MBA

No...not Master of Business Administration...although it kinda fits. What I'm talking about is Manage By Agreement. It's a simple fact that most of the time while we are working we are dealing with people's feelings and emotions about everything. And, these feelings and emotions get pretty intense when it's about a broken deadline or misunderstanding.

So, my simple to use and ultra-stressfree tip is to only Manage By Agreement. When you are only dealing with what was promised, what was broken--all the FACTS, there isn't much to get emotional about.

It's another way to say "integrity". Doing what you said you would do, by when you said you would do it...

Ahhh...imagine the simplicity of it all!!

You're not listening to me...

Have you ever felt that way? That people were just not listening to you, always cutting you off mid-sentence, and that they even started treating you differently at some point in time? What I'm about to say is really geared towards you, not them, unless "them" are reading this, too. What's going on is a filter. A filter is a pre-concieved idea or notion about how something is or how a person is or is going to be. Maybe their filter for you is that you're righteous, that you don't listen, or that you don't care.

For example, when my wife was pregnant, every woman I saw was pregnant. It was the filter I had for women at the time. They stood out like a sore thumb. What I'm getting at is that you have a filter for everyone and everything...it's not bad...we all have filters, but distinguishing your filters will have you able to either keep it or let it go and create a new, empowering one.

Also, guess what, maybe you've been wanting more patients, well, from now on all your current patients are new patients! You have had a filter for patients, each and every one of them, and you now have the power and choice to create a filter that maybe has them paying up front, always happy to be there...always on time, even!

Well, keep looking for where you have filters and how altering them will enhance your life and theirs!

What is Leadership anyways?

It's a time of change...and I think it is the perfect time to look at the word "Leadership." The word itself has a whole world to it. When you hear "Leadership" you could interpret that in many ways. Dictator, manipulator, one who inspires, graceful, governor, etc...what there is to get is that Leadership is many things, but I want you to look at it with a more defined scope. Leadership, for me, is based on two "I's," Inspire and Influence.

In truth, everyone on your team, and in your life, is a leader. Leaders among Leaders! It's important to know that everyone in your office is a leader and that each has their own "leadership personality." It's also very important that everyone on the team is on the same page and directed toward the same goal. And, what there is to look at is how you, as a Leader, can Inspire and Influence anyone and everyone you come across!

I just got done having my bi-weekly conference call with my spectacular "It Takes A Team To Close A Case" group and we had a great time discussing this conversation about Leadership, how to be a Leader, and what it takes as a team to achieve the goal.

I'll be expanding on this topic for the next month, so keep reading and please send me some comments...I want to know what you are getting out of my blogs or maybe what you want to hear about! Thanks!

Raise Your HDL: Healthy Deserve Level

My new book is finally here! This is my sequel to Million Dollar Dentistry...and I know that it will exceed your expectations! In life you don't get what you deserve. You get what you THINK you deserve. Nothing more. Nothing less. This is the golden nugget that many of the people I have worked with and spoken to have been looking for! Raise Your HDL will enhance your life--the life you crave but up until now have been unable to grasp with both of your hands! Click here to purchase now! Enjoy!

ANTs---Automatic Negative Thoughts

When someone asks you, "What's great in your life?" there is a knee-jerk reaction that happens in our brains that says all the things in our life that are NOT great. Just click on the title of this post (a new window will open from "Box") press play, and listen--this audio clip is about ANTs and how they affect us in life--from my Boston event! Enjoy!

Fear-based driven performance vs. Confidence-based driven performance

Clearly these are two very different approaches to how to not only run your practice, but also on how to react in life to any circumstance that heads your way.

It’s rather easy to get bogged down in the swamp of “should haves” and “if onlys” in life. “If only I wouldn’t have bought ‘X’,” or “I should have handled ‘Y’ better,” or “If only I had more time, money, love, etc.” What’s certain in life is that it’s going to keep happening--circumstances, events, emotions, and people…it’s just going to continue on and on. But what you have power over is how you react to life and all that it entails.

Fear-based driven performance will have many in these economic climates scurrying to survive. They will react to situations with anger, frustration, terror, sadness, and resignation that they are doomed to not succeed and live their dreams. This will lead to driving family, employees, and patients away—I know that “away” is not where they want them to go, really—and so do you.

Others, when operating from Confidence-based driven performance, will succeed in any given situation because they know, because of a high deserve level and commitment to success, that life is 10% of what happens, and 90% of how they react to it. These people will see the opportunity in every challenge and they will work as a team, both in the practice and at home, on producing the outcome that they desire most, that benefits all involved.

One isn’t better than the other—that’s simply a matter of opinion…do you want alienation or accomplishment? Sinking or succeeding? Fear or fun?

Your outlook on performance is going to be the key to getting whatever it is that you want in 2009 and on!