Nothing much of consequence happens in our lives without planning. Whether it is a dinner reservation for tomorrow night, hosting a holiday party for friends this month, or a dream vacation for next summer, we all understand that you have to put in some thought and effort in advance to get the results you want. The sad truth is most people put more effort into planning their vacation than they do into planning what they are going to do with the other 50 weeks of the year.

Why wouldn't you apply the same foresight and energy to your professional advancement? That is the focus of today's philosophical touchstone:

Plan to succeed

In just about every professional environment, including dentistry, success for the individual entrepreneur comes down to applying the right energy:

  • IN time: The time spent in the operatory.

  • ON time: The time spent focusing on the business with things like team meetings.

  • GROWTH time: Time spent away from the business to work on developing your skills—CE time.


Just about every effective dentist I know understands the value of education in this rapidly advancing profession. But there are still many dentists who do their education for the year "on the fly" wherever and whenever they can fit it in. Those who are serious about growing as clinicians are serious about making professional development a non-negotiable part of their calendar and they chart a course for what they intend to accomplish in each calendar year.

If you're going to get the most of your CE time, you're going to need a strategy and implement it well in advance. That means sitting down now as we approach the New Year and determining how much you're going to invest in 2014 in your professional development so you can strategize the growth of your practice. You'll need to decide what percentage of income and what percentage of time to spend on which areas. A good rule of thumb is to reserve time for a significant professional development activity once a quarter to keep you energized, engaged and growing throughout the year.

So block out your quarterly professional growth dates for 2014 now. Yes, it's true that you may have to make changes or additions later as you find out about new offerings, but the important thing is that you reserve this time up-front. Do it now and you'll be thanking yourself later.

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Commenter's Profile Image Gerald Benjamin
December 21st, 2013
As my East Coast Mentor used to say: If you don't plan for success, you are planning to fail. Massive amounts of CE WITH the best in the world are a prerequisite for success. In the post adhesive era, I took 200 hours of CE a year at a cost of $150,000 for 10 straight years. "Nothing much of consequence happens in our life without planning." I am not sure that I agree with this. Many important things in our lives happen that are well beyond our control (car accident while your car is parked at the curb , a massive recession after you have had the best 6 months of your career or being rejected from every dental school in the country for consecutive years). The key is what you do with what happens to you. A clear, objective review of reasonable options, requesting input from those around you that you respect and determination are the necessary actions to be taken when negative consequential events happen that are beyond our control.