Do you know where you want to be in five years?
In dentistry today, there are so many opportunities, technologies, courses, insights, and new ways of doing things that it’s no wonder we often become overwhelmed by the huge amount of information available. And, as a result, we may sometimes make decisions that don’t help us move forwards with our careers.
Have you ever found yourself caught up in momentary excitement of a good sales pitch, or has someone else’s opinion convinced you to invest in something without having a strategy in place for how exactly to use it?
This resonates because we’ve all been there. But the result? Despite our best intentions, our new investment ends up unused in a corner of the office.
This is why one of Christian Coachman’s top tips for success with comprehensive dentistry is to decide where you want to be in five years – and select the right strategies to help you get there.
DSD Residency Tip #5: Practice the vision of where you want to be in five years
Christian Coachman recommends this method to help any dentist gain clarity on the direction of their career.
Step 1: Build a detailed vision
The first step is to build a precise and exact vision of where we want to be. Ask yourself:
- What type of office do you want to have?
- What type of work do you want to do?
- What is the ideal type of patient you would like to be seeing?
- What technology would you love to be using?
- What type of people would you really like to be working with?
- What city or country would you like to be living in?
The clearer you are on your vision, the easier it will be to use any information you receive to help you get as close as possible to it.
Step 2: Reverse-engineer your plan
When your vision is clear, the next step is to reverse-engineer the plan. This is about looking at where you are now, and where you want to be, and defining the strategies that will help you get there.
Step 3: Filter all opportunities and strategies
By continuously revisiting your vision for where you want to be in five years, you will be better able to choose, customize and prioritize any idea you learn to improve the strategies that will help you reach your vision.
With this knowledge, we are better able to evaluate any opportunity that comes our way and decide whether it’s right for us. Often, by doing this exercise, we find it becomes easier to look at an opportunity and say: “This is a very cool opportunity but it’s not pushing me towards my vision. So thank you very much, but no thank you.”.
Get clear on your five-year vision at DSD Residency
At DSD Residency courses, dentists from around the world learn about a new comprehensive dental office model that is good for dentistry and good for business.
Defining your own five-year vision is just one of the strategies for success that Christian Coachman talks about at DSD Residency. If you would like to start applying them all, schedule a call with our team to learn more.
