The Opposite of an Idea

Today while speaking in Colorado Springs, a dentist came up to me at the break and thanked me for improving his golf game! I questioned him since we had said nothing about golf. He shared that he had always tended toward putting short. He realized that the biggest reason was because he always said to himself while putting, “Don’t land short.”

The principle we discussed was the fact that you can’t focus on the opposite of an idea. By telling himself NOT to land short, the only thought he really heard was, “Land short.”

If I say to you, “Don’t think of the Statue of Liberty,” you can’t do that either. The mere mention of those to words, Statue and Liberty, and the image immediately pops into your mind.

Consider always talking and thinking in terms of what you WANT, not what you DON’T want. Turn “I don’t want to run late” to “I hope we run on time.” Turn “The problem is that nobody shows up” to “We want more people to show up.”

Tell yourself and others what you want to make happen. When you do, you create a picture in your own mind and the mind of others of what the most desirable outcome is. And when you do, every mind will respond by working on how to make that happen.

It all starts with the picture that you paint with your words. So paint carefully so you get want you ultimately want.

Creativity Unleached!

Several yeas ago, a mentor of mine suggested one of to keys to creativity and inspiration…NOTHING! That’s right…NOTHING.

Sometimes our minds get so cluttered with the long lists of daily to do’s and stress of just keeping up with those things crowds out the creative process. We are so busy thinking, we can’t think. So the best thing to clear the brain is to give the brain a break so it can recover and think about more important things.

Imagine if I were to hand you a five pound brick and tell you to hold it straight out to your side. How long could you do it? 5 minutes? 6 minutes? The muscle fatigue would be unbearable to the point that your arm would collapse from exhaustion.

But what if you were to hold the brick straight out for 30 seconds and then set it down for 30 seconds repeatedly? How long could you do that? Perhaps indefinitely. “Recovery time,” not strength, is the key to endurance.

If you had suggested to me just five years ago that my favorite “nothing” or recovery time activity would become motorcycle riding, I would have referred you to a local psychiatrist! But that is exactly what has happened. (Not the psychiatrist part!)

A little over five years ago, Dr. Roy Hammond invited me to join the faculty of Learning Curves, dental C.E. on motorcycle adventure tours. (www.LearningCurves.net) He agreed to donate the proceeds of the ride on which I would be the dental C.E. presenter to our Smiles for Life Foundation (www.SmilesForLife.org) . I could not say “no” even though I had never ridden before.

Five years and four Miles for Life rides later, the ‘Miles for Life” ride has raised well over $300,000 and is now on its way to the half a million dollar mark. Each year, 20 Harleys are reserved by 230 riders and their co-riders if they choose for the annual Miles for Life ride which includes 4 days of spectacular riding through some of the best scenery in America: Yellowstone, Colorado Rockies, National Parks of Southern Utah etc. It has become a Smiles for Life tradition and major benefit for a great cause.

But those four days a year have not been quite enough for me and Cheryl. Week before last we escaped for four days of our own for a Harley ride through the Ozarks. The scenery was spectacular. The recovery time was invaluable. The togetherness time divine! We’ve decided that there is no other place we have found to have uninterrupted time together where we can relax, talk, and “recover.” We always return refreshed, highly creative, and ready to take on the world with new enthusiasm.

So what is your favorite “recovery” activity? If you don’t have one you love, get busy and find one. If you don’t think you could ever jump on a Harley, just do it. It will get you out of your comfort zone and open up a whole new world to you.

The next Miles for Life benefit ride will be held May 19-22, 2010. We will depart from Las Vegas, NV and ride to the Grand Canyon and onto Zion’s National Park and back. I’m excited to announce there are only 5 bikes left to be spoken for and we’re full! In past, most of the riders have signed up at the Crown Council Annual Event in February. It looks as if all the bikes will be spoken for long before then.

So before the bikes are all spoken for, I wanted to give you the chance to join me and Cheryl on what has become our favorite “recovery” activity. From the perspective of parents of 6 daughters, it is the best thing we do for our marriage, our family and our lives. You’ve got to have recovery time or “NOTHING” time to re-energize your brain, inspire your soul, and stimulate your creativity. So…Let’s RIDE!

To reserve one of the last bikes available on the Miles for Life 2010 ride, e-mail us today at Answers@TotalPatientService.com or call 1-877-399-8677. We look forward to riding with you.

Adjusting to Success

One of my all time favorite pieces of business and motivational literature is a speech given by insurance executive Albert E.N. Gray entitled “The Common Denominator of Success.” Some of the more salient points of this address were popularized by Earl Nightingale in later years.

I was reminded this week of a specific point Mr. Gray makes in his address. He said, “It is easier to adjust ourselves to the hardships of a poor living than it is to adjust ourselves to the hardships of making a better one.”

“Making it” in dentistry, or any other field takes effort, energy, and endurance; three things that are increasingly difficult to find. But the key ingredient is adhering to a set of natural laws and systems that get results. That sounds easy, but it is much more fun and entertaining to run off after the latest fad or new idea, show up late and leave early, or forgo additional wants in order to avoid the work, effort and energy it takes to become better.

I have frequently thought that there are few professions to which Albert Gray’s quote applies more than dentistry. There are few professions or professionals that I have seen that work harder at not working than dentists. In dentistry, it seems to be a badge of honor to not work very much. You’ve heard the conversation. A dentist will ask a colleague, “How many days-a-week are you seeing patients?” “Four days,” the other dentist responds to which the inquiring dentist replies, “Well, I’m only seeing patients 3 days a week.” And then he strides arrogantly away!

Sometimes it gets so bad that this “Don’t work” syndrome seeps down to the earliest entries in the dental field. I recall a dentist out of school just a few years who was only working 3 days a week. His practice was suffering, his production was mediocre, but he sure knew how to strut on the golf course two to three days a week!

Maybe I am out of touch here, but if your goal is to work less and see patients as little as possible so you can do other things, you might want to seriously consider your approach to your chosen profession. I have never seen anyone rise to any level of true success that did not put in the effort, energy and endurance to get there.

Case in point: I just finished reading Geoff Colvin’s book, Talent is Overrated – What Really Separates World-class Performers from Everybody Else, as recommended to me by Olympic Gold Metalist, Lanny Bassham (www.MentalManagement.com) If you want to read something that will give you some great hope, especially if you don’t think you are particularly talented in any one area, this is the book for you. As the title suggests, Colvin makes the convincing case that we give far too much credit to talent when observing the success of others, and we have far too little appreciation for the work that it really takes to be great. Becoming good – really good, takes effort, energy, and endurance. That’s why it is, as Albert Gray suggested, a lot “easier to adapt to the hardships of a poor living than it is to adjust ourselves to the hardships of making a better one.”

So, where are you slacking off? Where have you adjusted your desires, ambitions and attitudes to a lower level of accomplishment? Where do you need to step it up and apply some additional energy, effort and endurance? The “hardship” on the front end might take some sacrifice, but the success on the back end will be much better than the long, unending hardships of adjusting yourself to a lower level of success.

Now….Go to WORK!