423: Help Me! Plus, the Power of Downtime

Do you need help somewhere in your life? It’s definitely okay to admit it — we all do! In this episode, Kiera encourages you and your teammates to ask for help from each other! Believe it or not, you’re missing opportunities when you’re not asking. 

Part two of the episode is about flipping the script on downtime and using it to launch yourself toward success! Build in mental health days each month, and use them to better yourself!

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Podcast Transcript:

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0:00:05.6 Kiera Dent: Hey everyone, welcome to the Dental A Team Podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent, and I have 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 could help elevate teams, grow VIP experiences, reduce stress and create A-teams. Welcome to the Dental A Team Podcast.

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0:00:51.8 KD: Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera, and you guys, I feel like it has been so long since I had been able to, you know it car cast. That's right. If you guys haven't heard this episode go back in the archives, I just actually went through the California Nevada state line where they check for your vegetables and whatnot, but this time I was not on my microphone, so no weird looks, I happened to be podcasting after just chatted with the client, that was a great call, we were talking about hygiene and billing and how to get his hygienist on board and how to get his billing either outsourced to a remote biller, so I'm on cloud nine over here car casting, it's a beautiful day. I'm actually headed... Funny story, I was supposed to be flying tonight and I'm driving five hours instead, so my week went from two quick short flights to a 10-hour drive, but it'll be fun, I'm headed to pick up Britney from the airport, she's gonna get in and then she's actually coming back to my house, we're putting on our operations manual event this week.

0:01:52.4 KD: So super jazzed to be driving, it's a beautiful drive and I get a car cast, I've got so many fun topics that I've been thinking about, and today's topic is going to be one that came from this morning, I was in a mastermind group. Guys, I don't know how these things happen to me, but they do. So I was at a Tony Robbins event, for Business Mastery II and I was lit up, I was on fire. So much fun. That's why I love events you guys, it's why I love coaching because I feel like it gets me out of my rut and my, just blot, and I'm able to then find better ways to do things and to get excited about life. So if you guys haven't been to an event, guys, the Dental A Team, we put on a lot of events and we also do coaching, we basically do team events for you every single month, so definitely pop on over if you haven't done it yet, do it.

0:02:39.6 KD: But anyway, I was in this group and I got invited to join their mastermind group that meets every Sunday. Well, I'm kinda particular on my time, and I don't like to give up my time, but I just decided, I'll go. If you really find a mastermind with other business owners, other people that are in my same world, and they also come from Tony Robbins, so they're already my type of people that know and think similarly to me. It's been really, really awesome. I've met some cool people in the group, it's been fun, and so today's mastermind, there was actually this guy in the group and he... I feel like our worlds just are very parallel. He's a massage therapist, owns his own business, is helping lots of patients, the reactivation, the COVID. I just feel like there's so much synergy between our two worlds, and today he made a comment and he said, "You know, I've always been very, very self-driven and motivated, and it's very hard for me to ask for help." That was the first thing. So that's lesson one. Lesson two is what I'm calling, the launch pad of downtime.

0:03:40.4 KD: Okay, so those are the two pieces. So asking for help, and then the launch pad of downtime, I literally wrote this because my husband and I decided we were gonna go mountain biking, so I was sitting there cranking out all my podcast titles for today, we were headed up the trail to go mountain biking before I took off. Yes. I maximise my Sundays, guys, and then I had church in the middle of it, so it was a fantastic Sunday today. But basically, I thought, first and foremost, how many of us don't ask for help when we should? We're so driven by just doing things, being the self-starter, and you guys. When I started asking for help like today in the mastermind, they were saying, "Kiera, what do you need help with?" And I'm like, "If anybody knows anybody who can build an app." So I'm gonna throw this out to the podcast community, if any of you know people that are super tech savvy, could build an app or are into that whole digital world, let me know. I'm looking for help to build an app for our Dental A Team clients and our members, and I'm getting ready to roll out something to a lot more people, but I need help, that's a world I don't know, I'm really great at systems, I'm really, really, really good at implementing, I'm great at helping teams, I'm just not good at the technology side.

0:04:47.0 KD: So asking for help there, also financial. I feel like my world as a business owner has changed drastically, and I'm looking for different people in the financial world as far as investing, and I've been talking to a bunch of people, but that's another zone, and then I ask the people for help today on just different ideas, not in our industry. I wanted people to give me ideas of, "Hey, I think I've kind of crested my mountain that I was climbing and now I don't even know what my next vista looks like, can you guys help me?" And they came up with some of the coolest ideas I have ever heard of, and ideas that I would probably not have even have thought of without this group, that was because somebody asked me, Kiera, how can we support you? I didn't even know how I needed to be supported, but I was willing to go out on a limb and recognise that I don't know at all and ask for help.

0:05:33.8 KD: So for you guys thinking about that, and with this guy in our group, I thought, "Gosh, how many opportunities do we sometimes miss because we aren't willing to ask for help?" 'Cause we're not willing to reach out and say, "Hey, I actually don't know this, does somebody know a better way to do this?" And I don't think it's pride, I don't think it's needing a dose of humility, I think sometimes we just forget that we can ask for help. As business owners, we can, as team members, we can, as dentists, we can. We can ask for help and we should, because there are so many brilliant minds around us, think about if you were to take some of your problems to your team and legitimately ask them for help to solve it, what would be the power of many people versus the power of one trying to solve it. I do this the time, I was trying to name, you guys get ready for it, silver, we have silver, gold and platinum in our consulting, and we have been working on a project, we'll release it in January, and to T this up, but I was trying to name this thing, I didn't know what to call it, I knew what I wanted it to be, our team's kinda been developing it together. Well, we put it out there and we came up with it. I'll do a little teaser, I think we're gonna call part of it Think Tank Thursday. That's so fun, it's so fun. But that was a power of a group because I said, "I don't know how to do this and I need help."

0:06:47.7 KD: Don't you guys love being in the office that just stands out. I'm always looking for ways for us to dazzle and shine in the most effective, easy way possible, and you guys, Weave is a company that does that. They allow the patient information to pop up when the phone rings, and so you can actually talk to the patient about their likes, their family, the things that they're working on, and so you can actually have a really, really personable conversation plus they do a ton more. So you guys text the number phones, so text phones, P-H-O-N-E-S to 797979. You guys can get a free demo of Weave and a $25 gift card, so you guys check them out, I think they're awesome, and they can help you guys stand out that's 797979, phones, P-H-O-N-E-S.

0:07:35.9 KD: So coming from this other business owner in another industry, when he said, "I just feel like I've got to be so driven and not ask for help," I thought, Dang, how can I help other people realise that you should ask for help? That it's okay. It doesn't mean you're weak, it doesn't mean you're less than, it doesn't mean that you're lesser, it just means that you're actually willing to use the power of the minds around you to help you go to the next level to help and serve more people. So that's first and foremost, be sure that you're asking for help consistently, whether you need a coach. You guys, we do coaching in the Dental A Team. You know that, if you haven't worked with us, reach out, we'd love to help you [email protected]. It's okay, it's all right to not know it, and then it's okay to want to have a faster, better way to get there, that's always what I do. You guys, I like to maximise my time clearly. And so that's why I do coaching.

0:08:22.2 KD: Why do I want to have, you know, take the long route. Right now, I currently am working with a business coach, I also have a Tony Robbins coach to help me develop within the consulting world of things that they do of how to run my team, of how to maximise my time, so it's business, yes, but not like the numbers and nitty-gritty, my business coach helps me a lot with hiring, with projections, with honestly, when I'm just having a rough day and I need somebody to call and vent to, so I'm not blowing up my team. So that's what one coach is, the other one is a Tony Robbins coach helping me develop my fulfillment piece of my life, my spiritual side of my life, all within the business realm. And then I have a third one actually that I just hired 'cause I realised I'm stagnant on where I wanna go personally. And so he is a life coach, one of my best friends recommended him to me and I'm ready, we're just gonna get clarity of what my next one, three and 10 years looks like personally, not professionally, I'm really good on a professional level, I know where I'm added, but I'm like, I'm just stuck, I'm at a cross road.

0:09:21.4 KD: I've had several life coaches help me, a lot of the things that I come from, and then I go to freaking Tony Robbins guys, that's a lot of coaching I do, but it will rise me. I'm also doing a relationship course right now with my husband as well, I do a lot of things, and some people might be listening thinking, "Well, that girl's got way too much going on." For sure, by all means, for me, I've got my business pretty much where I want it to be, I'm just growing to the next level. I've got my physical health in a pretty good spot, I'm working with a physical therapist right now, pretty good there, but my relationship, I was realising I wasn't quite fulfilled on. I was realising I needed help on how do I master my time? That's why I did Tony Robbins, that's why I love it because there's so many things there that I could be learning. And then I'm like, "I am freaking stuck and I need help." So I hired a life coach to help me, and I can't wait to see what comes out of that, because I always go to my next level in breakthroughs when I have somebody help me.

0:10:15.4 KD: So just think about the people around you. Okay, ask for help. I want you guys to think of, if you're looking, I've been trying to come up with a good name for this, I don't have a great name yet, but I originally called it The Fulfillment Will, and then I'm like, "I don't know if I really like that title." But I've just been thinking, what makes a good well-rounded business owner, team member, human, and right now, it currently is on experiences in life, so who are we experiencing with our relationships, the wealth, and notice, I didn't say financial, I said wealth, 'cause that deals with like 401Ks and legacy and all that jazz, and then love.

0:10:52.5 KD: So how is the love towards myself, towards others, that's kind of the areas that I've been thinking about and just looking at within all those areas, and then there's also another element, I guess, of spirituality and mindfulness that I've kind of just been thinking about and where am I weak, where am I strong? And where do I wanna go? And then there's also like, we've got energy for physical health and wealth. We could have our health with our mind, so mental health and also physical health, so those are all kind of pieces, like I said, I don't have this whole thing dialed in, it's still a work in progress, but just looking, if you were to list up those six areas, what area do you need the most help in right now, and who around you could help you or who could you seek out?

0:11:34.8 KD: Guys, I have a ton of resources so email me, [email protected]. Even if it's not about dental, if it's ever any of those areas, I've got quite a few people in all of those areas that I'd be happy to share with you and get you connected with, so the power of asking for help amongst groups and not missing the opportunities all around you because we're not asking for help. Next up, I should just end it there and do the next one, but I already teased you guys, I got a T this one up. The launch pad of downtime. Okay, so this same guy that I was talking to in the mastermind this morning said he just is so driven that when he feels that he's not as driven, he feels less productive and more of a failure, and I thought, "Stop, that is girded to a T." And I know it's a lot of you because I talk to a lot of you, and you feel the same way. When we're not this hyper-productive, high-achieving, super, super, super just driven people, we feel like we're failing or we're not doing enough, or we're just being lazy or whatever you choose to title that feeling, but hold the freaking phone.

0:12:37.6 KD: Let me just tell you some things, there is a launch pad of power with downtime. And I was thinking about this as I wrote the title of, alright, if you're working out, if you don't take rest and recovery, you actually are a worse... You have worse lifting, you can't get your gains because you're over-exhausting all your muscles to the point that they can't build and grow. Well, we do the same thing in business, where we're just driving, driving, driving, driving, driving versus taking this downtime to make sure that we're actually maximising that time. So I suggested to this guy in our group, I said, and I will tell you the reason, the backing behind it, number one, is to build at least one day per month that is mental health space day, right? So it's just a mental health day, you just take that time for you, I don't care how you build it in. I don't care where you build it in, but I would suggest every single one of you does this at least once a month. Team members included, because as a team member, I was always go, go, go, go, go. I never stopped and took time for me within all those six bucket areas that I told you about before.

0:13:47.4 KD: The second thing is daily, another girl in the group, she mentioned that she does 10 minutes every day, at least once, if not twice, she has an alarm on her phone where she goes and she'll either go outside or she'll look at a very serene beautiful background area where she kinda just puts herself in an outside beautiful, calm sense of space, just to give her mind a mental shut off time. So I was thinking about these two things. So I will tell you that when we take the time to recharge, and we actually can flip the script and set it up being that we're weak when we take this time or we're not as productive, and we flip it to the launch pad of downtime, because you know that when you're recharging and you're recovering and you're not pushing yourself to the limit and you're not grow, grow, grow, grow, grow all the time, you actually have time to repair, to rejuvenate, to launch even further the next time.

0:14:36.0 KD: So the reason I bring this up is because I was getting to a high melting point, I really was. I was feeling a lot of burnout. And I realised the reason why was 'cause I had not had any "white space time" in my life for quite a while, I had just been driving, driving, driving, so I took Friday as a mental health day, I said, "Clear my schedule, Shelby, I need the whole day cleared off and I'm just going to do things that inspire me." And I got a ton done, yes, it was a lot of business, but I didn't have to be at any meetings, I was able to have downtime, I was able to think. I came up with so many cool ideas, I thought were charged.

0:15:09.1 KD: So when I went to the master mind today, I was ready to take on the world. Just think, for example, if I wouldn't have taken that time on Friday, how do you think I would have felt... Bombarded with about 20 different ideas of where I could take the business, how I could grow it. You hear the energy in my voice of just pure excitement and joy, and I will tell you the only reason I think I have that is because I took time on Friday to mentally recharge. Had I not, I would have thought, "Oh my gosh. That's just too much, I don't even know, but I've gotta keep driving. So I'm gonna have to figure out how to do this." And I'm burnt out and I'm exhausted, and I just can't even figure out how to get from A to Z.

0:15:40.0 KD: My productivity drops, my creativity drops and my satisfaction in life drops. So I want you guys to flip the script on downtime. Think of that time of when you recharge and you rest that you're actually launching yourself more productive by taking that downtime. Just like when you take a rest day when you're working out, it's a launch pad to help you actually have stronger muscles, to grow more, you're giving a rest, and we need to do the same thing for us as business owners and the team members as well. So I would challenge every one of you to block one day a month at a minimum, and then perhaps set at an alarm for that 10 minutes, it could be on your lunch break that you just zen out, you're not paying bills, making phone calls, checking in with other people, it's literally your zen out time. And remind yourself that this downtime is a launch pad for the next level. Same thing within your business, you should be having admin time for office team members. This does not mean we're just kicking back, taking it easy, it means we actually are not answering the phones, checking out patients, doing treatment plans, but we have time to catch up on all those bigger projects that we just need white space time around. We're not interrupted constantly.

0:16:43.5 KD: Doctors, you should absolutely 100% be having admin time once a week, or CEO time, whatever you choose to call it, once a week every single week. Otherwise, you don't have that white space downtime to catch up on the business, to find the holes in your business, to look to see where the next level is, so I would encourage you all to block one day of just mental health day across the board per month, take 10 minutes a day if you can. And then block at least one to two hours of CEO admin time every single week. I promise you, if you can view it as a launch pad time versus losing production time, you will see your life shift in unimaginable ways. It'll be magical. So there is your podcast today, guys, the power of asking for help, those six areas that you probably should be checking in on yourself to see where's your temperature at on all those areas and where could you grow?

0:17:33.3 KD: And then the last one is The Power of Downtime, the launch pad of downtime, and viewing it in a different way. With this guy that I was chatting with this morning, I was like, "Flip the script, flip the script on what downtime means, right now your script is that it's weak, that it's not productive." That just feels terrible. Why go sit? Why go take that time for yourself, if we can flip the script to say, it's a launch pad of downtime and it's gonna progress me forward, dang, doesn't that just feel so much better? So I hope you guys take this on. Again, this podcast is all about things in dental, it's about life, it's about people, that's what I'm really passionate about, are people, helping them in whatever way possible, and I truly believe that when you maximise asking for help in your practice and you maximise your admin time and your downtime, you will see just a whole different life and a whole different practice than you could have ever imagined. It feels counter-intuitive. It does not make sense to take a day off it does not make sense, it feels better but we're not machines guys, we're human beings and human beings need time to rest, recharge and repair so that way they can launch into their next journey in their next level. Alright guys, thanks so much for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

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0:18:44.3 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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