Episode 698: How To Own Your Life

 Kiera reviews the book Own the Day, Own Your Life: Optimized Practices for Waking, Working, Learning, Eating, Training, Playing, Sleeping, and Sex by Aubrey Marcus. This was a controversial book for Kiera and the Dental A-Team, and in this episode, she touches on how to sift through information to find things that resonate. She shares her takeaways, her team’s takeaways, and how to apply useful information into dental practices.

Check out the full list of DAT’s 2023 book club here.

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Transcript:

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0:00:05.8 Kiera Dent: Hey everyone, welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent, and I had this crazy idea that maybe I could combine a doctor and a team member's perspective, because let's face it, dentistry can be a challenging profession with those two perspectives. I've been a dental assistant, treatment coordinator, scheduler, filler, office manager, regional manager, practice owner, and I have a team of traveling consultants, where we have traveled over 165 different offices, coaching teams. Yep, we don't just understand you, we are you. Our mission is to positively impact the world of dental, and I believe that this podcast is the greatest way I can help elevate teams, grow VIP experiences, reduce stress, and create A teams. Welcome to the Dental A Team podcast.

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0:00:50.7 KD: Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera, and oh my goodness. It is time for another epic book club. I hope you're ready for this, I hope you're excited for this. Our book club was: Own the Day, Own Your Life by Aubrey Marcus. And this is a really fun podcast that I sure... Or excuse me, book club that I hope you guys enjoyed because I feel I chose a book that has so many controversial topics in it, intentionally. And so, if you read it, rock on. If you didn't, I'll give you some of the book highlights for you, and then you can decide if you wanna read it or not. But our team really enjoyed this book, and I've got some really strong health gurus in our company, and Dana is probably the one who's the strongest health one. She works out all the time, she's a cross fit junkie, and she was like, "I did not like this book, Kiera, and then I got to the end, I was like, he actually had a lot of really good things in there."

0:01:43.2 KD: So what I wanted to point out at the very beginning, welcome to all of you guys who are here. My goal on this podcast is to elevate you guys personally and professionally. And so that's why I've been doing a book club to show you, one, how to do a book club in your practice, things that we do incorporate to just elevate your team, because honestly, at the end of the day, I believe the team is what either rises or sinks a practice. And so invest in your teams. Invest in them personally, investing them professionally, give them an opportunity, and when we work with offices, I am so big on consulting on tangible things in the practice, but also on consulting on things that are life skills as well, because again, if we can rise people up as people, if we can show and expand them on how to be these incredible humans, they're gonna be more invested in your practice, they're gonna be more invested in other areas of their lives, because they're a more well-balanced person.

0:02:39.4 KD: Today, I did a lot of podcasts. I podcast with my dear friend, Pierce. I podcasted with a Chick-fil-A owner, I podcasted with a couple of different CEOS today, and ironically, the theme going across the entire board was invest in your team. Invest in your team, get a good culture and know those people, allow them to grow and expand. So that's why I chose this book for you guys. It definitely is nothing dental, but it is on discipline, it is on showing up, it is on executing things, and again, very controversial book club today. And so, my first comment that I put on my notes was, "Can you sift through material you don't agree with and find the things that will help out?" So in our day-to-day, there's so many things through social media, through news, through patient opinions or team opinions that maybe we don't agree with, but can you sift through it and find the things that resonate that are good for you? There are a lot of things in this book that I personally do not agree with whatsoever, but there was a lot of good in this book in addition to that, and that's actually why I chose this book, was to see on things you don't agree with, on maybe a writer that you don't agree with, there's still a lot of good typically within.

0:03:49.5 KD: And can you sit through that a material, whether you agree with it or don't, and find the one or two nuggets that could truly change your life? My nugget that I took from this book, just to let you know, the premise of the book is he really goes through all these different ways for you to optimize and enhance your body, your life, to be able to maximize and optimize your life overall. And I actually took from it to... I've got it right here. To drink, at least... He has a little water cocktail in the morning of red seaman salt, water, and a little bit of lemon juice before you start your day to replenish our bodies, and he's just this huge meat head kind of guy, where he's all about really being jacked, ripped, and optimizing his body. And it was super cool, I just thought like there were so many pieces in there. And so when we did our book club as a group, of course, everyone kind of list their highlights, what things did they take away from it, and we wrote, "What things do you agree with, and what things do you disagree with?" And when we run a book club in our company, I don't have it... It's a no-judgment zone, that's also how we do our consulting.

0:04:57.4 KD: Any client who comes through, it is a no judgement zone. Come as you are, you're loved, you're here, and we're gonna take you on your dream path to get to your perfect world. And so it was a no-judgement zone. There were things that people didn't agree with. He promoted a lot of addictive behaviors. He promoted tobacco, and he promoted vaping, and he promoted eating carbs in the evening, and on that can again, you sift through this material? People were like, "Kiera, why did you choose this book for a book club? And then you're gonna put on the podcast." I did it because I really want you guys to see there are things you'll disagree with, but there are some things that you can really do well. So things that we can do. He said, "Make it easy and simple," and I love that. So thinking about our work at the dental practice, thinking about our lives, how can we make habits easy and simple of things we wanna take out? So on there, things that our team did agree with were have a varied workout plan. We don't have the same thing, same ruin team day and day out, have it be varied.

0:05:58.0 KD: Have it also be a varied diet. He's said get the more weird foods of fruits or vegetables that you can 'cause they've got higher amounts of nutrient within it. Pro high carbs and sugars with a high protein, and then the Vitamin D and the iron were things that we really did agree with. So he made a really strong point in there that saying that if it's not simple, we're not going to add it into our life, and I thought about how can I tie this into the dental practice? If it's not simple, people aren't going to add it in, and that's truly something I teach, preach, coach on in dental offices. One of our core values as a consulting company is ease. The word is ease, because I've found in consulting and implementing things, if it's not easy, people aren't going to do it. Period. And so I thought about that so much with this book of in our practice, in our personal lives, what can we implement and how can we make it simple? So let's take the working out example. He said do a varied workout plan. I'm like, "Well, I don't even have a workout plan, so what's something simple?" Literally like five push-ups every day is simple. It's simple and it's easy, and I can add it to my life. Adding water in the morning, super simple. I could definitely do that. I can get the sea salt in there. Very simple, and even if I don't have sea salt, I'm still gonna drink the water.

0:07:09.0 KD: And he talked about how to... Like, for beginners, weight training and cardio, the biggest thing is starting for the right reason, not doing it for losing weight, but going in with a focus of getting healthy or lifting heavy weights because you can do more with your everyday life, like thinking about strengthening our muscles, strengthening our body, so we can do more with our everyday life. Again, if I can do that personally, I show up better for my family, for myself, for my friends, for my co-workers, for my job, so why not do that? And move your body, move it with a purpose, have that varied diet, and workout. And then, really, it was like, how can we start this is track what you eat, and then you know what you feel and what you can change or not change. Track the workouts, what things are working for you? So just a quick overall highlight of some of the things that you could do within... He had the mineral cocktail in the morning. He talked about power napping. This was one of my favorite things because I am a huge advocate for sleep, and I am a napper through and through and through, and I love it.

0:08:10.0 KD: And so with that, he talked about the REM cycle and how the REM cycle, if we can take a power nap for 30 minutes or 90 minutes, we don't wanna stop within that 30-minute thing, because once we hit that 60 minutes where in a deeper REM. So in that 30-minute or 90-minute window, you'll actually wake up less groggy, feel more rejuvenated. They even proved that it was better than doing coffee or a Monster drink, so I know when I used to work in a practice and had my lunch hours, I would quickly eat food, I would take me maybe 15 minutes, and then I would go to my car and I would sleep for 30 minutes, and I am a pro power napper. I love it. And so, I've been actually, since reading this book, taking a lot of power naps, so another cool thing that came out from this book was waking up with the sun, if we can. Sometimes we can't, but if we can get our bodies on those circadian rhythms where we wake with the sun and we go to sleep when the sun's down, your body will actually operate more routinely.

0:09:10.3 KD: He also talked about go to war against sugar, and this is one I have yet to implement, but probably should, of just how we know the things that are not serving our bodies and let's try to avoid those as much as possible. So even if that means we cut down a little bit here or there, like one percent every single day, that still really can be a positive. They also talked about not being afraid of fat, and as a female, I've always been afraid of eating fats, like trying to gain weight muscle, but those fats really can benefit and serve our bodies if they're the healthy fats, so avocado, olive oil, those healthy fats and getting more of those healthy fats in our diet can help you a lot, along with the prebiotics and the probiotics to protect your gut health. And Dana, she's got a really special connection. One of our consultants, Donuts with Dana, if you haven't heard of her, you should by now. But protecting your gut health is something that Dana is very passionate about. She's got a personal story around it, but she said those prebiotics and those probiotics really can enhance that gut health from someone who has had first-hand experience with needing to protect her gut health for health and living purposes, so.

0:10:18.7 KD: And then my last favorite part of the book was go interact with a human because it will do more for you than sitting by yourself, and he really talked at the very end of the book of this innate need for human connection and how we don't really work in communities anymore, and we don't really bond and share our real live. Instead, we're kind of locked up in our homes, and how human connection is so necessary to fill and feed the soul. Like he talked so much about fueling and feeding our bodies, but in addition to that feeding our souls. And I just think, how often do I take time to feed my body right, to feed my mind right, to feed my soul right? I often times feed my business right, I feed other people around me right with my time, energy and efforts, but do I take that time to really soul-fully fill my soul with eating right, and eating healthy, and what's good for me mentally, and then connecting on my soul level? So just sneaking some of those pieces in there, and I just felt like this is something that really, really can enhance your life. It can be so empowering for us to optimize in just small little ways.

0:11:30.6 KD: And I think with this book, I really had to caution myself of one, I didn't agree with quite a few of the pieces in there. So does that mean I'm going to discredit it and not implement it, or am I going to take the things that I do agree with and actually make this book and this time that I spent worthwhile in my every day life? And the answer is yes. I'm committed to drinking water, I am committed to working out, and I am committed to spending our time with friends and filling my soul. So, I just want you to see what could you do right now to help yourself a little bit more, and we can break it down very simply. I think there's kind of four categories discussed of your body, right, physically, and then our minds, fueling our minds and our mental health, and then our soul, at a soul level, and then there's the work level.

0:12:23.2 KD: And all those different things. Which category do you do well? I know I'm really good on the work level, I'm doing better on the soul, making sure I shut off work and spend time, but this fueling my mind, I do quite a bit of meditation, reading the things I talk about myself, but it's more of my physical would be the area of what could I do to help myself a little bit more, to enjoy this life, to be a little bit happier. And so, a little bit of a unique topic, but I really do believe if we can make it simple in business and personal life, and we're looking for little ways to just optimize the small things we do. Let's cut out sugar. Maybe it's like Fun Friday is the day of no sugar.

0:13:00.5 KD: Okay, we make it fun by other things, but we're not going to indulge in that, or maybe we can cut out other things that aren't serving our bodies, or maybe it's Fun Friday and that's the day that we fill our souls, and it's fun friend Friday, where we just make a special point to go and be with human interaction and connect, like shut off our phones, disconnect from our phones, go be with people. How can I be more intentional with work, taking care of my body, power napping, different things like that? But really for you guys to look, how can I optimize? How can I make this even better? How can I be just a little bit better? Because at the end of the day, and my friend Pierce and I, when we chatted, he gave me a good visual that I think really ties to this book. And it is, "At the end of my life when I'm walking across that finish line, how do I wanna be walking? Do I wanna be in a wheelchair? Do I wanna be confined to a bed? Do I wanna be walking across it? Do I wanna be running across it?"

0:13:52.2 KD: And for me, I wanna have health and vitality, running across that finish line, but if I'm not doing things today to prepare for that, my body is not gonna be able to perform. My body is a machine. My body is a mechanic. Just like we take care of our cars, we fuel them with good gas and oil changes, make sure that they're taking care of so they can run and operate for us. Our bodies are machines. We get the experience to live through them, but their machines that we need to take care of to optimize, to fuel correctly. And I would just encourage you guys to do something a little bit for your body today, tomorrow, and thank that body for allowing you to have the life and the experience that you have. So take one thing from this, Own your day, Own your life in whatever way that looks like for you. Sift through materials you don't agree with, find the material that does work for you, because I believe there is beauty all around us if we wanna find it. There is truth in all things if we wanna look for and find it. I believe the truth can be relative, but I believe that there are truth and goodness all around us, as well.

0:14:51.7 KD: So I'm glad, you guys, for those of you joining us, I love you on my book club journey, I've heard so many great things from you guys, so if you're loving the book club experience. Please email me in [email protected]. If you've got a book that you want us to incorporate, I've got next years schedule lined up, It's gonna be becoming part of a really cool new part of our consulting company. So if there any great books that you guys have read for any topic, bring them in. I love learning, I love experiencing, and I love connecting with our podcast family. So send them on in, [email protected]. Next month, if you wanna join us, it is The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz. Very interesting book. It's gonna make you challenge the way you view life, the rules you live by, the things that you believe in. Notice, I don't always do dental books or operations. I'm trying to give you guys a smorgasbord to grow you as a person, personally, financially, systematization, and team. And really just helping you become an incredible human, because I know if you're an incredible human, you're gonna serve people on a higher level, you're gonna be more fulfilled, and I believe that success and fulfillment is the ultimate goal.

0:15:57.7 KD: If we can help you in any way, schedule a strategy call with us, reach out, [email protected]. Head to the website, the thedentalateam.com, book a call with us. I would love to help you. I'm trying to give you guys value and just give you a resource in the industry. So I would love to chat with you guys, reach out at any time, and as always, thanks for listening, and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

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0:16:24.3 KD: And that wraps it up for another episode of The Dental A Team podcast. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.

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