Overcoming Setbacks and Self Doubt (Dental Confidence and Connection Course)

An issue that many of us struggle with almost every day is setbacks and self-doubt. So often we perceive our own inadequacies and weaknesses as a brick wall, something that we just can't get past. And all too often it's primarily because we're comparing ourselves to other people, other people who may have succeeded in dramatic ways and very public ways. One thing I would suggest to you is that you take that self-doubt that we so often see and it's almost always right there in front of our face that we're looking through, we're trying to view through all of our self-doubts and weaknesses and self-esteem issues. Take that self-doubt and set it aside and don't let it destroy you. Don't let it occupy another moment of your mind. Every single one of us is imperfect. We're human beings, that's part of this existence, is imperfection. It's really, that's the perfection of humanity, it's imperfection. So we have to assume that because of our weaknesses and because of our setbacks, that's why we exist. So it's part of the process. But all too often we focus so much on the negative things that have happened, the opportunities for improvement, the weaknesses, the trips, the stumbles, the mistakes, the choices that turned out to be disasters. All too often we focus on those at the expense of everything else around us or at the expense of an opportunity to grow through these issues. There are many stories and history about individuals who have chosen to either look through or past or around the issues that they've come across, the hand that's been dealt to them, and they've chosen to be happy in the presence of great difficulty. They've chosen to do what they could do with what they have in the time they have and made the best of their life. And many of these people we know nothing about. We've never heard of them. They're not superstars. They're not someone who wrote a book. They're not someone who's, you know, the topic of a feature film movie. These are individuals who live a normal life, but their impact from their life has rippled throughout everyone around them. And there are many people out there who have been humbly blessing and affecting the lives of other people. And such a significant way because they've set aside their self-doubt and looked over or stepped over their stumbling blocks, and they've used them as stepping stones. So take the setbacks, take the stumbling blocks, the self-doubt that you have, set it aside. Use it as an opportunity now to become a better version of you, a different version of you. Someone who is functioning at a higher level, not necessarily ignoring problems, issues, or concerns. We're not burying our heads in the sand here, but choosing rather to focus on our strengths, finding those opportunities within our personal skill sets to reach out and influence and bless and affect the lives of other people in a positive way. So we need to have habits established, whether it's a monthly review of our personal budget or our personal list of choices that we made or productivity level at the office or follow-up of certain issues that we've had with certain team members or patient interactions. We need to have a scripted kind of a recurring plan in place that allows us to improve and take steps to become better versions of ourselves. For many of us, and I've talked about this in another course, developing a personal vision, a mission statement, if you will, that's combined with a series of steps that we'll take each day, week, month, or year to routinely analyze where we're at in life and make incremental and intentional improvement steps, minute daily steps, nothing huge, but minute adds up to monumental over time if it's continuous, if it's maintained. Maintained minute choices add up to monumental impact over time. So set up a series of choices, a series of, let's see what I'm looking for, habits or processes that you will take action on, monthly review, weekly review, annual review, whatever it is, daily journal writing, vision statement, mission statement for the office, for yourself, for your individual purpose. Choose to do these things so that you can continuously improve and intentionally, incrementally, in a guided, scripted way identify areas of opportunity to improve and then make positive, concrete steps toward that improvement routinely. I know that'll bless your life, as it has mine, and setbacks and self-doubt happen, but the more we can do to set that aside and move forward while not letting it cloud our minds and destroy our happiness, the better we'll be able to not only enjoy life, but share that with other people, which is a level above just being happy ourselves. As we share joy with others, naturally we enjoy that ourselves. © transcript Emily Beynon