Dentistry is a great career, isn’t it? Or at least it has that reputation. You get to help people and change lives and be a respected member of society. Plus, everyone needs dentistry and always will. It’s not going anywhere, so you can collect a steady paycheck forever, really. The stability of dentistry makes this career a no brainer for many. That’s the great part about this career and a main reason many of us chose it. But is dentistry really as stable as we think? I talk to a lot of dentists who tell me that this stability and...
You should always change where you sit. Sounds kind of silly, doesn’t it? I’m sure you’ve heard this advice before. “They” always suggest this as a simple way to change your perspective and see more opportunities. Whether it’s sitting in a class or on a bus, being in the exact same spot every day can limit your point of view. Let’s face it. Change is hard, and staying in your comfort bubble is easier, even when it comes to simple routines. Last weekend I had the chance to do the one thing that always makes me nervous. I attended a...
Can you imagine what it would be like to divorce your career? It’s a strange concept, I know. But what if we looked at our careers the same way we view our human relationships? With marriage, you don’t commit to a lifetime together after seeing a photo of someone, researching them online, and then only talking to their friends about whether they are the right fit. Instead, you date and get to know your potential life partners. You start out casually, only committing to that person once you experience life with them. Then, when you know they’re The One, you...
Ahh, dentistry. What a noble profession. We put our hearts and souls into taking care of others. We invest much of our lives learning our craft and doing everything we can to make our patients comfortable. When our hard work pays off and gets great results, we celebrate with a deep sense of joy and satisfaction. And when our very best efforts don’t lead to the desired results; we feel defeated, disappointed that we couldn’t do more for our patients. We have such good intentions. Even when it comes to business, I always thought dentists incorporated a different level of...
Time… it’s that one thing we can never get back. The finite nature of time is actually a gift. Its scarcity makes it the most valuable thing we have. Have you ever noticed that when you have eons of time to get something done, your efficiency goes down a lot? Maybe it’s why we procrastinate or why they say if you want to get something done, ask a busy person to do it. (Please tell me I’m not the only one!) The end of a year or season creates that reality check that we need to appreciate time. Many of...
Whether you have a tough day at work or actually hate dentistry, I hope that you don’t regret becoming a dentist for long. The crazy thing about dentistry that many people don’t understand is that we can enter into the field thinking we are going to help people, create solutions, and have nice relationships. But we get here, and we spend much of our time feeling like we are not impacting patients, our solutions don’t always work out, and those nice relationships get overshadowed by the difficult ones. Believe it or not, it’s easy to regret becoming a dentist. Some...
Ten years ago I walked away from my career in dentistry. I had spent so much of my life investing in becoming a dentist that it was a very difficult move. One week after I quit for good, I found a blog post titled, 10 Reasons I Hate the Dentist. I decided to have a little fun and write a response to this fellow blogger. Overnight 10 Reasons Your Dentist Probably Hates You Too went viral, reaching all corners of the world and getting translated into many different languages. It was quite a ride, and the most incredible part of...
Is it too late to talk about the New Year? Probably… I know some would say we’re way beyond talk of resolutions, intentions, and productivity. My procrastination made me miss the hype that comes with Jan 1, the hype that reminds us how much fun it is get to “start over” and hope and plan for better things to come. Yes, this is what procrastination does: it makes you start a blog post the second week in January, and then you don’t sit down to finish it until 6 weeks later. I felt motivated. I promise. I knew my plans...
Last week I started the new blog series Celebrating New Beginnings, where each week we will feature a different dentist who has overcome challenges in his or her career to create their better path forward. Whether it’s staying in dentistry and changing what isn’t working, or whether it’s leaving dentistry completely, know that we don’t have to settle. We kicked it off with a blog post from November of 2013 written by Rick, dentist-turned Italy Travel Guru. Well, it’s a 2-part blog post, and in case you missed both the first time around, here is part 2 of Rick’s post. ...
This isn’t just some silly fight between two Jewish kids. I normally wouldn’t ever even call myself that, but there really is a guy who calls himself The Fat Jew. And I’ve got a bone to pick with him. He doesn’t even know who I am, and until last week I didn’t know who he was. So it can’t be a real fight between us. Instead this is a battle of principles. It’s more about what we each represent. This is one bandwagon I will gladly jump right on. Last week I was put on the defensive in a big...
