The Paradox of Doing Less to Increase the Value of Your Time

How much time are you going to spend reading this article?

Since most of my readers are busy dentists, I'm going to assume that you are going to scan it quickly and see if there is anything worthwhile you can pick up from it and then you are going to move on to the next thing. I can't blame you – in a world of instant and plentiful information, we have all become experts at skimming.

The problem occurs when you take that "skimming" mindset too far. It happens when you skim through the continuing education you take, or skim through the charts of your patients. You can even be tempted to skim through patient exams, when you do a quick hygiene check without really stopping to investigate all of the patient's concerns and possibilities. You do it because time is at a premium and you want to get the most from each hour and each moment.

The paradox here is that if you really want to increase the value of your time, you have to find a way to do less. Zipping through courses or patient visits may feel like you're getting more done, but it is a surface-level form of achievement.

The way to make meaningful progress is to go deeper into your clinical education strategies, your diagnosis and treatment planning, as well as, each patient visit. And that takes time. Sometimes you have to slow down to speed up.

This is something I think most of us appreciate on an intellectual level but it requires significant discipline. When you are at a workshop or taking courses online, resist the urge to tune out, skip ahead, or just pull out the "good bits." Give yourself to the moment and immerse yourself in the experience. When you have a patient in the chair, devote your attention entirely to that person no matter how busy you are or what else may be happening in the practice that day.

Slow down, think deeply and be thorough. That's how you achieve what my partner Dr. Frank Spear refers to as flow: The blissful feeling you get when you are totally immersed – mind and body – in the moment. This is a rewarding way to practice, and to live.