The 3 Stages of a Successful Dental Career

There are three stages that mark the progression of almost every dental career.

The Investment Stage

The first stage in a dental career is where you put a lot of time, energy and resources into ramping up your career. Typically this happens soon after graduation where you are either buying a practice, building a new practice, or becoming an associate or partner, but it can also occur several years in, when you find yourself with the resources and the inspiration to make strategic investments that will drive growth quickly. This is usually an exciting stage in life, where you are earning a good income and seeing rapid growth in your personal lifestyle and in the practice.

The Plateau Stage

This second stage in a dental career is where you enter what I call a "cruise control" mode. It's almost a natural impulse after a period of intense development to ease up for a bit and enjoy the ride. It happens to many dentists eventually, for a while. Where it becomes more of a concern is when there is a sustained pattern of stagnation or just marginal, incremental increases over several years. Unfortunately, a lot of dentists remain in this phase and simply ride out the rest of their career in an endless cycle of routines.

And then there are those who don't. These are the dentists who wake up from that comfortable slumber and realize they need to once again find that spark that characterized their earlier growth period. These are the ones who move on to the most rewarding stage in a dental career of all: the Possibilities Stage.

The Possibilities Stage

This is the stage in a dental career where you implement the strategies that drive your "life agenda." If you make the leap off the plateau to get there, you will discover how to amplify the value of your time to the point where you ultimately choose how much you work and what kind of work you do. Where the Investment Stage is about developing skills and performance standards, and the Plateau Stage is about settling into habits, this stage is about finally programming the life you want.

I am proud to say that we at Spear have used this understanding of dental career arcs to serve dentists at every point of their journey. We help dentists in the Investment Stage get the most from their resources so they can see significant motivating results as soon as possible. We help dentists in the Plateau Stage get re-energized by showing them the possibilities that are in within reach. And finally, we help dentists who have entered the Possibilities Stage achieve true fulfillment in life and in the practice by optimizing the tremendous value they have created.

The most encouraging words I can offer to just about any dentist who is looking for more from their dental career is that you are probably much closer to achieving satisfying success than you probably realize. No matter what stage you are at in your journey, the possibilities await.



If you find topics like this helpful, check out Imtiaz Manji's practice management courses available to you through our Course Library. Not yet a member of Spear Online? Click here to learn more.