September's problems

Aug 29, 2010

Editor's note: The Coaches Corner column appears regularly on the DrBicuspid.com advice and opinion page, Second Opinion.

Not only do we live in a changing world, but the speed of change is ever increasing, and just as we are about to get what we want, it becomes ... not quite right. So we go back and fix what we do so that it will be right and so we can have what we want.

This is a cycle, sometimes called a rut (depending on how long you have been doing it and your particular point of view). Even if you do have goals, what good are they without inspiration, vision, and purpose?

Sometimes it is no longer a balancing act, but rather survival. Either way, you are doomed to fixing and surviving events and situations, issues and problems. Problems arise because of your particular point of view: always fixing or surviving something.

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
— Wayne Dyer

When these apparent problems seem beyond your resources, you have two basic choices for eliminating the problem:

You can find a bigger problem (funny, but it works).
You can see yourself as responsible, actively working on the "thing" (the operative word here is actively doing something, and hopefully helping others).

With problems, it is important to see yourself as 100% the cause of the matter, rather than throwing out opinion, gossip, judgment, or blame (also known as not being responsible).

Problems are only problems because they lack workability. When you see yourself as the cause, you can take responsibility and action to do what you know needs doing. When you engage actively, the problem is no longer a problem because it now has workability.

And guess what: You are also the solution. When you show up, the problem(s) go away.

A personal coach does not remove these problems. But a coach can turn problems into personal challenges and enable you to work with resources you didn't know you had. For example, a lot of anxiety and stress is involved in dentistry. But did you ever consider that these "problems" wouldn't be there if you didn't care? If you can see it that way, it becomes an opportunity.

It is not only in the seeing and the doing that a coach helps, but also in who you have to be as owner, leader, manager and marketer in your practice.

Dan Kingsbury, D.D.S., life and dental coach, is a co-founder of the Dental Coaches Association, an organization of dentists who are professional coaches committed to bringing coaching to the dental profession. Learn more by visiting DentalCoachesAssociation.org.

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