Freeing Your World

Welcome to Million Dollar Dentistry with your host, Gary Katie, brought to you by Next Level Practice. Next Level Practice is the leader in dental practice management. In fact, they are the best in the world at creating happy teams that implement sustainable results. Your host, Gary Katie welcomes you to this podcast as he discusses the common concerns, challenges and shares his decades of experience in empowering dentists and dental teams to go from good to world class. Gary Katie is a visionary voice of Next Level Practice and has for the past 20 years interrupted the status quo of the dental world. He continues to bring national attention to the oral systemic connection and and believes in the complete health dentistry model. He is a powerful educator and advocate for dentistry, dentist and dental teams. He is inspired every day by the courage and personal successes of the doctors and team members he has the privilege of working with. Join us today as we discuss raising your healthy deserve level. In our last episode, we dug into what it means to be in integrity by keeping your word, focusing on keeping agreements and how this increases the trust of your team and your patients. Gary, it is great to be back with you today. How are you?

Oh, Amber. Oh my gosh. One of my favorite times of the month when I get to hang out with you and do this podcast. I am super excited to chat about this and one of the things that I really just want to give a shout out to all the men and women, you know, most of our clients are, you know, you know, have young families or husband and wives. And recently there's been like this great influx of chats and just DMs on people just sharing like, hey, we went for this drive, it was seven hours. We just, we, we binged listened for seven hours. And my kids were like listening to it. We gave them the option to put a headset on or listen. And, you know, to hear that this work is good, getting into families and not only practices, but families as well, and they're using their tools because they're universal tools that we're talking here, Amber. It's like we're talking about, you know, human interaction, we're talking about human empowerment, we're talking about those things because if you slice the roof of a dental practice off and you slice the roof of a home off and you look down, the quality of life is directly related to the quality of the conversations that you're having with each other, right? If they're negative conversations and you're at the center of it, you and your underwear, you know, like, if you're looking like everybody else did I give you a good Visual there, Amber, did you like that?

Oh, yeah.

All right.

I didn't mean to see everybody in their underwear. Thanks.

Well, I say that because it's like, oh, I'm not negative. Like, if you would ask me, like, I would be like, I'm not putting negative conversations out there. My wife goes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you think? But, like, you actually do from time to time, and it doesn't work. And see, what happens is we don't see ourselves and actually diagnose or take a look at those interactions that we have. And are they forwarding the action, putting life into people around us, or are they, you know, in fear, tearing us down, tearing somebody else down? And look, if you want to enhance the own quality of your life, just take a look at the conversations you're having, and you can control that. You can shift the conversations. And really, that's what's underneath it all. It's like enhancing the quality of the conversations. And I can't tell you how many people have just gotten to me in the last month about, like, how their relationship has gotten better with their spouse or with their kids, and, you know, they're just raising the bar on all things. And, you know, that's why I love this podcast, because it reaches tons of people really fast, and it's really doing its job in that it's not just developing your practice, but it's developing a quality of life that. That you just. You. You just love, you know, quality of life that you love. So thanks again, Amber, for being the quarterback on this. I'm super excited. Let's dive into the content today.

All right, sounds great. So since you mentioned underwear, we're going to talk about maybe replacing our underwear in this episode.

You know, it was probably subconscious. When I. When I looked at the studio notes today, I was like, oh, okay. I remember when I wrote about, like, you got to look at those. You know, what's the quality? Who knew that the quality of your underwear was going to show you the quality of your mindset? I mean, really. Okay, there's a little foreshadowing in this today's episode. So there you go.

All right, all right. So we're going to talk today about finding freedom from that low or deserve level by looking at your physical environment. Previously, we've talked about how to create freedom by clearing up our past with others in relationships, taking on a new level of integrity by recognizing how important our word is and honoring our agreements. And now we're going to talk about cleaning up the physical environment to boost the healthy Deserve level. So, Gary, you mentioned that a messy desk, this is where you kind of start out in this part of raising your healthy deserve level. You talk about a messy desk is a strong indicator of a low deserve level. What advice do you give people about cleaning up their desks, cleaning up their cars, and why do you suggest that people start there?

So, you know, if you're sitting there and you're going, I'm a dentist. Why am I listening to this podcast? Well, here's the deal. If here's where low deserve level manifests itself, you know, in the desk is a great visual, but where these are things that you are blind spots with what we're talking about, your fee schedule being very low, giving away dentistry, having a high accounts receivable, not presenting the treatment that's necessary for the patient, and doing the one crown a year, you know, boogie. You know, all those things are rooted in deserve level. And that is the root cause of this. And we see this once. Doctors and spouses really get this distinction. It's like this, Amber. A luxury once experienced becomes a necessity. And it's not greed, and it's not like you're taking from somebody. You're actually giving value away and not getting in the way of the value coming back at you. How do you know? Because you can't really read your own barometer of your deserve level intrinsically, but extrinsically, the first place to look is your desk. And the reason why we bring desk up is because it's like something you set out almost every day, something you can see that has a visual nature to it. Now, I always go to the desk first. We used to have desk contests for Dennis back in the day when it first started, because I would have them take a picture of it and send it to me. And we had so many funny things, the before and afters. But if you ever noticed, like if you cleaned a drawer out, you know, maybe it's your junk drawer and you have batteries in there and you have cords and you have like, you know, old matchbooks and you know, that whole thing, if you've ever taken and started small and just clean that up, you get this space that is like. Or you feel better about yourself. You've ever noticed? You ever noticed that, Amber? Did you ever have that experience?

Absolutely. And I have to admit that when I was like getting these notes together, I took 20 minutes to clean off my desk because I was like, I can't not have my desk cleaned off for this. I am a. I am the queen of sticky Notes and I will have a stack of sticky notes and you know, they're all over there because I write it down. But I don't throw them away when I've taken care of the issue. And so that clogs up it, you know, it's not a good place to be in.

So yeah, I learned this, I did this course on integrity. It was a year long course. And I go, I have integrity. Well. And they really distinguish something really interesting to me. If you walk in and you're doing this subconsciously and you don't even know it, like if you consciously brought into your day like and you walk into your house and the doorknob is like broken and the windows cracked and there's a scratch over here. I'm not talking about being an obsessive compulsive Virgo, like I am. I'm just talking about like a normal person walking into a house and like there's all these incompletions or you know, the word integrity is whole and complete. If you walk into your practice and you look up and you see spiderwebs and a messy desk, like you're walking in and you don't realize, like, and you're feeling stressed out. Stress comes from all the incompletions that you're holding onto in your head. So let's use the example of the post it notes. I want to bring a visual to this. All the incompletions that you have in your life. Whether it's like I need to. I made this promise and didn't fulfill on it. I said I was going to clean my desk and I didn't. I said I was going to the gym and I didn't, you know, I said I was going to clean my garage. You know, I have a dentist, he's from Bradford, Connecticut and he was asked at his 10 year reunion in dental school, what was your biggest accomplishment? He said, keeping my promise with my wife that I would clean the garage. And they're like what? And he's like, yep. Because I didn't realize that my ability to lead close cases, ask for money all was rooted in the. If I kept my promises and I kept everything else pristine and clean and neat and cleared the space and I didn't have a lot of things running in my head open, then I could be at peace and I could be at cause in the matter and be in purpose and create that because that is the root cause of stress, all these incompletion. So going back to that post it note board, envision that you Have Amber's post it notes like, you see this picture of all this board, there's a place in another visual would be if you've ever been to Seattle, there's this gum wall where everybody puts their gum. Think about that. That's your stress wall in your life where these incompletions like, damn, my desk. Like. And I'll get a guy who can justify, he'll go, yeah, please disregard my desk. I know where everything is like justifier. But what they're missing is that pile is the pile that's going on in their head. And if you're carrying a pile around in your head, it's like a computer. You have no space or room to cause and create and be present. You can't be present because you're pulled intrinsically into this past and you can never break into the present moment. And there's a lot of magic in the present moment that you're missing because you're holding on to all this clutter. Does that make sense?

Yep, it absolutely does. And you know, and there's, you know, there's the, the people that have the piles, the ADHD add brains where they actually put things in piles, but it actually doesn't work for them. They do it and they'll tell you that everything's organized in there, but it doesn't work for them because it brings them stress. And that's exactly what you were saying here, which is why when you're looking at people with those neurodivergent brains, that while that might be a natural process for them, it's something that they need to look at really carefully to see if it's serving them anymore.

Well, I'm going to share this with you if you've been diagnosed with ADH or any of the neurodivergent. So beautifully and eloquently Southernly stated by your voice earlier. I can listen to you forever, ever. It's awesome. It just sounds like music from the south for me. It's awesome. But here's, here's what, here's what people have reported. And again, I'm not diagnosing ADHD or any of those, those diagnoses. But here's what people have reported to me that they can then now focus. Because what was diagnosed and what was given drugs for, they found that the root cause was letting go and getting clean and getting their space clear because the mind doesn't have to race all over the place. Now there's some people that are diagnosed clinically. I am not challenging that, but I'M just telling you what I've learned, walking people through these exercises and what they've shared with me and then how it's impacted. You know, like, my wife, she didn't think I loved her. And I was like, what. I would come home and she goes, I don't think you love me. And what I learned is her love language is being present with her. And I was not present. I'm a busy guy. I'm on the phone. I'm. I'm important. All this. I'm none of that. You know what I am? I'm a. I'm a husband and I'm a dad, and I have things to do. But I just cluttered my space so I didn't. So I didn't have to be responsible and be present. Like, I go, honey, I buy you gifts. I acknowledge you. She's like, I don't care about those things. Like, that's what I like when people buy me gifts and acknowledge me. But what she likes is, I don't have my phone. I don't have my phone out. I'm just looking at her, and I'm just smiling and listening to her about her day. And that's how she knows I love her. And we have a crush on each other after 20 years. But it was. It's all rooted in this stuff that we're talking about here. I like getting to root cause things, Amber, that open up people to have holistic and natural freedom, joy, abundance, and money and time. And this is how we've learned to create it. And it's done beautifully. It's just exciting. An exciting time. And it all starts with your desk. Sorry. As my Canadian friends say, sorry. And I can, by the way, I love my Southern peeps, and I love my Canadians doing a bullet and sorry. I love that.

There we go. So, you know, Gary, this is. I love this part, you know, where we're talking about getting this cleaned up, taking 20 minutes, just go clean your desk. Taking 20 minutes, go clean your car out. And you know, and then you're talking about. And looking at what kind of car you're driving and seeing how that actually equates to your deserve level. And I want to kind of like make a distinction here because we have a saying in the south that I think is other places, as well as Keeping up with the Joneses. This isn't about Keeping up with the Joneses. This is about driving, taking care of yourself, taking care of your. Your body, your physical environment in a way that actually makes you feel good about yourself as opposed to making you feel bad about yourself. And you know, so having a nice car and driving a specific car, it's not the car as much as it is about how you're caring for that thing and how you're actually feeling when you're driving in. And if it's bringing you down, you need to look at that. Is that what you're saying kind of in this and saying look at cars?

Yeah. Again, I'm bringing tangibility and symptoms. I'm showing you the symptoms and then you can start looking in for root cause. I'm going to give you an example. There's Josh Merrill in New London, Ohio, and my man Jeff Lowe in, in Hays, Kansas, two tiny towns. And you know, when I started introducing deserve level 10 years ago to our community and our dentist, this concept, the big thing that comes up is I don't want to show up in the town looking like I got all this cash and like, you know, so I, you know, I'm driving a broken down Mustang and I'm driving this, that and the other thing. And what's happening is that when you're living intrinsically on what you think people are judging you about, you don't get to live the life. My best friend died last year in early 50s and it's like he missed out on a lot of things because he was living his life for all other people rather than what he chose to be. And owning that and a car is an example of, of an expression of who you are. Like, you know, the brand of the car and then what that car stands for now. You know, like my son, he loves Jordans and sneakers and stuff. And he's like, dad, he goes, I really want these sneakers. And he goes. And then he came home and he was a little depressed and he loved them and he like these one of a kind Jordan threes and Unc there had the like UNC blue, you know, being Carolina blue. And it was like one of a kind. And he's like, dad, thanks for getting these for me. And you know, he got it on the headmaster's list and I like rewarding him for winning and you know, and he goes, dad, he goes, I'm really sad because only two people recognize my, my, my Jordan Uncs. And I said, son, I said, you know, if you're doing this for other people, I said, you know, you're going to be disappointed. And I learned this lesson because I used to drive a Porsche because I wanted people to see that I was successful and nobody recognized me. I told him the story I said, son, you know, nobody recognized me when I needed people to do it was when I got my own deserve level. Like, because our net worth is directly related to our self worth. Our peace and freedom is directly related to our own self worth. If you're trying to prove extrinsically and trying to validate a broken down self esteem self worth, you'll never outrun that because it's like a big black hole. What I'm talking about is actually filling that hole and then making choices as an expression of who you are. So the minute these two doctors got that, they sold their cars. Now they are both Tesla guys because they're, you know, our dentists are very high tech, forward tech. And when they, when they're in their dental office with their cone beams and their iteros and there's, you know, all their good, you know, toys, they need a toy to drive home in. That's an expression of who they are and they own it. And here's what they found. All the belief systems that they had about what people were going to say about them were actually the opposite. People would see them in town and they would go like, wow, beautiful car. And I'm so glad my dentist is successful enough to buy a Tesla because you do great work and thank you for that. There was like one person that said, I'm not going back to you because I paid for that Tesla. And you know what? I, you know, I teach these guys. When you're not, when you're not worried about what people are saying to you here, what happens and you know who you are and you start building your own self esteem back and it's something that you can build back. When people say I paid for that, I go, thank you for that. We really appreciate you coming into our office and we want to make sure that you got the value. Yes. We were able to buy this because of your contribution and we really value you as a patient. Thanks for coming in. And it was like once they got the whole landscape of this thing, the guy was like, wow, you know, you know, because you could be pissed if you're going, hey, I don't want to get this, because this is what they're going to say. And then they end up saying it and then you're defending it. Game over. You know, this is about living a full life now because you've earned it. You went to dental school, you busted your back, you're heroes to us. Why? Because you have to be great clinically and you have to be great on a Business level. And when you do that, don't hide who you are, be who you are. You know, there's a Marianne Williamson quote that says, you know, don't dim your light so other people feel comfortable, comfortable around you. Be a beacon of light and let your light shine on others so that they can have their light shine with them. And that's really the conversation here that we're having. Right? But there's so many people that get squashed because they're worried about how people feel about them and it's related to their own self esteem. When you start building your own self esteem and confidence in yourself, you do that by being whole and complete with the universe around you, nothing incomplete. And that's what that course I took for a year was all about. And it was about cleaning your desk, cleaning your car. My friend Lloyd Mandel is awesome. He was my best, one of my best buddies growing up. Back in the day, he used to eat Taco Bell Wendy's and he would throw all the containers in the backseat. And I'm like, dude, do you go on a date in this car? It smells like filet o fish. And if I looked at all the Styrofoam in the back and I was a woman, I'd be like, I'm out of here, dude. And he didn't care. Like it was just a mess in his car. And you know, he never took care of it, you know, and he ended up meeting, meeting a great woman, Dina. But I think he cleaned his car before he met her.

Almost guaranteed. So, you know, this is, you know, the distinction that I heard when you were talking here is that, that it's about deserve level, it's about how you feel about yourself. And so when you're, when you feel good about yourself, you don't have to defend what you own. You don't have to defend those things because you're not coming from a place of ego, of like, you know, I'm better than you, it, that kind of thing. It's just that I, I, I deserve this. And when you put that type of energy out, people don't usually challenge you on that. They, you know, they rise to that as well.

Well, let me fast forward what's going to happen here for you. The word vulnerability is an interesting word that I've learned over the years. Like I had to be vulnerable. And what vulnerable is, is like you're sharing of yourself something about you that you've been protecting. Here's what happens. Vulnerability melts away when you get who you are. You don't have to. When there's nothing to protect, there is no vulnerability. So you don't have to worry about protecting things. You can just walk through life and just be yourself, and then people are going to have their choices. Look, and am I saying that I was born out of the womb like this? No, I'm giving you wisdom that I learned because, you know, 25 years ago when somebody wrote something about me online, you know, a dental town, like, he's like a brash asshole. You know, I took that personally, you know, and, you know, I used to drink to alleviate that pain of what people said about me. So I have a lot of compassion with people around this subject. But I also have a straight shot to freedom and abundance overcoming these things. Because most people don't go to work intrinsically on your practice. By the way, one of the things we do is we go in and we do a physical checklist in every practice when we first get started with them. So obviously we're going to be looking at your desk, but there's an entire physical environment checklist where you actually walk into your practice like you're a patient. And I invite you, like, it's a great exercise to take away from this session. Today, I invite you to actually walk in your practice or drive into your practice. Start where you're driving in, but don't drive in. As the owner of the practice or someone who works there, drive in like you're a patient going there for the first time. I don't know about you, but when I went to Disneyland the first time, I was in awe. Now I go there and I see It's a Wonderful World. And I'm like, the. The German guy's hands broken because, like, the, you know, the machine is broken. So it's, you know, three German guys are doing the, you know, German gig. And then, you know, raising a beer mug. And then one guy's arm is broken. Like, now I go there, I see the spiderwebs. I see behind the scenes. When I was a kid, it was like, oh, my gosh, this is insane. Right? So, you know, the same is true. You go. You go in with a blank slate and look from a patient's viewpoint. You walk in, you see, oh, my parking lot is a shambles. There's cigarette butts when you walk in. And I'm selling healthier. Oh, there's Kentucky Fried Chicken. Fingerprints all over the door. Oh, there's the old guy's name who bought. I bought this from this practice from 10 years ago on the Freaking door. Oh, I saw a great one. And by the way, we do videos of all this when clients come in. So we actually walk them through, and they actually have to do a video and narrate their practice. It's awesome. By the way, this guy had a sign that said waiting room. I mean, people don't wait in our practices. Like, we see you on time. We, you know, this is, you know, but you have waiting room, and it's a brown paneled waiting room. And this guy's a. This guy's a millennial dentist. My. My. One of my fellow millennials. You know, I'm. You know, I'm the oldest millennial on the planet.

Right, I do know that. I've heard that before.

Yeah. So it's this physical environment checklist that's a game changer. Now you can put lipstick on it if you have. You know, if you're. If you're worried about, like, funds, there's ways to clean things up and make things look fresh. You know, I can't tell you the clutter on the desk when you walk in. Patients are nervous. Patients are also looking for pristine cleanliness and no germs. People misinterpret clutter with filth. And when you scan your room and there's, like, charts all over, you know, and you're a paperless office and you still have your charts behind you, It's. It sends out the message. If you have those. If you don't have flat screen TVs, and you got the old big box TVs, they're going, this kid's old school. I ain't. I ain't hanging my hat here. So everything is a message that you're sending out. Physical. Physical communication.

I love that, Gary, because that's one of the things that, that you're. Like you were saying that we actually ask our clients to do. And also, every time they hire a new team member, that new team member sees things with a fresh eye. You know, it's a great idea for them to actually take that little checklist and go around there and show the things that they. What they are seeing. So, kind of as we're wrapping up this episode, I want you to kind of leave us with a. How do we free up our world? What are the things that you would kind of recommend for us? Do you have a list of things you think we should do?

Yeah, yeah. You know, first begin to notice we have a great gal down, and she's one of my favorites. Tracy Lewis down in Jacksonville, Florida. I love her. She she gave me the best gift ever. She goes, gary, there's a room. There's a broken chair. I am the one who sits in it. She is amazing. That's the best visual. Are you the one that really sits in the broken chair in the corner and lets everybody else sit in the pristine chairs and, like, there's a balance here. Yes, there are times that I sit in the broken chair, but I also sit in the good chair. Right? And, you know, I don't need to be a martyr or victim to, like, my circumstances. I can actually create and cause it. So, like, that kind of mindset. And by the way, now she's like, if I'm not traveling first class, you know, it's weird, right? So. And it's not because she's, like, greedy or, you know, she's the type of person that is taking from people, but she's now made choices that are different than the ones there. So that's like the overall arching conversation. And thanks, Tracy, for letting me share your story. But the first thing is you got to clean your desk, and I'll give you clean your car or buy a new one, right? For those of you that have been dreaming about something, go for it. Swing out. I would never do this, but I really want it. And sometimes you got to get your spouse on board. That will then create a conversation that might be uncomfortable for everybody. But once you crack the code on this, Amber, the world opens up. It's pretty amazing. It's my house. My wife goes, sweetheart, can we paint powder room? I go, sure, sweetheart. Now all of a sudden, when the powder room is all painted this beautiful color and it has all these beautiful new fixtures and everything in there, Amber. Now, I am for a $400,000 renovation in a house. And what happens is once you set a new standard for world class ness, you start seeing the contrast of where you're not living in world class living around you. Now, you might be sitting there saying, well, I don't have the money to do all this. Gary, let me tell you what happens. This is profound, and this is wisdom. You're not going to see this in a book anywhere. When you start raising your standards for world class ness, your subconscious CPA tells you you need to make more money to pay for this lifestyle. And you actually cause and create it where if you are living life in C standards or B standards, you earn up to the B or C standards. When you raise your standards to A standards, you become cause in the matter to be more profitable. Look at things that you didn't look at and the world, consider the world is already abundant. There's already more than enough money around you. Consider that your self esteem up into this point and your standards of B and C versus A have caused you to have the life you have. And when we start walking, and by the way, this is our second year of curriculum that we have for our clients because in year one, they blow it up. You know, you're doing 25, 30% more, you're doing it with less chair time, you're unchained from the chair, you're spending more time with your family while you're building a business. And then all of a sudden your brain goes, oh my God, if I don't keep working harder and if I don't show up, I'm not going to make money. And then it goes to fear and it kills all this off. And that's why we put structures and measures and metrics and plug in to your QuickBooks and plug into your practice management and train your team automatically. We do all those things so that you don't have to. So you're making money not by your hands, but by your business. And when you start doing that, it all starts by cleaning your desk, cleaning your car, maybe upgrading your car, walking in your office, taking note of what needs to be replaced or fixed. Simple things like putting light bulbs in, getting rid of, you know, moisture in the ceiling tiles, maybe replacing a glass from your lamp or mirror that you have with a patient and they see spit and all this stuff all over, you know, and it's like embedded in there and they're making interpretations like this place isn't clean. And watch your case, watch your case acceptance go up, watch your, watch your fees go up, watch your patient retention going up. The things that you didn't pay attention to, watch how you look at your P and ls. You start pulling towards you where the money is. We help you find the money, get the money and keep the money. Because you, if you don't raise your deserve level, you're not going to cause new money and therefore you're not going to look at the things that need to be looked at.

Thank you, Gary. This has been amazing and I look forward to our next episode and we're going to talk about people in your life and how it can affect your deserve level. Thank you for listening to Million Dollar Dentistry with Gary Katie. This podcast is brought to you by Next Level Practice. Next Level Practice is the leader in dental practice management. In fact, they're the best in the world at creating happy teams that implement sustainable results. If you would like a copy of Million Dollar Dentistry, please contact Amber Keithley at Next Level Practice. You may call us at 212-388-1712, extension 119, or go to nextlevelpractice.com podcast and request a copy in our Ask a Question box. We look forward to brightening your smile.