It’s time for dentists across the country to make their voices heard in the Dental Economics/Levin Group Annual Practice Survey.

This is the dental profession’s most important annual check-up, with thousands of your colleagues speaking out on:
• The state of their practices
• Important trends
• What they think the future holds

The resulting report, published in partnership with Dental Economics, provides a comprehensive look at where we stand and enables dentists and other dental professionals to play an active role in reshaping the future of dentistry.

I strongly urge you to take a few moments to take this year’s survey. By adding your voice, you will be increasing the report’s value for all of us.

If you haven’t done so lately, take a look at last year’s results: Click here

 As some of you may know, I work with Levin Group clients and alumni to show them how to achieve more in their personal lives. At events such as our Total Life Success Summit^™, we examine the priorities people set for themselves. It’s all a matter of focus.

It helps to think about focus this way…

Some people are an inch deep and a mile wide.

Others are an inch wide and a mile deep.

Obviously, most of us are somewhere in between, but the extremes are most instructive.

The inch-deep people are unfocused. Their interests and activities are all over the place, so no matter how energetic they are, they will not attain much depth in any single area. Everything gets a little bit of their attention. These people can be quite happy but are not likely to accomplish great things.

In contrast, the inch-wide people are narrowly focused on an area they love. Outside of that area, they have no impact, but inside that inch-wide focus they concentrate every ounce of their spirit and strength. These people are the achievers—the Steve Jobs, Warren Buffetts, Mother Theresas. They change the world, because they understand what matters most to them and avoid wasting time on everything else.

As we move along in our careers and lives, priorities will change. Yet at any given time, it’s a good idea to stop and ask yourself, “What do I really want?”

If the world gives you an inch, will you take a mile?

Someone recently suggested to me that I waste a huge amount of my time flying commercial airlines. Since I travel 170 days a year, he suggested that I should own or lease have my own plane. I told him such an idea is completely unnecessary for me.

As it turns out, I don’t mind flying commercial and in fact, I don’t waste huge amounts of time in doing so. A little time management and pre-planning has made my time aboard commercial jets highly effective.

For example, I leave for the airport two hours ahead. Once there, I find a table in a restaurant or food court, and go to work. After all, with a laptop or a tablet, you can work anywhere. The 60 minutes or so I spend in the airport working prior to the flight is highly productive.

Once onboard, I have a list of projects, which I work through, one at a time. I make a point of staying off the internet so that I don’t have to deal with emails. This allows me to work undisturbed for hours. I begin working as soon as I am settled in my seat and usually accomplish whatever tasks I have planned for myself.

Is commercial air travel wasting my time? Not at all. The time spent waiting for flights and the hours spent in the air can be used productively or they can be wasted. It’s completely up to you.

Apple is one of the most respected companies in the world with a very loyal following. However, those same devoted customers were quick to react when problems arose.

When Apple launched the iPhone 5, they had problems with the new maps application and the blogosphere abruptly went crazy. How could Apple allow this to happen? Even people who did not understand the problems or had never even tried the app were outraged.

Although Apple promised to fix the app, users remained unhappy. The CEO apologized publicly, and the company suggested alternatives its customers could use for navigation. In other words, Apple took full responsibility and acted quickly to address the problem.

Pediatric dentistry is a service, not a product. The relationship your practice has with patients is far more personal than the one Apple has with customers buying iPhones. When something goes wrong in your practice—especially if it affects patients—it must be addressed immediately. Apologies have to be made and the problem swiftly corrected. No fee is worth it if the parent ends up being extremely upset.

People have a new power that they never had before in terms of communication. With social media, unhappy parents have a potentially vast audience for their camplaints. Once an unfavorable story goes around, it can be difficult to repair the damage done to your reputation. To avoid such a scenario, act quickly. Better yet, take steps to prevent problems before they occur.