Essentials for Wellness and Health as a Dental Practitioner

You have most likely heard the famous proverb: “Guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.”

It is great wisdom. It is also very practical. To remain healthy and safe, our “hearts” need to be protected. We need rest, downtime, and peace of mind. We need a life that gives energy as well as demands it. We need wellness and health as dental practitioners.

We need people around us to remind us of who we really are and what is important. We need to say yes to what is most essential and no to the things that aren’t essential.

In recent weeks, I have heard a podcast interview of two people on the other side of burnout and a forced six-month sabbatical. I have had multiple conversations with dentists and dental teams that are overwhelmed and disillusioned.

In addition, I have listened to a sad story of a friend who started behaving carelessly and out of character secondary to the fatigue and frustration of unrelenting pressure and career demands. He just wasn’t himself.

Many of you are running full speed, meeting the relentless demands of your practice as well as pursuing teaching and writing opportunities.

The question I pose to each of you is “Which opportunities and demands are the most important—essential, to you and your unique life?”

We needlessly increase stress when we compare ourselves to others and think we should achieve what they are achieving. We create pressure on ourselves when we feel we should say yes to others’ requests for our energy and time.

In contrast, we honor wellness and health as Dental Practitioners when we pause to consider what is best for ourselves and recall our personal priorities.

Our purpose, capacity, energy, desires, loves, dislikes, and circumstances are unique to each of us and unlike those of anyone else.

I have listened to and read about people who have been through periods when they struggled with their physical health, energy, and emotional state. To recover, they found that vacations were only a part of the solution.

They had to find a community of peer support. They had to find ways to make each day healthier and more productive.

They had to intentionally create “white space” in their life, place only the most important events on their schedule, and develop a respectful way to say “no” or “not now.”

Saying no is difficult for most of us but it is required to live our one short life on purpose.

In addition to living on purpose, here are some other essentials for wellness and health as a Dental Practitioner:

• Resilience —Restoring physical, mental, and emotional strength often requires more rest, exercise, and recreative interaction outside of work with family and friends to reframe perspective.
• Meaningful work —Do what you love at least 50% of the time.
• Energy management —Pace yourself, take breaks, enjoy the “flow” that occurs when you are highly engaged in your work, and respectfully rely on your leadership team to help you maintain a schedule that prioritizes the most important activities.
• A peer-to-peer community of support —We have the human need to give and receive empathy, understanding, wise counsel, sparks of creativity, and encouragement.
• Dedicated time to recreate the self —Think in terms of daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal-yearly rhythms. Create time to regularly relax, relate, and play outside of dental practice. Like a surfer running to the beach when the waves are perfect, allow yourself some flexibility to embrace spontaneous opportunities.
• Spiritual nourishment and expression —What nourishes the most foundational part of you? Seek the goodness that elevates your soul and feed on those nutrients. Celebrate that goodness with gratitude.

We talk a lot about balance at Line of Sight Coaching, and we do this because it is all too easy for Dental Practitioners to run out of steam…to run out of oxygen. Like the airline steward says, “Put on your emergency oxygen mask first before assisting others.”

Our positive thoughts, emotions, words, and actions—our joyful hearts, are what make it possible for us to be a wellspring of understanding, compassion, and love. We need to protect our hearts to enjoy our work and improve the wellness of everyone around us.

 

Wondering how we can help you find the essentials of wellness and health for your dental practitioners, doctors, and your team members?

Here is an outline of the programs we offer. If you feel one would be a fit for you or your team, please reach out to us.

All of our coaching techniques are based upon the coaching principles developed using the Leadership Circle 360 Profile tools.

Taking part in the programs will help you:

• Solve the urgent problems that are your immediate barriers
• Become more effective leaders, practice owners and teams.
• Create strong dental practice cultures & leveraging the talents of your team
• Build more profitable & peak performing practices

Leader to Leader Coaching: This program is for the dentist or doctor and offers you a way to get the coaching to help you develop your leadership and coaching skills by working with us one-on-one as well as in our monthly group sessions.

Leadership Team Coaching: This program is for the leadership team in your practice and offers private and group sessions to help the team members work WITH the doctors to build that profitable practice everyone wants to be part of. This program is ideal for Office Managers, Practice Administrators, Hygiene Department Leads, Administrative Leads, Lead RDA’s, Doctors Spouse/Business Managers, or any folks who are a vital part of the Leadership Team in your organization.

Mastermind Groups: These monthly mastermind groups are open only to clients who have been through our coaching programs. They offer a continued way to get the coaching and support in a peer to peer setting.

If you want to inquire about joining any of our coaching programs, or to work privately with us, please reach out and book a complimentary call with us.