BRAIN CROPS - with Chelsea Myers

How Planning and Spontaneity Impact Your Results The primitive brain resist the option of planning. Because it’s work and the brain’s default is to gravitate toward ease - to avoid things that seem “laborious.” Not planning is easy. What the primitive brain doesn’t provide you with is the reality check that while not planning may conserve effort and energy, it can cost you tons. Your lack of planning leads you to a whirlwind of things you have to do, scattered and disorganized. I’d much rather choose to put the effort into pre-planning my week than hope I have the energy for the countless fire drills of unplanned events that I’m signing up for by not scheduling for things. Planning brings freedom and lifts restrictions. Planning delivers meaningful results. The results that you want most. 

How aware are you of your time? What does your time mean to you? If you’re not intentional about how you use your time... you are electing to let it pass by you. Deciding where and how you spend it is where you get to create and direct. Honor that! Value that! Use it to become more of who you want to become, use it to design your life to be the way you want it to be. It all starts with an awareness.

How to Create More Comfort. People are fascinating to me! Why we do the things we do, why we don’t do the things we don’t do, and how to make permanent changes to meet our desires… And one of the strongest motivators that we have, as humans, is to seek comforts and pleasures. That’s a biological truth about the way our brains are designed. There is power in increasing the number of ways you can be comfortable!

Scarcity Syndrome. Seriously consider where up til now you’ve been doing - or not doing - things that are… driven by an energy of scarcity. Driven by the false belief that there might not be enough, or you might not get some, or yours might run out… this could be in reference to patient referrals, case acceptance, profit, time… If this is a struggle of yours, you know how it feels and where it shows up in your life. Why are you afraid of competition? Why aren’t you sure of the value you bring to the dental community? Why are you worrying about other doctors? Look at where you’re at - decide where you want to go - and consider whether the obstacles in front of you could be incredible opportunities to grow and succeed rather than reasons that you will fail.

Overwhelm. It’s one of the least pleasant places to spin and one of my favorite topics to coach on! I think what I love about this animal of a topic is that it is totally solvable. A lot of ambitious people find themselves, at times, feeling overwhelmed. And once we solve for it, once we untangle the knots, your drive and ambition are free to fun ahead at full speed again. So let’s get to it!

Gossip...it's happening in our homes, our practices, and our social circles. Most people agree that it isn't great. So why is gossip so enticing? What is the brain's draw to gossip and what is the solution to nixing it? We make large investments in our time, talents, and other resources to learn to become more efficient. We strive to reach our optimal level of performance. Imagine the impact of never participating in or condoning gossip! Push back and pull out gossip by the roots. As you begin weeding out the gossip from your garden, you will find you are better able to be present for all situations. You will master a higher level of connecting with others. 

We spend so much time considering what other people might think of something we say, or how we do something. We worry about hurting other people’s feelings. We try to tailor the way we do things - we want to be who we are, as long as other people are okay with it. Own your control over your mind. Allow others to have their own opinions. Let people be wrong about you.

Often we struggle separating our own thoughts from hard true facts. This struggle can greatly diminish our ability to be at peace, to be contagiously positive, and to be constructive in our criticism.  Are the thoughts you’re choosing offering you the inner peace and energy that you want?  Do you like the way your thoughts feel? How does thinking that - whatever “that” is - benefit you? Take a closer look, because there are plenty of thoughts we all have that aren’t factual. They aren’t absolute. They are thoughts - opinions - perspectives and they are having an impact on you. 

You get to work, walk into an operatory, and within moments of greeting your patient (who is prepped and ready for their procedure) you realize that - once again - things aren’t the way you’ve expressed they need to be… We aren’t going to escape difficult people or situations. That isn’t the nature of life. But we are always equipped - completely equipped - with incredibly powerful brains that can think about things in hundreds of different ways. We can Choose in the Moment!

Perfectionism - Part 3 of 3. What about when things are perfect? What about when all has gone exactly according to plan? How about those times that you do your best work and couldn’t be more pleased with the end result…and then…