Dr Jeremy Ueno shares his expertise on practice management

Dr Jeremy Ueno

Tue. 5 November 2024

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Success—this word is so simple yet means something different to everyone. To one person, success relates to economics and producing as much as possible. To another, it is the value of time and having a work–life balance. To yet another, it may mean philanthropy, performing charity work and helping others in need. For some, it is a combination of all these factors.

Many people do not even know what they want and run their lives and practices day to day just hoping for the best. There is no plan in place for the future of the practice in terms of achieving particular goals, besides producing as much as possible today. This typically leads to burn-out, frustration and a sense of squandered time.

I know this first hand, as I was caught in the hamster wheel of practice ownership for years. Like all new business owners, I put in countless hours at the office, whether it was working on systems, training the team, painting the walls and changing handles, doing referral outreach or completing continuing education. Yes, my practice grew rapidly, but as the practice grew and all my time went towards it, something had to give, and that was my personal or what I call “away from the practice” time.

The value of time did not click for me mentally until my mentor asked me what I wanted for my present and future. Until then, I ran my life out of need and did not know what I really wanted. I thought I just wanted to run my practice efficiently, do great dentistry and produce at a high level so that I could provide for my family, but when I took the time to think about my life, I realised that the economics was only a small portion of what I really wanted.

I wanted to achieve the coveted work–life balance and spend time with my family and friends. I wanted to be a leader in my practice and make a positive impact on my team. I also wanted to spend time being philanthropic and to help others in need—the dental mission trips I did have been some of the most fulfilling times in my practice career!

Once I realised this, I then had to focus on how this would be possible. Up to this point, I would say yes to every lecturing opportunity, go to multiple national meetings a year and fill my schedule with tons of meetings and work that made me feel important. My mentor had me put all my activities on a calendar for a year and rate my days. Were the activities on my calendar moving the needle for me to achieve the goals of my future self?

When I looked at all of this from a distance, a light bulb went on in my head. When I say yes to activities that are unimportant, I say no to something that is important, like spending time with my kids. I had to be more strategic with my greatest asset, my time.

I put the following on my calendar for the entire year ahead: “in”, “on” and “away”. “In” means I am practising chairside in the practice. “On” means I am not chairside but working on the practice. This could be continuing education, meetings with my team, team training, etc.—any work that deals with improving the practice. “Away” means I am not available at all to work in or on the practice, and my mind is able to reset—like how athletes need rest days for their muscles, we need rest days for our brains.

“I had to be more strategic with my greatest asset, my time.”

To be honest, marking “in” and “on” was easy. Days chairside and days working on the practice went in like a breeze. “Away” was the greatest challenge for me. Not only was scheduling these days a year in advance difficult, but once I got to living those days, it was difficult not to think about work or take work calls and communicate with the office. It took me years to improve my skills of being truly away, and it is still a work in progress. This was a major challenge to my level of discipline. Is it not strange to think that it is more difficult to unplug from work than to just work?

Being away is so important because, in order for me to be a truly effective leader, I need my mind to be refreshed and clear. To get to this point, I need to give my mind time away from the office completely. So on my away days, I let my team know that I am unavailable and give them a time when I will reply to their messages. I put blocks in my calendar so that no meetings can be scheduled, and I do not look at messages and emails unless someone calls or texts me that there is an emergency. This allows me to be present with whomever I am with on my away days.

Carving out time for the important things in life means first sitting down and determining personal and professional priorities. (Image: Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock)

At the end of the day, whatever I am doing, I want to be the best at it. When I am chairside, I want to be the best periodontist I can be. When I am leading the practice, I want to be the best leader I can be. When I am truly away from the office and with my family, I want to be the best father and husband I can be. I cannot be a great father and husband if my mind is thinking about work and if I am responding to emails and messages while I am with my family.

Establishing these boundaries was difficult. Before, I would take all messages and calls, and I would not give my family the full attention they deserved. Once I established this, not only was I a better family man, but my team at work respected my time and boundaries more too. When I always made myself available, they would abuse that privilege. With their newfound understanding of the value of my “away” time, they would only come to me with pressing needs. It has been great for all parties involved!

Let us unpack this a bit. My advice is to block out time for you to focus on who you want your future self to be, meaning your professional and personal goals. You want to be in an environment without any distractions when you do this. You could go to the library or rent a space, but when you want actual thinking time, make sure you are distraction-free to be the most effective.

“Being away is so important because, in order for me to be a truly effective leader, I need my mind to be refreshed and clear.”

Envisioning your future self does not have a time stamp. Your future self can be who you want to be in 30 days. It could be who you want to be in 20 years. It does not matter. Figure out who you want to be and make sure that any activity that you do makes your future self a reality. Any activity that does not help you become your future self becomes unimportant. With this mindset, you will learn the power of saying no, and by saying no to activities that are unimportant, you will free yourself up for things that are important to you.

A small example from my life was that I wanted to spend more time with my kids. I looked at all my activities and decided to stop those activities that brought zero value to my life and brought zero value to me being a better father. I realised that I was spending too much time scrolling through social media and too much time betting on sports games, as I would feel obligated to watch that game, which took hours from my day. So I gave both of those activities up cold turkey. It freed up my mind from the dopamine hits from reading social media multiple times a day, and it gave me more time to focus on spending “away” time with my kids, as I was not glued to the TV or my phone to see the scores of the game. It was liberating! But I had had to identify the source of the problem.

On occasion, I will look at social media if I have absolutely nothing to do. Also, I will bet on and watch a sports game if I am with my friends and we are betting together, but these things are no longer a part of my regular life. I said no to things that were not important, and that has allowed me to spend more focused time with my family.

Design your future self, focus only on activities that will allow you to achieve your goals and get rid of everything in your life that is holding you back from being your future self. Schedule your in, on and away time to become the person that you want to be!

Editorial note:

This article was published in digital—international magazine of digital dentistry vol. 5, issue 3/2024.