Disclaimer: The opinions
expressed in this blog are the authors own and are derived from the author’s
experiences and observations. This blog is the intellectual property of the
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“Yaar, rent
bahot hai! Isse achha main grocery shop
khol deta!”
“Galat field choose kar liya...Should’ve opted for
engineering! My friend in US/AUS/UK is now earning (insert amount) dollars a
year!”
“Courses waste of money hai re! Rent nikal jaata hai
utna kaam karneka...apni aukat utni hi hai!”
“Daal aate ka bhaav samjhega tujhe bhi...clinic daal
ke dekh!”
“Saturation hai sab....band kar dena chahiye ye
course!”
The harsh
reality of private dental practice in India today is that 9 out of 10
conversations that any budding dentist has with his/hers peers/friends/colleagues
are rooted deeply in negativity towards the profession and the state of the
field in general. While such negativity can be understood if not justified,
there is also truth in the fact that most failures and an inability to thrive
can be attributed more to factors such as a flawed approach, flawed planning, flawed mindset and flawed outlook.
Ask yourself this
honest question; When was the last time you walked away from a conversation
with a group of fellow budding dentists feeling inspired, motivated and full of
energy? If the answer is an astounding...all the time! stop reading the blog
this very moment because you are very well on the right path. However, if the
answer is rarely, occasionally or worse...never! kindly focus on this quote by
productivity expert and mentor Mr. Tim Ferriss;
“You
are the average of the five people you associate with most, so do not
underestimate the effects of your pessimistic, unambitious, or disorganized
friends. If someone isn’t making you stronger, they’re making you weaker.”
Now
look closely at the five fellow budding dentists that you interact with on a
regular if not on a daily basis. Take a look at your mindset and approach
towards your career, practice and life, compare it to how it was just a few
years ago, observe the changes that have come about and whether they were good
or bad. The whole point of this exercise is to evaluate how strong has the
influence of the people around you been on your mindset and outlook towards
your practice and if the influence has been strong in a negative way, what can
you do to change it?
To
be clear and specific, this does not in any way indicate that you stop
interacting with your friends and colleagues and become a recluse so that you
can drastically improve your career path...that would be insane! What it does
indicate is that if you arrive at the conclusion that the social interactions
that you are having on a regular basis are indeed proving to be detrimental to
your growth and progress, it may be time to neutralise the effect of these
interactions and may be spend your time a bit more wisely!
How
do you do that? Well, for starters...
FIND A MENTOR!
There
is no teacher greater than experience and for a budding dentist; the most
beneficial way to gain an insight into the scope and opportunities that
dentistry has to offer is to find a suitable mentor! However, a mentor in the
21st century need not necessarily be a living soul in your vicinity!
Technology today has made it possible for a person to connect with any living
soul anywhere on the planet by just a click of a button...so whether it is a cosmetic
dentist all the way in Noida whose work you admire or a speaker half way across
the globe whose talks on managing a practice made sense to you or even
something as simple as a website that offers an array of advice, tips,
suggestions and cases that help you update and upgrade your knowledge, a mentor
can be anyone in today’s world, it’s just a matter of reaching out which brings
us to the next point...
NETWORK WELL!
Everyone
is familiar with the phrase, “Birds of a feather flock together”. Similarly,
when it comes to dental practice, conferences, courses, lectures are the kind
of places where you will get a chance to meet other likeminded people who are looking
to elevate their knowledge and practice to another level. It is at such events
that you will find the necessary inspiration, motivation and guidance from even
the shortest of conversations with someone more experienced, more motivated and
more focussed than you are! Networking is not only a great way to socialise but
also helps build an accelerated growth and learning curve, something that you
deprive yourself of on getting influenced by the negativity around, which brings
us to the final point...
ISOLATE YOURSELF MENTALLY...ESPECIALLY IN BAD COMPANY!
In
the end, no matter how careful you try to be in your interactions with the
world, the reality is that you cannot force anyone to change their way of
thinking, hence it is impossible to always surround yourself with motivated,
inspired and productive folks. In such a case, it becomes imperative that you
first become clear about your goals and agendas as far as your practice is
concerned, have belief in the path you’ve chosen, work on your goals every day,
keep learning and develop a mindset that is strong, positive and inspired
enough to fend off any seeds of negativity that try to plant themselves
whenever you are in the company of the pessimistic, unambitious or
disorganised!
To
conclude, while there is no doubt that the company you choose to keep does
eventually end up influencing your decisions, mindset and outlook, for a
budding dentist looking to chart his/hers own growth story, the right mindset,
approach, planning and execution are equally important and can get affected by
your interactions quite easily.
The
key to not letting that happen and not losing track of your goals and dreams is
to always be on the lookout for experiences and interactions that will eleveate
rather than subdue your state of mind. As Tim Ferriss has rightfully stated,
you are indeed the average of the five people you associate with the most and
that applies to budding dentists as well!
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