Murphy's Law: Accelerating Your Dental Laboratory and Your Life
Murphy's Law: Accelerating Your Dental Laboratory and Your Life
I have been using this lecture topic for a while now, but had to forego using my 7 Habits of Highly Effective Dental Labs title. The folks at Franklin-Covey finally caught up with me and asked nicely to stop using their trademarked style of title. I had a nice run, never meant any harm and they were very nice about asking me to change the title.
The new title is descriptive of what is covered and hopefully attractive enough for you all to decide to attend occasionally. However, there is much left unsaid behind those well chosen words.
Our businesses and our lives are often held back by forces that resist change. This change aversive force or inertia is defined in physics as the property of matter that causes it to resist any change of its motion in either direction or speed. A body at rest has a tendency to remain at rest. A body in motion resists any change in either direction or speed. Furthermore, an object’s inertia is determined by its mass. So, overcoming inertia in a bowling ball takes much more force than for a tennis ball.
In career terms, inertia translates as our fear of change, experiencing failure and disapproval or fear of the new and unfamiliar. Furthermore, a person or laboratory’s inertia is determined by its mass. It would take more force to move or change direction for an older established laboratory than for a newer start.
The examples below of the inertial forces that act to keep us from accelerating or changing direction in our laboratories and our life are real. Our reactions to them may not always be rational or fair. Some we have control over, for others we can be prepared. We can minimize risk, hold true to our dreams and achieve an ideal dental laboratory and life if we overcome them.
- The Current Economy Uncertainty
- Increasing Life Expectancy
- Seeing Your Ideal Vision
- Aligning the Entire Team
- Strategic Business Planning
- Results Oriented Behavior
It is very personal. There is no singular answer. Each of us has a distinct set of circumstances, temperaments and objectives that morph our own interpretation of this optimized practice and balanced life that we seek. Your vision guides and initiates everything. From this vision exploration evolves a personal financial plan and business plan that serves as an execution strategy for optimization and alignment. Your practice is the economic and behavioral reward engine that ultimately supports our personal financial plan. They must be congruent to provide harmonious alignment and predictability. Your strategic business plan sets goals and objectives to meet and exceed that are also in line with your vision. Achieving these goals and objectives yields results that in turn support the successful achievement of your vision - and a 360 degree plan comes full circle.
- Vision drives the plan.
- The plan provides goals and objectives.
- This yield results.
- The result supports the vision.
Congruent, aligned and expressing your vision for a balance laboratory business and life.
The challenge is in the change mechanics that have to occur. How much force will it take to change direction or accelerate your business? What risks will we need to manage? How can we craft a seamlessly integrated plan for our personal wealth, laboratory finances and measure, monitor and manage successful behavior for our clients, self and team.
As you may notice, this rhetoric is new for me. It reflects a recent change I have made to Mercer Advisors from the Pankey Institute. Mercer has the implementation piece of the puzzle in place for their clients. Pankey has always had first class clinical education. I still appreciate that. The Scottsdale Center with Dr. Frank Spear in residence and with my good friends Dr. Gary DeWood and Dr. Lee Ann Brady have taken that best of breed site to a new level. Mercer Advisors has a practice consulting, financial planning and personal investment side that gives a true 360 degree planning approach.
