Keep Your Higher Purpose in Mind

If a Genie granted you three wishes, what would you wish for?

Given the chance, many of us would wish for an escape from everyday things we are responsible for now; things like dirty dishes, bill-paying and a hundred other tasks would just magically disappear.

Or you might wish for just having a life of leisure where you never had to work. Maybe you would wish for enough money to be free from economic stress and have the ability to afford all the things you want for yourself and your family. And yet, there are some responsibilities we wouldn't trade for anything. You know how true this is the moment you become a parent.

You are forever changed by that sudden new responsibility – one that you cherish beyond words because its value to you is so incredibly high. Of course, there are bad days and good days that come with parenthood but your expectation isn't that it would always be easy. In fact, the hard part of parenting is what makes it so good.

The lesson here is that in the face of anything that challenges us, our focus must always be anchored on value to give us a meaningful context. When we focus on the deeper value of something, the experience is better and we lose ourselves in the greater purpose. When we forget the value of something, we lose our context and want to escape.

In other words, don't allow yourself to be brought down by the daily frustrations of practice life. You have to face the fact that patients don't come to you value-ready and commitment-ready. They don't walk in saying, "I have been saving money for this treatment for years and now I want you to give me the best, most comprehensive dentistry you can." There will always be a gap.

Your role is to always work on narrowing that gap by building that value and inspiring that commitment. That's your higher purpose. That's why you became a dentist.