Take a moment to look at this clip from an episode of the TV classic, I Love Lucy:
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I’m posting this, not just to give you a brief comedy diversion, but because I think this scene is a telling metaphor for how many of us tend to live and work.
Most dental practices have a sort of status quo default setting when it comes to the daily pace of production and intensity of focus. We tend to use the natural gaps in efficiency (gaps every practice has) to give ourselves a buffer and keep the conveyor belt moving at an easily manageable pace. We know we can step things up if we have to, but because we’re usually busy enough, we don’t feel like we have to.
Until we do. An unexpected expense, some unplanned time off, a post-vacation lull in collections—these things have a way of creating a sense of urgency that makes us find those extra gears we have but don’t often use. For awhile we really put our backs into it and put some extra energy into case presentations, team efficiency, collections. Once the urgency has passed, though, the tendency is to fall back to the comfortable default setting.
It’s when those periods of urgency become more intense or more sustained—during a prolonged recession, for instance—that we find ourselves overwhelmed and we really see how the speed up/slow down cycle ultimately fails us. It fails us because it is a way of working that doesn’t honor our true abilities.
Nobody likes the pressure of working a speeding conveyor belt. At the same time, a slower setting may be easier to deal with, but as with many things in life, what’s easy and comfortable is not usually what’s best. The real joy that you can get from this profession comes from a commitment to continual improvement—improvement not just in practice performance, but in your enjoyment for what you do–so that you are always challenged and always in control. It’s not about raising the level of your game when you have to. It’s about always working to improve the level of your game because you want to.
