anymore. We wake up, go to the work we chose, often wishing it were Saturday. Once the day gets going, things might be fine, but how inspired and motivated are we, really? We try. We use the New Year, whether that’s in January or […]