The one essential skill every budding Dentist looking for career fulfilment needs to develop and it has nothing to do with Dentistry!

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“Career fulfilment” has these days become the pole star of the millennial generation. Irrespective of the field of work, feeling content with one’s work life has become the top most priority for all young professionals today. While success has different definitions for different people; for some it might mean raking in huge profits and buying that luxury possession to show off to the world, for others it might mean something as simple as being able to earn enough to support a comfortable life, craving fulfilment is something that is common to everyone.

It is this pursuit of fulfilment that has led to the argument of “work-life” balance in the world today. That is because most people are not happy with where they are in the present. Budding dentists are no different. 9 out of 10 dentists, especially those in the early stages of their career will advise you to refrain from dentistry as a career for innumerable reasons ranging from saturation to a lack of jobs to expenses. A budding dentist who is content with his/her career choice has become a rarity these days. While it is not fair to blame the budding dentist entirely for this, it might be more accurate to blame the mindset though.

Let us look at the complaining budding dentist from a third person point of view. To simplify things, let us assume he/she has recently launched a dental practice. A third person observing this budding dentist’s life on a day to day basis will feel nothing short of envious of the lifestyle this field offers. Imagine, OWNING your own business, running it as per your WISH, the FREEDOM to call an off-day when you feel like, being your own BOSS and being in-charge of your own INCOME! For any person not related to Dentistry, for any 9-5ver, for most of the population on this planet caught in the shackles of a desk job...your life...the life of a dentist is something they can only dream of! Then why is it so that we as budding dentists are so hell bent on being negative about it all the time?

The answer to that lies in the fact that even though we go through a lot of training both theory and practical. Even though we keep on looking for ways to improve our skill sets, learn new things, “corporate-ise” our practice etc; learning to develop the right MINDSET is something that we are never trained to do. One essential component of that right MINDSET skill set is GRATITUDE.

GRATITUDE or the feeling of being thankful is something that we as budding dentists need to develop as a quality and as a skill. Why? Because it is only when you are thankful for where you are in the present will you be positive about your outlook towards the future! It is only when you appreciate your current position will you be able to think clearly about your next endeavour. Moreover, being thankful and appreciating the little things has a profound impact on your mindset above anything else...a positive impact to say the least which in turn leads to feeling better, content and satisfied with where you are no matter what the current circumstances or difficulties.

To summarise, here’s why budding dentists need to develop practicing gratitude as a skill early on in their career;

#1 It sets things into perspective

So you realise that not every problem is a BIG one and all phases or obstacles are temporary. If you got through till where you are now, you can get through whatever it is that seems like a problem at present too!

#2 It helps you to appreciate the present and thereby enables you to make better decisions for the future

Appreciating and being content with the present leaves very little room for worries, thereby leads you to make better decisions with a calm mind as far as your future is concerned.

#3 It leaves you with a feeling of fulfilment instead of being on a blind pursuit of the same

When you pause and reflect on the things you have, feel blessed to have them and express gratitude for being lucky enough to enjoy a life most dream of, fulfilment automatically follows and you no longer take part in the wild goose chase of fulfilment in the outside world.

So there you go, GRATITUDE, as a quality, as a skill is essential to the development of the right mindset as a budding dentist especially when it comes to career fulfilment and satisfaction. Incorporating it in your daily routine has its own benefits especially in the long run. Budding dentists or any professional for that matter looking to develop a steady state of the mind when it comes to career fulfilment should look to practicing GRATITUDE a few minutes every day.

Be THANKFUL. See the change.

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