There Is Always A Better Way

This episode of beyond you'd why Podcast is brought to you by Dentistry Roadmap. After working for the past 30 years developing and growing my practice, I've learned that a great practice starts with a great message. I've narrowed down the essentials to developing your practice message into a six part online study club where I show you how to do this for your practice. So make sure to head over to dentistryroadmap.com to learn how you can take your dental practice to the next level.

So today we're going to talk about the why of Better way. So if you remember, Better Way people are people that can take something that's already there and improve upon it, innovate it, make it better. They're always looking for better ways to do things. They're always cataloging things that they see that work and then they find other areas that they can use them. And so if you haven't discovered your why yet, make sure you go to whyinstitute.com, discover your why, and then come back and listen to today's podcast about finding a better way. So I got a great guest for you today. He's not a dentist, but he's in the dental field. His name is Kirk Behrendt. He's an international speaker. He's an acclaimed author and a visionary CEO of Actor Dental. He's invested his entire professional life in studying the elite practices in dentistry and the leadership that guides them. So Kirk founded Act Dental over 20 years ago with the goal of providing personalized solutions for dentists around the world. After seeing so many talented dentists struggle to run a predictable, profitable business, he made it his mission to assemble a team of leadership and practice management experts who to help dentists solve their biggest problems. ACT Dental Platform is a transformational resource that provides the foundation for dental practices to thrive in any environment. His philosophy is simple. Your amazing career in dentistry is worth nothing if you can't enjoy your life outside the office as well. So Kirk is one of the leaders in dental consulting for the last eight years. He's on the Board of advisors at Pankey and at Dawson and he's a regular speaker at the Hinman Dental Meeting. And Peter K. Dawson refers to Kirk as the best motivator he has ever heard. Kirk has his own podcast show called Best Practices show and when he's not working on dentistry and in Act Dental, you can see him spending time with his family and attending every sporting event in the sun. I've known Kirk for gosh, probably eight or ten years now probably even longer.

Yeah.

Welcome to the show. I appreciate you being here.

Hey, buddy. I'm so grateful to be invited. Like, you know, I've known you for a very long time and it's so much fun and I'm just, like I said, I'm just, I'm grateful to be invited to the party here.

Well, you know, where I want to start, Kirk, is, you know, a lot of people are going to know you because of act dental. A lot of people are going to have seen you speak, but a lot of them may not know your story because you go way back. How did you get into dentistry? How did you get into doing what you're doing now? That's what I really want to start with because I want to see how better way has played out in your life. Great.

Well, that's, I mean, it's a great question. My journey is not a typical one. I found a unique opportunity at pretty young age. So I don't know, came from very modest background. My parents were great, incredible people that were just taught us to work hard. I was a three time employee of the month at Applebee's. Like, I'll just tell you, there's nothing glamorous about my past, but I loved it. I loved working at Applebee's because I learned how to serve people. And in that opportunity, I found a couple people that worked in dentistry and they're like, you should work in dentistry. I'm like, no, dentists are crazy. I don't want to do anything in dentistry. You know, I always wanted to be a school teacher or something like that and found an amazing opportunity with them which led to another opportunity, which led to another opportunity. And I've always been open. And one of the first seminars, I, you know, I found a lot of consulting opportunities in this industry that I was, I've been so blessed to be a part of. And at the age of 24, I had a mentor sit down with me and say, hey, you're going to go watch a 64 year old dentist speak for three days. Now I remember that I was like, I'm not going to watch some 64 year old dentist talk for three days. Because when you're in your 20s, you have everything figured out. No one could talk to you. Then you turn 30 and you go, wow, there's a lot I don't know. And then you turn 40 and you wonder if you know anything. And so that dentist, his name was Dr. Peter Dawson and he had a course back then called how to put your practice in the top 10%. And. And I remember I took it four times. The first time I took it, it was an eye opener, a breath of fresh air. I'd never heard anybody talk like this. And I thought to myself, this is amazing. And it just whet my appetite for learning. I love to learn. I have. You know, we're going to talk about our whys in a little bit, and you've been so instrumental in my journey, but it just whet my appetite for this kind of learning. And I'm like, this is crazy cool. And that's kind of how the journey started. At the age of 27, I went to see the movie Jerry Maguire, and I thought I could do this on my own. And I was dating my wife at the time, and my wife has just been the greatest blessing ever. And she's like, just do this. Go. I got your back. And so she had a job, and we could have pizza on Fridays when she'd bring home a check when I wasn't making any money. And I don't know, was it Martin Luther King who said, you know, true, true faith is taking the first step when you can't see the rest of the staircase. You know, something like that. And I think sometimes it takes the boldness of saying, hey, look, I think I can do this. And the other thing that I had working for me, too, is I didn't have anything to lose, which is. That was an important piece of it. I mean, I never had anything to begin with, and I didn't have anything to lose, so why not?

Well, you were working with Dr. Schuster.

Right, @ one point, yeah. Mike was an incredible mentor for me, and he was one of the first that I met, and he just took me under his wing. And he was a little harsh at times, but no one would ever debate. I mean, he was incredible. Brilliant, brilliant man. And I learned, so. And I'm so crazy grateful for his mentoring earlier in my.

Life. And he's the one that. Was he the one that kind of introduced you to.

Dentistry? Yeah. Well, actually, no, Bob. Pop was. He owned a dental laboratory in Milwaukee, and then he built a dental supply company, and I worked with him for a little while, and he built a $3 million supply company in no time. And I'm like, he was just an entrepreneur who knew how to take care of people. So I don't know. Dentistry is a small industry. You get to know people, and then they introduce you to other people. I've always learned one thing over and over again. I love being in the right room. I never Want to be the smartest guy in the room ever? Because if I'm the smartest guy in the room, I'm in the wrong room, first of all. And then the other thing is, is that you meet so many great people who are. They want to connect you with other people. They're dying to do it. All you have to do is be open. Open to.

It. Just ask.

Huh?

Right. Yeah. So there was something I remember in your story, a couple things I remember about your story. One was you being or wanting to be a comedian, something like that. And the other was at one point you were a little bit bigger than you are.

Now. What do you mean? Like, oh, yes. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, two things. That's so funny. Yeah. So, you know, when I was 20, I'd say 25, 26, somewhere in there, you know. And again, dating my wife, you know, I told her I had this underlying dream. I always wanted to try acting or comedian, being a comedian. And so a part of my journey, I did move out to LA and got a part, got to be a part of the Groundlings comedy troupe. And you got to audition to get in there. And they had all these different levels. Now I was lucky enough to get in, I didn't go very far, but I tried the acting thing for a year, year and a half, and simultaneously what was happening was I was experiencing that, having a great time. But I also met Sarah and I'm like, I can't screw this up. Like, I need to start providing a life for her when I wasn't making any money, going anywhere. So that happened. And then secondly, through the career and life thing, I just, I ate, I got fatter. And in 2003, I went to see what was called an Ironman triathlon. I saw two dentists do this thing that I just thought was stupid. I'm like, this is crazy, stupid. And I was overwhelmed that day. I cried throughout the whole day. And my wife was like, what is wrong with you? I go, it was such an emotional experience because I saw these two men that I totally loved, believed in, respected, do something I thought was completely impossible. And I looked at my wife, I said, I got to try this. She's like, you could die doing this. These are athletes. And I'm like, oh, oh, game on. And I signed up for him. And I'm an all or nothing guy. So I did four Ironmans in a row from 2004. Five, six and 07. I lost about £50. And really what it was, I'm terrible at all three disciplines. The swimming, the biking, and the running. But it changed my life. It changed the way I think about fitness.

It just changes you. When I finished that, my faith is pretty important to me, and I said, I wonder why I did something stupid like this. And I think God gave me that opportunity to just. Because what else have I not tried? Like, that was the question. Like, this is impossible, and you were able to do it. And so my question to you, if you're listening to this today, is, what else have you not tried? Because when you try something and you do it, it becomes the new bar. You're like, oh, I can do that. You know, it's amazing what the human body can.

Do. Yeah, exactly. You know what else amazes me about you, Kirk? Is that you went into an industry that, A, you knew nothing about, B, you had no real. You know, dentists are all about, hey, if you're not a dentist, you don't understand my life. You don't understand my world. I'm not going to listen to you. You couldn't possibly get what I'm going through. You went into an industry that has that kind of a mindset, and now you are one of the experts, and people have accepted you and embraced you and pushed you forward and want to be around you where that's not typically the norm. How were you able to do.

That? Well, and I mean, this is. I'm going to give you the million dollar secret right here on your podcast. This is it. If you're listening to this and you're kind of struggling, anyone who's listening, this can be one of the top experts in any industry. You just got to be willing to embrace the journey. I'm going to tell you, but what most people don't. Here's what the world wants, Gary. Everybody wants to run the marathon, but nobody wants to do the training. You know, they want the metal, they want the reward, but they don't want to do the work. And so being an expert in industry, the easiest thing in the world. This is the secret that no one, no one does, is you can get the attention of every expert in any industry. You know how you do.

It?

Hmm? I'm gonna create some curiosity for you. I can actually walk into any town and get the top 10 CEOs to book an appointment with me. Do you know how I can do.

It? Tell.

Me. I can tell them that I'm creating a research project or I'm writing a book about the 10 top CEOs in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and I've selected you. You're One of the top 10 CEOs. You're going to be a chapter in my book. Every single person will give you an appointment. Same thing with a podcast. You can say, I'm creating a podcast called the Best Practices Show. I'm selecting the best dentist or experts in the world. You're one of them. I need you on my show. Anyone will move their schedule to be an expert that's selected in your book. And, you know, I teach kids this. Like, you can get an appointment with anybody. Just interview them, Interview them, document it, and put it somewhere. That is the easiest way to become an expert, because I'm not a dentist. But you know what? And the other thing is, you got to be a good guy. Like, I believe this. You know, my. And a lot of this comes from the moral fabric my dad instilled in me. Like, dude, just do the right thing. Because anytime you don't do the right thing, it's going to catch up to you. It always does. We see it in sports. We see it. You know, you see great people fall all the time. I mean, when Joe Paterno and some of the biggest names in any Bill Cosby. When things, when they get off track, it comes back and it catches up to them. At some point, I'm not going to sit here and tell you I'm the perfect human being. But when you walk into an industry like dentistry, just do the right thing and stick to it and you'll be okay. Would you.

Agree? Oh, for sure, for sure. And it's interesting, as I'm listening to you, I'm hearing you say, oh, I found this better way. Oh, I found this better way. Oh, I found this better way. And you're always finding better ways to do things. And then what's great about you is you're applying them, you're taking them and saying, okay, what's a better way to get people to embrace me? Well, I found a better way.

And I'm going to go do it right now. Here's an interesting thing, because if you're listening to this, you got to keep listening to this podcast, because this man, Gary Sanchez, was one of the most important people in my journey because I had an illness, and I didn't even know what my illness was. And you put a name to it. It's called my why? Like, my wife will tell you, her number one pet peeve is like, dual process. I can't even enjoy a restaurant sometimes. Like, I'll sit at a great restaurant, I'll go, this is amazing. And she's like, you're dual processing. I'm thinking about how they do this. Like, how did they. And so then I go to the bathroom. Next thing, I got a tour of the kitchen, and the guy's showing me how it all works in the back. She's like, where have you been? I'm like, I can't relax. Like, I got to know how it works, and I want to know how we can make it better. And when I met you eight or nine years ago or 10 years ago, whenever it was, you go, there's only nine whys. And your why is you're going to find a better way. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, you diagnosed me in one sentence, and I didn't even know what that was. But now that you've given that gift to me, I now know how to at least corral that. Because, again, if you listen to this, I'm terrible at so many things. I suck at so many things. I just can't spend the rest of my life doing those things. My whole life now, since meeting you and doing what I do is I just have to stay in my circle, which is my why in helping people create a better way. A better practice leads to a better life. It's not about more money. It's like, well, how do we make this better? And I enjoy the problems now. Like, I have a theme every year. Gary and I got this from a restaurant that I went to. This woman hands us a check, and she had a little rock on the check. And they have a little saying, and it says, the obstacle is the path. And I'm like, you guys, I show my kids, and they're like. I go, this is the secret. And they go, dad, it's a rock. I go, it's the secret. Because now in my work, I love the obstacle. I enjoy the, like, give me your biggest obstacle. And we're going to make that the path. We're going to find a way to use this obstacle to create it and make it better. And it's just the puzzle. That's all I love. And I now have the experience of listening and learning from some of the best people in the world about how to put these puzzles together. And that's it. There's no magic to this. There's no. I'm not going to sit here and tell your listeners, oh, I went and studied forever. No, I just met with the best, and I just studied them. I'm like, how do you do this? How do you do that? How do. And through their experiences, you Know, we call it borrowing, we borrow their wisdom and we pay it forward. And really, at the end of the day, I know I'm talking a lot, you know, that's your game is significance. When I leave this planet, whenever it is, I want to know, like.

I left tomorrow, the campfire is in better condition before I found it. Do you know what I mean? And that's at the end of the day, that's all of our.

Work. So if you're watching this, you can tell I've been smiling the whole time. But if you're listening to this, you don't know that. And the reason I'm smiling is because, man, I just hear you in my thinking, the way you, what you're saying is exactly how I think. And something else I've noticed about the way you talk is, and I'm curious if this has always been this way, because when I first started in dentistry, I was about 26 years old and I looked very young. And so the thought of saying the words I don't know petrified me. I possibly not. How are they going to think of me as their dentist, as an expert, if I say I don't know? But now that I'm in my 50s, I thrive on saying I don't know because I don't know. And I've heard you say that so many times lately is, look, I don't really know what I'm doing. This is just what I do. But I'm curious if you were that way in your 20s or is that something you've learned as time's gone.

Along? No, I think in every profession there's a lot that you don't know in the journey and you got to constantly stay curious. And I'm a big Gary Vaynerchuk fan and one of my favorite videos, if you haven't watched watched it, is his 45 minute lecture to the USC I don't know business school. And really he drops a lot of bad language in it. But the whole, it's one of the best videos you'll ever watch. And it's basically self awareness. Like one of the greatest, most important things any human being has to constantly work on is being self aware. Because the lower your self awareness, the more challenges you have as a human being. And again, I'll go back to the fact I'm not good at a lot of things and I don't know who said this, but I keep thinking of the three selves. I don't know if you've heard this, but there's three Selves, you know, the self you think you are, the self everybody thinks you are, and the self you really are, and you lead the less turbulent life. It's the least stressful to be as close to those three as possible. And so I can't pretend to be somebody I'm not. I don't try to let people think I'm awesome and I run. No, I am who I am. This is who I am, and I'm going to be me. And in that, you have to find your way in your work too, because the goal in everybody's professional life is just to spend 90% of your days doing what you do best, whatever that is. And I'm a big Dan Sullivan fan. I've been through strategic coach. So I did the exercises on unique ability. And when you do the unique ability, you basically find out you're only good at two things or three at the most. Nobody's good at nine things. And he teaches you to just stop doing all the things you're terrible at and find other people to do them, and your life gets better. Are you fine? You know, but you have to let go in order to grow. So I know that's a long winded answer, but I'm so passionate about that. And I find that the people that are most unhappy, they're mal. They're misaligned, you know what I mean? Like, they're trying to be somebody they're not. And you see it in dentistry. Some people are like, I don't like talking to people. You know, I'm like, well, you're a dentist. And they're like, I know. I just don't like talking to people. I'm like, that's gonna be hard for you. And they're like, I know. You know, So I think the challenge for anybody is to figure out who you are and figure out how do you do a body of work that means something in.

That. So when you first started, you know, you started. What was it called before? Act, or has it always been called.

Act? Oh, gosh. We went through the whole gamut of names. I think one time it was called practia, and I don't even know why. And then, like, we had like three different names. And then Mark Battiato, good mutual friend of ours, he came to one of my workshops and he's like, this is simple. This is about getting people's ACT together. Call it Act Dental. Well, that was back in the domains that were available. And I just went home that night and I looked at Act Dental was available, and I purchased it and now we have a whole. We built a whole brand on it now and all that kind of stuff. But it was one of those things about, you know, just get your act together. And so people always ask me, is there an acronym for it? Not really. It's just, you know, it's. It's just a. It's about getting it all.

Together. Yeah. So when you were, you know, so people that are listening to this say they're younger and they're in their 20s still, and they're thinking, well, I don't know if I know myself. I don't really, you know, did, did Kirk always know himself? I mean, has he known himself from day one and I'm the one who just doesn't know myself? And what. How did that happen? How did you get to know yourself? So what advice? Or were you always self.

Aware? No, I've never. I'm like, never. Like, there's sometimes I'm just. I was just an idiot. Okay, now here's here. I don't know, if you're watching the video, you can see like one of the most important rooms. The most important room in any house is the library. You know, you're gonna find houses that are valued well over a million dollars. Not that mine is or anything. You know, just like a mansion, everybody's got a library. And so people have spent their whole lives writing books. It costs nine bucks. Like, pick the book up. The guy spent his whole life writing a book. You know, the world of, the wisdom of the world is it's already been created. You just have to be willing and be open to that. And when you read it starts to open up your brain a little bit. And then, you know, I just, I love people. I authentically do. And I'm intrigued by people that are good parents, excellent entrepreneurs. Like, even in Kansas City, one of the wealthiest guys in all of Kansas City. His company's well over billion, almost $2 billion. I'm like, I'm not afraid. I'm like, hey, I need to learn from you. Let's have lunch. He's like, who the hell are you? I'm like, we're going to have lunch. And he became a mentor. Like, he's like, okay, don't do this. I don't even know who you are, kid, but don't do this. And like, those lunches were worth everything. And I think that's the key, is that just embrace the journey. Be humble. There's always something to learn. And Peter Dawson said it years ago. I asked him what's the one thing I always ask an expert. What's the one thing? It's a Jacob Needleman question. What's the one thing you know for sure? And he said, that's a great question, Kirk. The one thing I know for sure, even at my age is don't ever say you have it all figured out. He goes, He's 89 this year. He says, Kirk, even at 89, I don't know figured out. Like, I don't. And he said, the people that you get to know that have it all figured out, they're not that much fun. So I love the learning. I'm encouraged by it. There's always something to learn. And I don't know. I don't even know if that answers your question, but those are some of my thoughts on there. The world is willing to help you. You just have to be willing to go out and get.

It. You know, curiosity has been a big part of your life.

Right? Oh, yeah. I'm constantly curious. I think it's one of the greatest things. Curiosity is just. It's. It's the fruit. Once you stop being curious now, you're also going to see. It's also one of the greatest marketing tools in the world. I mean, American Idol, the voice everybody uses, Curiosity. We're going to see who's going home after this break. Like, curiosity is just where the world lives at. And our best team members that we coach in any dental office are curious every day. They're curious about patients, conditions. They're curious about their lives. The least fun people I work with, they're not curious at all. They got it all figured out. They don't want to know anything. And so I don't know. I mean, your favorite friends, if you're listening to this, your favorite friends that you go to dinner with, they're asking you questions all the time, like, how you doing? Where'd you go on vacation? How's your son doing? How's your daughter? Like, how are you? And I'm like, dude. And before you know it, you end up telling them so many things that you wouldn't even tell other people. And you're like.

Wow.

So tell us some of the. What are the biggest challenges that you see dentists are facing now? Because I'm thinking that what dentists face is similar to what anybody faces. Right. They're a business. What do you think is the biggest challenges that they're facing right.

Now? Right. You know, there's so many thought processes on this, but I like to borrow people that are Incredible examples of experience, success, like, in every industry. And it always comes back to about three things. One of my favorite is Nick Saban. So I don't know. It's the best leadership video you'll ever watch ever, that's ever been created ever, is Nick Saban's leadership video. He's got several speeches. One of them, I think is like 20 some minutes long. And people ask him constantly, like, how nobody's ever won that many national championships. Well, I think Bear Bryant has, but nobody's ever won them. In two universities consistently doing it. Like, how do you do that? That's one of the hardest things in the world to do. And he says it's three things. Number one, mindset. My biggest challenge as a coach in my. Even in my business. And he says this as a coach. I got to get everybody thinking the same thing. It's also your biggest challenge as a parent. Your biggest challenge as a spouse is like, I got to keep everyone thinking the right thing. My daughters, I have teenage daughters. They're like, why can't I stay out until 2 in the morning? I say, because no one in this family will ever do that because nothing good happens after midnight. Right? You know, so. So it's a mindset thing. The second thing is committing to a process. You got to commit to some type of a process. And it's the same challenge that dentists have. Their challenge and mindset is, well, people can't afford dentistry. And I'm like, that's dumb. Stop thinking like that. You, as a dentist, have to believe that money spent in your office is some of the best money people could ever spend. Anything. I tell you, beyond this, if you don't believe that is not going to work, because you're going to live with the whole idea that nobody can afford what you do and nobody wants to come here, which sucks. Okay, that's terrible. As a. I could never think that as a CEO. What if I was a CEO and go, you know, our business is really expensive.

I would have the worst team members in the world and we wouldn't sell anything and we wouldn't help anybody. So that's number one. Number two is having a process. Because when you have a process, you can start to. You look at processes, anything. I'm a big fan of GE and their black belt, you know, Six Sigma black belt, which they do engineering processes. What you can do when you build a process is you can find out where the holes are and you can optimize processes. You do it in your dental practice. Gary, you have written systems for everything. You know, when something fails where we can fix it. So we never blame a person. We always look at the process. And, you know, Deming almost killed the United States when he started working with Japan and the quality movement. And what he did was he started building repeatable processes that can scale. Amazon is an incredible example of how you could build a repeatable scalable process. They're process is by far, in a way the best in the world. Like nobody has ever built a better process. And it also reduces labor costs, everything like that. So the third piece is execution. You know, somebody's got to be able to execute. While we can sit here and talk about great ideas, you got to have a team of people that can execute. We call it GSD in our company. Get stuff done. You can trade now the word for S. But really, you, you know, I'm a talker, I'm a teacher. I got to be able to hand a stack of things to somebody on my team and go, hey, Barb, I don't know what to do with all this. And she goes, got it. Love it. You know what I mean? And then it just disappears. I never see it again. Like, you can't have people like you all over. And so I'm a big fan of. You know, there's three different tests you can do Disc obviously Colby is a great one, which Dan Sullivan highly recommends, and I love that one. And we also use culture index, which I think is by far and away the most thorough because it really tells you your DNA. And my DNA is super clear of who I am and who I. How I best experience myself at work. But I also know that the DNA of the people around me has to be significantly different. They have to be a team of executors. So there's a lot of times I have meetings and I have to have somebody in the meeting with me because I'm not going to remember what we talked about and I'm going to look at them and okay, go make that happen. They go, okay, got it. You know, so. And it all goes back to the self awareness thing. So when you ask the question, it's three things for dentists. Their mindset has got to be in the right place. Number two, we've got to build a scalable, you know, process that we're committed to. And then thirdly, we got to execute like this has got to get done. We walk into a lot of dental practices and sometimes things just have to get done. We got to clean things up. And they go, wow, things Are better. I go, yes, that's only the beginning. Let's get to the next stage. And what it does is it layers confidence, almost like layering porcelain. It gets stronger and stronger over time. And now people believe in themselves, and you can see the magic that happens when they interact with customers, and the whole business changes shape. No different than Alabama winning a national championship. When Nick Saban pulled his starting quarterback at halftime in the national championship game, I screamed at the TV and I go, that's the dumbest move ever. Well, he knew something I didn't, and he pulled it off. It's one of the greatest sports miracles of all time, and only a genius could have done that with a team of people that believe they could execute that. So it's.

Incredible. It's interesting. When I listen to your three steps, those are the three steps that I heard you take for you, which was get your mind right, find the right processes that will get me results, and then go out and execute.

It.

Yep.

So it's interesting to see how ACT is a reflection of.

You. Well, you know, and so a couple other things that are amazing on our journey now, these books give you some, but really, you get additional insight when you spend time with experts and you find out what's really going on. Because sometimes in a book, they only tell you what. So. So I actually flew my entire team up and met with Dan Sullivan and his team, and he didn't charge me a small. That was a pretty penny. And Babs, his wife, goes, okay, look, I'm going to give you the secret to strategic coach. I go, what is it? She goes, this entire business is built around his unique ability. And I was like, oh, my gosh. She goes, he's terrible at a lot of things, but he's really good in a room, so we don't let him cross this line. And so at that moment, I was like, oh, my gosh, that's great. And what I found was.

ACT is no different. It is one of those things. My company is a puzzle. I got to put the puzzle together every year so that we can make progress. It's not about money for me. Well, those things are good indicators of whether or not it's improving in health. For me, it's about the puzzle. It's about my why that you taught me originally, which is, it's got to be better for me to have a sense of fulfillment in my life. Just has to be a little bit better. And again, it's my better way. Why? You know, because at the end of the day, I just. I need progress. I have to have progress. And I do have team members that come to me occasionally. They go, are you ever happy? I go, man, I'm crazy happy. But I'm never satisfied. Like, never. It's. You know, I'm a mountain climber that doesn't have a top to the mountain. There's no top. You know, it's like we climb, we get to another clearing, and then we take some photos. We have a sandwich as a team. We look back and we look at how much progress we made. Isn't that fun? All right, everybody, grab your backpacks. Let's go. And they're like, we're going to keep going. I go, yeah, that's what. Because that's what we do. We're climbers. They go, wow, this is hard. I go, well, I hope I told you that at the beginning of the journey. There's no top to this mountain. So as long as the expectations are clear, you can find this. If you're listening to this in any business, you can find a better way. But your challenge is figuring out who you are, then getting the mindset, then having a process and then having a team of people that execute. And, Gary, you see this all the time. There are amazing people in our industry, but they're talkers. All they do is talk, but nothing ever happens, and they're missing the execution piece or the process piece. And so, you know, I would be a talker if I didn't have a process and a team of executors around me. So. And I don't want to be.

That. You know, that's what I see is really important about what you did are doing, is that you surrounded yourself with people that make up for the things that you're not good at and you know what you're not good at. And I feel that same way. There's so many things that I'm not good at, and it's hard to admit that initially until it's. But it becomes very empowering to admit that.

Right? And I'll just sum it up in one thought that I've heard so many times. There is no greater fatigue than mental fatigue. There just isn't. I'll take physical fatigue any day, but when it's doing the things I love a great. I'm like, that was so hard, but that was so good. Mental fatigue is too dangerous on the body. It's too dangerous on the brain. When you're mentally fatigued, there's no fatigue that trumps that. And I would even argue that it creates pathologies in the body we could look at later on that would show up in sleep, they would show up in opioid or alcohol addiction, they would show up in other addictions. They would show up in bad patterns elsewhere. Because now you're going to be compensating in other ways. And I always joke with dentists, when you're off, you're going to want that glass of wine at the end of a day on a Monday, and then maybe a second one, but nobody needs a third glass of wine on a Monday night. Now you're compensating for other measures. And so I think it all goes back to that thing where you just got to figure out who you are, and you've got to get it to a point where it's a fun game for you, because life is short. And for me, I got to be doing things I enjoy, and it's got to be yielding a.

Result. Let me ask you a question, Kirk. One of the challenges that people with R why face is making a decision, right? So what have you used? Or how do you go about making a decision? Because there's, you know, there's always a better one. There's always a better one. There's always a better one. How do you handle that.

Challenge? Oh, you should have my team on for this one, because they would just scream. They're like, oh, my gosh. Now, it is a huge pitfall for somebody that fits the why that I have, because there's always a new product. There's a new. There's a new marketing system, there's a new software, there's a new. And so for me.

The thing that I have to do is I've got to outrun my mistakes. And that is not the best answer. I'm not telling you to even try there. I tell Barb in my office. I go, this is it. And she's like, you just said that last month. And I go, I know. She's like, you got to stop. I go, I can't, because my brain is always searching for something like that. Now, the downside is you're going to make people on this journey very. Like, they're really like, oh, my gosh, we just installed the software. Now you want a new one? And I'm like, yeah, but this one's better. And they're like, yeah, but we didn't even get the last one installed, you know, type of a thing. And so my answer to your question is, I two things. I want to outrun my mistakes. I look at As a win loss, the wins have to be much greater than losses because you're going to fail. Like, there's going to be a lot of failures. And then the second piece is I want to sample things. I'm. We're now in a world where we got a lot of bs. There's a lot of people that you're gonna meet that go, oh, I'm an expert on that. And I always start with the conversation that everybody says that we're gonna see if what you just said is real. So I'm gonna give you a small project and a little bit of money, and we're gonna see if this turns into a, you know, and if they can't take a small amount and give you a good return, then that's a good evidence that a big amount is also gonna give you the same thing. So I don't know that that answers your question, but that's how I've compensated for the pitfall of my.

Personality. So let me, let me share something with you on that. And this was a challenge for me to figure out as well, because if we're always looking for a better way, when do we finally stop? And I just struggled with it. I struggled with it. I was like, now, when am I going to stop?

But it came to me one day, what we're actually looking for.

Good enough, good enough. The only time it's good enough, Kirk, is when we say it's good enough. When we actually say, okay, that's good enough. Now we can move on. Right. Until we say that's good enough, we're gonna keep.

Going. Right? Right. So that's really helpful. I'm actually gonna try that. I'm gonna practice that. Because you are. You're like my Obi Wan Kenobi on this, you know, Because I'm still trying to understand the why thing. It's an. It's an ever present journey for me, and I'm going to use that. And I also. I've had other teachers tell me this too, and Dan Sullivan's one of them says this, you know, gratitude is a very interesting emotion because whenever you fully experience gratitude, it cuts off the air supply to all other emotions, whether they be anger, frustration, not enough. And that's. That's like, there are times I'll just. I practice it several times a day. I'm like, okay, I'm so grateful. Like, I'm grateful. We're actually doing extremely well this month. Pause. And that speaks to your good enough. Like, I, you know, even with my kids, I'm like, okay. That. Okay. She's a great kid. I'm so grateful to have her. And she is who she is. Pause. You know what I mean? Like, don't go down that rabbit hole of it wasn't Good enough. Because 90, you know, 95 on a test is pretty good, you know? And I'm not one of those people that's like, oh, they always have to be 100 or anything. Like, that's not even a great example. But gratitude is the other thing, and I would almost use it in the same vein that you gave me. Good enough. So thank you for that gift.

Buddy. Yeah, that was a big challenge for me, and it is for most people with our why. Pretty much everybody with our why is at what point do we stop? And that was the critical thing to think about, because there has to be a time to stop when you say it's good enough, then you can set it down and you can go on to something.

Else.

Right? Until that happens. Like, is this software good enough? So if you can train your team to say, kirk, is this good enough? And if you say, yes, that's good enough, then you're done with it. But if you don't say that, then it isn't good enough. And then we got to keep going. And we got to keep going. Okay, Kirk, is this good.

Enough?

Are you guys listening to this guy? This guy is a genius. And that is a huge gift you just gave me today. And I'm actually, that's. That's worth its weight in gold. So thank you very much. I'm going to practice.

That. Which sounds so basic, doesn't it? It sounds like really, that's what I'm looking for. That's all I'm looking for. But, yeah, that is. And it doesn't have to be something profound. It just has to allow you to stop and move.

On. Right?

Yeah. Because I'll keep meddling with it.

Forever. Me too. Me too. Until I can say, okay, that's good enough. Yeah, now I'm off. Now I'm off the hook. I can go to something else. What a relief. What a.

Relief. Yeah. Well, this is important dialogue, too, because becoming aware of these things. And, Gary, there's nine whys. Is that.

Right?

Yeah. For the benefit of the listeners, can you give it to us like mine is a better.

Way?

Yes. What are the other.

Ones? So the first one is to contribute to a greater cause, add value, have an impact in the lives of others. The second why is to create trusting, is trust. To create trusting relationships. The third why is to make sense of the complex or challenging. The fourth why is to find a better way and share it, which is our why. The fifth why is to do things the right way in order to get results, so it's right way. The sixth why is to challenge the status quo, think differently, challenge. So the seventh why is mastery, to seek mastery and understanding, to dive in deep and take it to the nth degree. The eighth why is to clarify or create clarity. And the ninth why is to simplify or take the complex and make it simple so that it's understandable and easy to use. So if we were, if I were to, you know, you and I had talked a little bit about this before, but if I were to say your why, how and what, I would say that your why is to find a better way and share it. How you do that is by making sense of the complex or challenging. And what you bring is a way to contribute and add value to the lives of the dentist that you work with, the team that you have, everyone you come in contact with. Yep.

Right. That is awesome. And you do, you know, for the benefit of our listeners, you do a lot of this work, you have your own course coming up which, which I want to desperately be a part of, is you've done this with big companies, you've done this with individuals. Because that self awareness piece that you helped me with, finding your why and how we do it and what we do, that's really where the rubber meets the road in anyone's journey. Because now you can start to make traction on the things that a lot of times they're deep, subjective pain that you can't put a finger on. You're like, I'm in so much pain, but I don't know why. And then when somebody often shines a flashlight and says, the reason you have this pain is that you're a fish, you should be in water, you know, you're trying to run in grass. And it's interesting when you put those things.

Together. So what the why formula does, which I just shared with you, is gives you the words to articulate what you've always been feeling but couldn't put in words so that you can actually use it. So let's take you as an example, let's, let's take you with the why of finding a better way and wanting to make sense of the complex and challenging so that you can contribute to other people. And let's stick you in a job where all you're doing is processing numbers all day long or put you on an assembly line, right. Where you're doing the same thing constantly. How would that work for.

You? It.

Wouldn'T. It wouldn't. But could you do it if I forced you to do.

It? I could. And I would have to compensate.

And you would see yourself. Your mental. Like you were talking about. That was great. What you said is mental fatigue is worse than any kind of physical fatigue. So how would that affect you.

Mentally? Kill me. Kill.

You? Right. You might as well kill you. It'll put you in a place where you aren't able to live your.

Why.

And. And you die mentally in a place where you get to live your why. Like showing dentists a better way every single day. How does that fit.

You? If it's great, yes. Great gives you a sense of purpose. At least for me, you know, in my sense of purpose, there's nothing better than seeing a dentist say, hey, look, you know, I changed my hours, my practice got better. And you know what I do now? I coach my kids soccer team and I'm there every day. Like, I have a dentist in, in Texas. One of my favorite. He's like, Kirk, once I change my hours, started working with you, I leave my office at 3 and my son expects me to pick him up at the bus stop. And I'm like, I am so happy for him and I'm so happy for you. Because that's a transformational.

Life. So ACT is about helping dentists, finding a better way by helping dentists solve the challenges that they face so that they can have a bigger impact in their practice and outside of their.

Practice. Amen, brother. And you help me with this. It's our tagline. It's what we use. It's what we talk about every day. It's better practice, better life. And we use it. I must use that 12 to 15 times a day. Better practice, better life. It just summarizes all of our work. Because you have a great practice, but you don't have a great life. What good is that? You know, at the end of the day, it's still life. Right. We get one shot at this thing called life. But you know what? If you do it right, it's kind of all you need.

Yep. So all you need. So if you're. Who is it that you're looking for? If I have, you know, there's a bunch of dentists that are going to be listening to this as well, who should seek you out. Who are you looking for as your ideal client? And how can they get ahold of.

You? Yeah. All right. You know, I would say this. We're not everybody's coach or consultant. But, you know, I say this. If you're looking to improve your practice, you know, you want better health organizationally, Just, you know, we're always open to have a conversation, see if this is the right fit for you. You can always find us@actdental.com you know, our company is small. We're not one of the biggest companies. But our commitment to our clients is to put the puzzle together for them in a way that they enjoy. My greatest hope for anybody I coach is that they love going to work. They love it. They pull up in their parking space, they get out of their car, and they go, this is me. This is the way I want to do it. It's who I am. And that in itself is so much of a good piece of the journey. So you can always find us@actdental.com youm can watch our podcast, which I'm gonna have you on, which is the best practices show. And the premise of that is just to listen to the best in the world talk about what they do in their practices. And it serves a dual purpose for me. Number one, I'm doing what I love to do, and number two, it's my ce. I'm now taking CE and getting paid for it. Like, it's crazy. I love it. So I don't even know how that happened. So it's.

Fun. So, Kirk, this is how what I would say. I would say that you're looking for dentists that are looking for a better way. It's that.

Simple. It is that.

Simple. If they're looking for. If they're curious, they're looking for a better way to make sense of the challenges that they're facing so they can have a bigger impact. You are the guy. There's not going to be anybody better that can work with them than you, because that's how you think and that's what you're going to.

Bring. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate that. You guys can see why this guy's a genius, and he's been so important in my journey. So, Gary, I can't thank you enough for being a part of my journey. I really appreciate it, buddy. You opened up so many doors for me mentally, emotionally, and just. I'm just crazy grateful for that. Thanks for having me on.

Today. Thanks for being here today, Kirk. And I look forward to working with you in the.

Future.

This episode of beyond you'd why Podcast is brought to you by Dentistry Roadmap. After working for the past 30 years developing and growing my practice. I've learned that a great practice starts with a great message. I've narrowed down the essentials today developing your practice message into a six part online study club where I show you how to do this for your practice. So make sure to head over to dentistryroadmap.com to learn how you can take your dental practice to the next level.