What is your definition of success today? You may be excited about the future as a new dentist, busy growing your practice, or just grinding away until retirement.
Several years ago, a friend told me that he “just couldn’t wait for life after dentistry.” This was a profound statement, and sadly, I found that it was a universal issue in the industry. According to a survey of over 650 dentists in The Journal of the American College of Dentists, “there was a difference between the perception of a dental career and the reality of clinical practice.”1
Is this how you feel? After putting all of your blood, sweat and tears into your education, passing tests, and sacrificing countless hours away from family and friends to become a successful dentist, this is not the final result you dreamed of years ago when you first went to dental school. If this sounds familiar, I want to give you a simple concept to turn things around: reverse engineering.
Just like you help your patients visualize an end goal in order to build a treatment plan from the beginning, you need to look at what you really want and work backwards.
According to Merriam-Webster, reverse engineering means that you “disassemble and examine or analyze in detail (a product or device) to discover the concepts involved in manufacture usually in order to produce something similar.”2 This concept is found in the business world, and while simple, it’s very powerful.
You have to have a plan that has been reverse engineered based on your future vision, or quite frankly, it’s never going to happen. So, where do you start? Reverse engineering begins with three important questions that you might not have ever asked yourself before:
1. What kind of lifestyle do you want?
Open up your mind and dream a little bit. Stop putting off the things you really want until years into the future. Ask yourself, if you could change anything about your schedule right now, what would it be?
Make a list of what you want your life to look like in detail. What does your weekly schedule look like from when you get up in the morning until you go to bed? Where and when do you want to vacation?
Some people call this a “bucket list,” I call it a “life list.” Take some time to prepare your list, and do not sell this exercise short. It’s critical because it’s your life. If you don’t design this, who will?
2. How much money do you want to make?
Once you have a clear picture of the lifestyle you want, the second question to ask is how much money you really want to make. The better job you do for your patients, the more value you bring into their life, the more value they'll give you. Money is not something to be afraid of; it’s something to proudly accept, because you can never be paid enough for what you do.
As a dentist, you also have to remember that you are in business. Maximize your money; that’s the point of owning a business. To reverse engineer the money portion of your lifestyle, note how much you want for your income, family, legacy, charity, vacation, toys, and more.
This is important because the only way we can build a successful practice is to first figure out what success looks like qualitatively with lifestyle, and then quantitatively with the money it takes to support that lifestyle.
3. What do you want the dentistry itself to look like?
This final question takes into consideration everything from the patients you want in your chair all the way up to what you want to be doing with your time, energy, effort, and expertise. The key is to define the patient experience and dentistry you want because it's completely controllable through reverse engineering.
What responsibilities and roles do you want to play in your practice? What kind of dentistry do you want your practice to be known for? It really is all up to you.
Questions answered. What’s your plan?
Once you answer these three important questions, integrate them into a clear plan of attack to make them a reality. This takes time and effort, but honestly, if you don’t have an actual blueprint in place to make them happen, how do you expect things to change?
Once you have this document, you’ll have a clear understanding of where you want to go and what you need to do to get there. But know that you don’t need to do this on your own, and you shouldn’t. To succeed, you need to be very careful with your time and spend it on the specific, core activities you want—and need—to be doing to grow your practice and meet your lifestyle goals.
Conduct due diligence and research to find the right people and resources to help you. This is very important because we’re talking about the success of your practice and avoiding scams and wasted time and money!
However, once you have your goals actually written down, an action plan to make them a reality, and the right people in place, reverse engineering will change your life for the better and you’ll have the lifestyle and practice of your dreams!
Now, I hope you use this article as a catalyst for change. After all, do you really want to be like my friend who is just waiting until “life after dentistry” in order to live?
Editor's note: This article originally appeared in DE Weekend, the newsletter that will elevate your Sunday mornings with practical and innovative practice management and clinical content from experts across the field. Subscribe here.
References
- Rice CD, Hayden WJ, Glaros AG, Thein DJ. Career changers: dentists who choose to leave private practice. J Am Coll Dent. 1997;64(1):20-26.
- “Reverse engineer.” Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reverse%20engineer
