The real price of inertia

Small reflections before jumping in 2021!
2020 is over and 2021 is so close , soon we will literally jump in this new year ! Before jumping in 2021 I wanna share some thoughts that may help you obtain more from the upcoming year!
This year I had a stop from my usual going around doing courses and congresses. Of course I am not the unique ..all the world due to the covid 19 pandemia is sharing the same situation . So this year I spent my time doing online events , and after these had the chance to spend some time chatting with colleagues . And doing this I saw a recurring pattern …something that stops people improving themselves in their work , or sometimes in their daily life.
It’s something built inside each one of us , probably there was some evolutionary meaning in the remote past.
there is a name describing this phenomenon but you have to wait a little to know the exact name , I wanna describe the typical situation.
Each one of us want to improve his dentistry . Most of us attend courses and congresses , but I realized that the majority of these colleague doesn’t really change their daily routine workflow . Let’s do an example:
you come back from the course full of enthusiasm , you go back in your office …and the first day coming back is usually a busy one..you have closed maybe our office for somedays in order to attend the course and the scheduling is busy..not the best moment to test something new ..no time at all ….and your mind is distracted by so many things that you re not able to focus on all that small things you ‘ve learnt at the course.
The phone ringing , the assistant calling you about that patient , that problem , that payment .
You’re still thinking about that new protocol but your mind immediately draws negative scenario, what if something doesn’t work as planned , you ‘ve already the following patient waiting for you….
This patient is not the ideal case to start with …yes …this is not the ideal for sure …maybe the next one …or the next…maybe the next day ?!?
There is a secret force that strives in order to keep us in the same situation we are ……
I will call this inertia.
Sir Isac Newton describe inertia in the physical field as “ the property of the matter by which it continues in its existing state , unless that state is changed by an external force” ….you can apply easily this definition to people .
To change is not easy nor natural …we have to acknowledge this …that the toughest part of our learning process is not outside but coming back home in our daily routine…our routine is literally jealous of its status quo and will do anything to stop you from changing .
And there is more …doing something new exposes ourselves to the risk of failures .
When you start doing something new you immediately think to all the things you don’t know or you have not understood perfectly and you start to procrastinate.
“ I am not still ready for that soft tissue surgery !, I have to collect more informations , to gain more knowledge before trying!”
We justify ourselves thinking that we are acting in a conscientious way!
I have a patient , a human being in front of me ! wouldn’t it be imprudent to test a new technique on him?
we develop the desire to perfect , to refine the procedure without never execute it.
we don’t want to fail.
Do you see yourself in this description?
Now i wanna give you some hints about how to go out from this block.
First point : enthusiasm is over evaluated , you have to plan…it’s useless to run in the office the first day after the course dreaming about to implement the full protocol .Look carefully your planning , select a case , the right one and add 1 hour to that appointment.
The right case is a case where : the patient is an easy one , good mouth opening , good access to the area , the case is easy ( you have to implement just some steps of the full protocol), plan for failure , you have to plan in advance for the failure of the procedure , you have to prepare a B plan in order to minimize every problem. When I started doing soft tissue grafting for example I was doing them for free during normal implant surgery . These were ALL cases where a soft tissue graft was not really needed , it was just improving a someway acceptable situation so that in case of failure I had to face no real issue.
When I started with soft tissue grafting on natural teeth I started” selecting “and doing cases where it was possible to say to the patient that we were going to improve the quality of the tissue in order to stabilize the situation but NOT covering the recession (that was possible but not predictable ).
Had I failures doing this ? yes I had …and these have been the most valuable lessons of my life . I’ve learnt to appreciate failures as my greatest teachers . Learning comes with a price and each one of us has to pay its own price. To negate this and ask to do perfect dentistry without failures is to negate the essence of life.
I’ve learnt the value of sharing cases , to take accurate documentation , to track progress.
Is possible to do this with our own forces but sometimes it’s easier and smart to look for some mentors, people that can help and guide us . Nowadays with the upcoming of internet and social media we are full of chances .
A mentor in my opinion is somebody who has a lot of experience in a field , who shows his skill in the real way and not just talking about this (italy for example is famous for having millions of fat people judging professional players saying ;” IF I … “ but sorry you’re not there! ), to go around posting 4-5 cases in a year is not a great mark of real experience or competence. A mentor is somebody who loves sharing , who thinks that improving other’s people skill is beneficial to the whole category .
Mentor is somebody that never forget his beginning and all the problems he had to face .
I hope this short article will be beneficial for you and help to get your best from the upcoming 2021!
New year is always a moment when people set up expectations.
These are falling short without a plan ! So guys spend these holidays planning your 2021 and do a great year . Happy new year to everybody !
And have a check to our Tomorrow Tooth study club where monthly we share LIVE our ideas and knowledge on https://www.tomorrowtooth.org/educational/?ref=447 and have a look at our brand new FULL online course on vertical prep where we share more than 12 hours about these preparations both about office and lab approach on https://www.tomorrowtooth.org/verti-prep-video-course/?ref=447.