Work Life Balance and Dentistry
What is your work life balance like?
Are you constantly at the office or thinking about work? Are you stressed and anxious and unhappy in your work? Are you bored with your job and see little value in what you do?
Do you have poor health or find it difficult to sleep at night? Are you abusing alcohol or recreational drugs to be able to cope and take the edge off life?
What’s the quality of your relationships like with your friends and your family? Do you feel it’s all work and no play and can’t see an end to the treadmill of the daily grind of working long hours trying to make ends meet?
Do you feel down or depressed and unable to manage? Do you often wake up feeling like you have only just gone to sleep and dread the alarm going off unless it’s the weekend and you don’t have to be in the office?
Do you have hobbies or time to do the things you like? Are you unable to switch off, your mind is constantly worrying or mulling over what happens at work?
You Need To Stop
If you answered yes to any of these questions then I can help you and I am going to be brutally candid here because I care about you, you actually need to face the fact that you need support because your work life balance is way off and you are showing signs of not doing so well.
Whilst you might be pretending you are ok and have it all under control your body is telling you that is not so – please don’t wait until you burnout or worse before you accept that you need to make changes.
Take Care of Your #1 Asset
Think about it you are the most important piece of equipment in your dental office. We all know what happens when we work our dental equipment too hard and don’t get it serviced when it needs it. That’s right it breaks down and wears out before its time. Is this what you want to happen to you?
Your work life balance is like the mouths of our patients, all parts have to be working in harmony and be healthy for them to have a well functioning and attractive mouth. It’s the same with your life, if you are going to have a full, healthy and wealthy life – a life that is successful you must be able to have balance between your leisure time and your work time and how you feel inside.
Review Your Life
Take a moment to think about your life – how healthy and wealthy is it? Do you consider yourself rich because of how you are with yourself and your loved ones or is it all work and no play, marking time until your holiday or a day off, waiting for sleep as it’s the only time you get for yourself?
How much longer can that go on for and is it really what you imagined when you decided to do dentistry or open your own practice?
From Burnout To Burning Bright
I can share with you I have also felt that way, exhausted, stressed, unhappy, over it. Working for my holidays, trying to pretend everything was ok and hoping for it to get better when I woke up the next day.
Thankfully for me I acknowledged that I was struggling and reached out for help and support before it was too late.
From there I was able to turn my life around and implement a way of life that has allowed me to be healthy, wealthy and successful in all aspects of my life and career. A way of life and working that has allowed me to spend less time in the office, see less patients and make more money. A way of life that allows me to feel good about myself, have more energy, less stress and a renewed passion for my dentistry.
A way of living and working that I want to share with you so you can have the life you want now.
How To Improve Your Work Life Balance in Dentistry
So how do you improve your work life balance, especially if you are struggling to make enough money in your practice to cover your bills?
Well firstly you have to change the way you work to be able to be more productive and effective. To have a team that backs you and helps you to run your office and to master aspects of your business.
These are areas I work on with my one on one clients during our coaching programs so they can have more time freedom, and less stress so they can do the things they want to do and not spend every waking hour in the office.
I have shared much of the basics and my top tips and steps to achieve this in my other blogs so for now here are some basic steps you can take to improve your work life balance.
Balance Your Work Life Dentistry Equation
Step 1 Take a life audit: Using a tool like a my balance wheel where you look at different aspects of your life and rank them from 1 to 10 based on where you are now and where you’d like that aspect of your life to be.
This can simply be looking at relationships, health and energy levels, time with your partner, time with friends, time for you, your money, time in nature, exercise and aspects of work for example.
Step 2 Get clear about your goals: Take the time to look at what you want, how you want your life to be and what that will look and feel like when you achieve this and do the same for your work life and dental office.
Write them down so you have and point of reference to work to.
Step 3 Action Plan: How will you make those goals happen, what steps do you need to take, what do you need to put in place, what do you need to let go of, what needs to change, what boundaries do you need to implement so that you can make the progress you require?
Then take the action required to get you there.
Step 4 Don’t try to do it all at once: Focus on the top 3 things that you want that will give you the biggest improvement in your work life balance.
Take time to recharge, relax and rejuvenate yourself. Take a walk in nature, have a long soak in the bath, get a massage, read a book, meditate, have a date with your partner, hang out with your kids, work on being present and in the moment. Spend time with friends and family and people you love.
Step 5 Ask for help: If you are feeling overwhelmed and don’t see a way out then please reach out for help. Speak to your spouse or close friend, your GP or a helpline if need be, please don’t become another dreadful and unnecessary statistic.
You are worth more than that and you owe it to yourself and all those who love you to get the help that you need so you can feel better about yourself and your life.
Dentistry Is Not Your Life
Dentistry is not you whole life and it should not consume your every waking thought.
Yes it is demanding running a dental practice and being a dentist.
I believe that you can successful at dentistry and at life – after all I have been able to do it and turn my life around so I can help you to do the same.
Running a successful dental office involves a lot of moving parts and you are the key piece in making it all happen, having you healthy, with a clear vision of what you want to achieve goes along way to you reaching your goals. You also need the business sense and systems and tools to get you there and that’s where I can help.
