Love Your Practice
Laura Mach
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Dr Laura Mach, DDS, The Life Coach For Busy Dentists, discusses mental and physical well being for business owners, practitioners, parents, spouses and humans. We explore our journey through the mental acrobatics of personal health, relationships, goals and how all these things relate to our thoughts as an individual, a parent, a spouse and a healer.
Available episodes
Newest first
Oldest first
5 days ago
How Fear Stops Us From Leading
Fear. This is a powerful emotion! Do you sometimes find yourself fearful of taking certain steps - steps you know are necessary - in the management of your dental practice? Fear can prevent anyone from doing things, but this episode will help you to feel empowerment instead of fear!
Employees are leaving dental practices, patients are looking for appointments, the employees who are left behind could also leave if they are pushed the wrong way… There are so many sources of stress in the management of a dental practice! Are you fearful of correcting your employees because if you do, they may leave? If so, you are not alone. This is a common situation happening right now. However, there is a new way for you to look at these and other circumstances that are causing you to not be the leader you want to be! Listen to this episode now for some exciting new ways to view and address the opportunities facing you and your practice in this moment!
Highlights from this episode:
* Finding the right ways to deal with employees leaving our practices
* Looking at change as an opportunity
* Implementing major changes in a practice… They can be much easier than you think!
* Steps you can take to stop you from being directed by fear in your leadership
Resources and links mentioned:
* Watch Laura's podcasts on YouTube: Love Your Practice!
* Laura’s email: DrLauraMachDDS@gmail.com
* Laura’s website: LoveYourPractice.net
* Laura’s podcast: Love Your Practice!
* Laura’s TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drlauramach
* Laura’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlauramachdds/?hl=en
Laura’s Facebook pages:
* Love Your Practice with Dr. Laura Mach
* Love Your Practice
* Laura’s personal page
Thank you so much for tuning in to this podcast! I would love it if you would share it with others and leave a review for others to see!
~ Laura
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May 4, 2022
Managing Our Physical and Emotional Well-being With Dr. Ankur Gupta
It is such a pleasure to welcome back Dr. Ankur Gupta to the podcast for a second time. In this episode, we explore the reality that it is okay to be both a human and a dentist. We all have flaws - nobody is perfect - and that truly is okay. We simply need to build these flaws into our philosophies and change our futures for the better.
“In the world of CE, it is not as common to highlight our flaws,” according to Dr. Gupta; and, yet, we all have flaws but must learn to “change the systems around us” so others don’t have to suffer from our flaws. This episode explores the expectations placed upon us: the fact that they are there and how we handle them. It is essential to realize that thoughts are voluntary and can create a lifetime of suffering if we let our brains give in to unrealistic expectations instead of enjoying life! Now is the time for change: changing how you are thinking about various elements of your life and focusing on small physical changes you can do right now can alter the trajectory of your future. Devoting just a few minutes a day to physical improvement can create a big impact! Listen to this episode for some examples of what you can do and the empowerment that can come from these physical and emotional changes. You HAVE the time and the ability to change your future… Listen to this episode to start right now!
Highlights from this episode:
* The reality that success can come, even though we are all flawed
* Handling the pressures of the expectations placed upon us
* Exploring our vulnerabilities and the actual sources of those pressures we feel
* How damaging it is when we look at what others do and subsequently create “shoulds” in our brains
* Small changes and how they can impact the trajectory of a person’s life
* Devoting time to posture, balance, diet and other wellness practices: how we view these and the importance of focusing on these actions
* Information on Dr. Gupta’s upcoming retreat near Chicago on July 29-30
Resources and links mentioned:
* Dr. Ankur Gupta’s retreat: TheHappyDentistRetreat.com
* Retreat coupon code for “Love Your Practice” listeners: LOVE
* Watch Laura's podcasts on YouTube: Love Your Practice!
* Laura’s email: DrLauraMachDDS@gmail.com
* Laura’s website: LoveYourPractice.net
* Laura’s podcast: Love Your Practice!
* Laura’s TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drlauramach
* Laura’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlauramachdds/?hl=en
Laura’s Facebook pages:
* Love Your Practice with Dr. Laura Mach
* Love Your Practice
* Laura’s personal page
Thank you so much for tuning in to this podcast! I would love it if you would share it with others and leave a review for others to see!
~ Laura
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Mar 30, 2022
Being Ready With Mary Fisher-Day
If something happened to you today, what would happen to your practice? If you become disabled or die, do you have a plan for your practice? This is a difficult topic, but it is one that is essential to address. Unexpected things happen, and I want to make sure you are prepared to protect your practice’s value and legacy. In this episode, I welcome Mary Fisher-Day who is a personal practice transition advisor. Mary says, “I help dentists who are unprepared and underrepresented work through the transitions in their lives - specifically buying and selling a dental practice,” and she also helps them to prepare to buy or sell a practice. With a career in practice management and practice transitions, Mary has a wealth of information and experience to share with you to help you protect the value of your practice.
As dentists, we need to be prepared for the transitions of our practices so that we can protect their values if something happens to us: Accidents, illnesses, and medical emergencies can be catastrophic to a dental practice if the proper steps have not been taken to prepare for a smooth transition of the practice. Being prepared - or NOT being prepared - greatly affects many lives: those of our own families as well as those of our employees and their families. In this information-packed conversation, Mary explains what to do right NOW to create a plan for the future of your practice and ultimate transition to a new owner. From explaining the vital need for a current practice evaluation to creating an emergency directive and much more, listen now as Mary shares incredibly valuable steps to take and information to know and understand as you protect your practice!
Highlights from this episode:
* Understanding what “dual representation” means
* How and why buyers and sellers are usually underrepresented
* The necessity for a baseline practice evaluation and why it is the most important piece of information to have
* How fast the value of a dental practice falls when a dentist dies
* What an emergency directive is and why it is critical
* Smart ways to keep your practice valuable and be prepared to sell anytime you wish
* The importance of “buyer’s perception”
* Why you should consider incorporating “prepayment” into your business practice
* What buyers want
* A close look at profit numbers and what “add backs” are and why they matter
* Private buyers and DSOs
* Resources to learn more about selling your practice
Resources and links mentioned:
* Mary’s website: Thedentalbusiness.com - free checklist for an emergency directive or to contact Mary
* Business of Dentistry Facebook: Business of Dentistry
* Dental Nachos Facebook: Dental Nachos
* Watch Laura's podcasts on YouTube: Love Your Practice!
* Laura’s email: DrLauraMachDDS@gmail.com
* Laura’s website: LoveYourPractice.net
* Laura’s podcast: Love Your Practice!
* Laura’s TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drlauramach
* Laura’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlauramachdds/?hl=en
Laura’s Facebook pages:
* Love Your Practice with Dr. Laura Mach
* Love Your Practice
* Laura’s personal page
Thank you so much for tuning in to this podcast! I would love it if you would share it with others and leave a review for others to see!
~ Laura
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Mar 16, 2022
What Employees WANT With Kara Kelley
When you went to dental school, did you dream about your role as a manager? Probably not! I know I definitely did not, and now we are all in the middle of dealing with “The Great Resignation” that is affecting dentistry as well as other industries. I am happy to welcome back to the show Kara Kelley who is a Dental HR Consultant and founder of Clinical HR, an advisory firm for medical and dental practices. This conversation with Kara will help you adapt and face the changes that are happening now and make your practice a progressive one!
If you are having a difficult time hiring team members right now, you are not alone. Dentistry is dealing with the fact that employees have moved on to other side hustles or jobs that are providing greater flexibility and benefits. Being understaffed impedes our goals and sense of wellbeing as dentists. This episode will tell you what employees WANT right now to help you attract team members and get your practice back on track. From flexible schedules to paid time off and other key benefits such as professional development, Kara explains many things you can change in your practice to attract and keep valuable employees. This could require a mindset shift for you in how you look at rewarding your employees for their efforts and dedication to your practice. Learn how to avoid micromanaging, invest in your team, and create flexibility in your practice now… Your employees will love it, and so will YOU!
Highlights from this episode:
* The challenges facing the dental industry right now
* Benefits you can offer to boost morale in your office
* Changing how you look at staffing to create more scheduling flexibility
* The dollar amount attached to turnover
* Aligning the standards of patient treatment with your team
* The importance of finding the right person for a job and knowing the market value of positions
* What good leadership is and how to exhibit it
Resources and links mentioned:
* Kara Kelly’s company and link to the eBook: Clinical HR, LLC
* Watch Laura's podcasts on YouTube: Love Your Practice!
* Laura’s email: DrLauraMachDDS@gmail.com
* Laura’s website: LoveYourPractice.net
* Laura’s podcast: Love Your Practice!
* Laura’s TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drlauramach
* Laura’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlauramachdds/?hl=en
Laura’s Facebook pages:
* Love Your Practice with Dr. Laura Mach
* Love Your Practice
* Laura’s personal page
Thank you so much for tuning in to this podcast! I would love it if you would share it with others and leave a review for others to see!
~ Laura
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Mar 2, 2022
How To Draw A Proper Boundary With Someone
Is there something that another person in your life such as a spouse, friend or parent does that is irritating you? If so, this episode will be very helpful! This is not supposed to be about nagging someone else if we don’t get our way; rather, this episode goes over the proper way to request a different behavior.
We all have people in our lives who sometimes don’t handle situations in ways that we consider to be acceptable, and so boundaries may need to be established. This episode will clearly lay out the steps to follow to create those boundaries. From how to ask about the topic in question to explaining the consequences if the situation is not properly handled, you’ll hear the 5 steps in this method to very effectively draw a proper boundary. Don’t let your relationship with someone in your life suffer due to lack of communication. Listen to this episode now to hear the simple, clear process you can follow to address what needs to be changed!
Highlights from this episode:
* Why you should separate the facts of the situation from the story you’re telling yourself
* Recognizing where your feelings come from
* The steps to creating a boundary
* Figuring out the consequences of how the other person handles your request
* What the MOST important step is in the method to creating a boundary
Resources and links mentioned:
* Free course on correcting employees: https://www.loveyourpractice.net/redirecting-employees-e-course
* Watch Laura's podcasts on YouTube: Love Your Practice!
* Laura’s email: DrLauraMachDDS@gmail.com
* Laura’s website: LoveYourPractice.net
* Laura’s podcast: Love Your Practice!
* Laura’s TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drlauramach
* Laura’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlauramachdds/?hl=en
Laura’s Facebook pages:
* Love Your Practice with Dr. Laura Mach
* Love Your Practice
* Laura’s personal page
Thank you so much for tuning in to this podcast! I would love it if you would share it with others and leave a review for others to see!
~ Laura
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Feb 15, 2022
Talking Tongue Ties and More With Cheryl Shafer
Dentistry and medicine go together! After over 30 years seeing patients and impacting lives as a dental hygienist, Cheryl Shafer has changed her professional path and is now a Certified Orofacial Myologist focusing on airway, breathing, and tongue function. In this candid conversation, Cheryl addresses her burnout as a hygienist and thoughts for how we should measure the worth of our hygienists, discusses new services we should include in regular exams, and wants us all to remain focused on “The mission that we have is the health and welfare of our patients.”
As practice owners and healthcare providers, our roles continue to evolve regarding what we should be doing for our patients. Cheryl believes that dental offices should be viewed as any other medical specialists treating patients; a dentist is a member of an individual’s medical team. So, it is critical that the care that can and should be given in dental visits is well known. Some of these issues include sleep screening, how people are breathing, if they have sleep apnea, or if they have tongue ties. Cheryl shares her story of ultimately stepping away from being a hygienist and becoming a Myofunctional Therapist focusing on tongues and the impact that tongue issues can have on patients’ overall health. Cheryl recounts a story of how she saved a patient’s life, and says, “We need to value what we do and how we change lives.” Listen to this episode to hear some great ways you can measure the worth of your hygienists and provide higher levels of care for your patients!
Highlights from this episode:
* Challenges that hygienists face through their daily work
* Things dentists can do to help hygienists not burn out
* Recognizing and valuing the impactful work that hygienists and other dental office team members do
* Changing the perception of dental visits to include more essential medical screening
* Cheryl’s personal family experience that led her to focusing on the tongue
* The benefits of releasing a tongue
* A dentist’s role regarding focusing on tongues and recognizing concerns of the tongue
* Next steps for dentists to take to help their patients
Resources and links mentioned:
* More information on the March 2022 Mastermind Class
* Cheryl Shafer’s website: Facial Function, Myofunctional Therapy in Maryland and Online
* Dr. Richard Baxter’s book: Tongue Tied
* Dr. Soroush Zaghi’s website: The Breathe Institute
* James Nester’s book: Breath
* Dr. Michael Geld’s book: Gasp!: Airway Health - The Hidden Path to Wellness
* Dr. Ben Miraglia’s website: Airway Health Solutions
* Other Podcasts:
* The Untethered Podcast
* I Spy with my Myo Eye
* Watch Laura's podcasts on YouTube: Love Your Practice!
* Laura’s email: DrLauraMachDDS@gmail.com
* Laura’s website: LoveYourPractice.net
* Laura’s podcast: Love Your Practice!
Laura’s Facebook pages:
* Leadership Coach for Busy Dentists
* Love Your Practice
* Laura’s personal page
Thank you so much for tuning in to this podcast! I would love it if you would share it with others and leave a review for others to see!
~ Laura
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Feb 1, 2022
A Better Way to Approach Being Understaffed
Welcome ladies of dentistry. I am happy to see that you are all taking the time for yourself to listen to my podcast. I am so amazed every time I hear the graduation rates and that more and more female dentists are entering the workforce. We are taking over dentistry!
In the last episode, I updated you all about some issues I had post-surgery. I am happy to report that I am doing much better at this time. Thank you for all of your notes of encouragement.
In this episode, we’re going to talk about the current state of staffing affairs in dental offices. I am hearing from my mastermind class that many of your offices are understaffed and this is causing a lot of emotional stress. We will be talking about some ways to work through this.
Highlights from this episode include:
* Kara Kelley will be back as a guest to discuss the HR perspective of the staffing shortage
* Information on how to sign up for a repeat performance of my free webinar about moving from fear to confidence in your practice
* More information about the March mastermind class that is getting ready to start
* The emotions we are experiencing by being understaffed
* The feelings that those emotions are causing us to have
* We work through “the model“ on how to handle these feelings
* We discuss how to recognize the actions that are resulting from these thoughts and feelings
* We go over how to change the thought process to manifest a more positive outcome
* And, finally, we share some real-life samples of actions that you can try in your own office
Resources and links mentioned:
Sign up for the FREE Webinar on February 16, 8:00 am CT:
https://www.loveyourpractice.net/free-webinar-registration-Feb22
Get more information on the March 2022 Mastermind class:
https://www.loveyourpractice.net/master-class-mar-2022-1
* Kara Kelley’s company: Clinical HR LLC
* Watch Laura's podcasts on YouTube: Love Your Practice!
* Laura’s email: DrLauraMachDDS@gmail.com
* Laura’s website: LoveYourPractice.net
* Laura’s podcast: Love Your Practice!
Laura’s Facebook pages:
* Leadership Coach for Busy Dentists
* Love Your Practice
* Laura’s personal page
Thank you so much for tuning in to this podcast! I would love it if you would share it with others and leave a review for others to see!
~ Laura
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Jan 19, 2022
Coaching MY Brain Through the “Shoulds”
Hi Friends! I have an unusual episode for you! I missed a week on the release of my podcast because I had an elective surgery that created some subsequent complications. This episode looks at what was going through my mind as I was going through my recovery… And then I take this golden opportunity to look at my mistakes of listening to my brain’s efforts to eliminate tasks from my life and turn those mistakes into learning opportunities FOR YOU as I reflect and “coach” myself through the recovery process.
It was so interesting that the first thing my brain did was go through all of my “shoulds.” For example, I knew I was supposed to be back at work and caring for patients, but I had to realize that I just could not do that work. My brain made me highly aware of the fact that I was off track with my professional commitments for the week and continually went through the master list of tasks that I should be doing but was not completing. It was fascinating to actually witness how my brain reacted to the situation I was in. It didn’t want me to relax and take care of myself. It wanted me to feel like I was failing! My brain was taking what was uncomfortable to me and trying to efficiently eliminate those tasks from my life. In this episode, I share with you how to get away from the “shoulds” that are statements that remove our joy and replace them with curiosity about doing things differently. Listen to this episode to learn how to redirect your brain while it is trying to do its job of protecting you!
Highlights from this episode:
* How to access the new, free course on redirecting your employees
* Information about the new, free upcoming webinar about moving from fear to confidence in your practice
* The steps my brain went through during recovery
* How quickly the brain perceives failure and reacts to it
* A look back at coaching through how my brain was reacting during my recovery process
* The importance of changing the brain’s narrative
Resources and links mentioned:
* Sign up for the FREE Webinar on Jan 27, 2022: https://www.loveyourpractice.net/free-webinar-registration
* Sign up for the FREE course on Redirecting Your Employees: https://www.loveyourpractice.net/redirecting-employees-e-course
* Watch Laura's podcasts on YouTube: Love Your Practice!
* Laura’s email: DrLauraMachDDS@gmail.com
* Laura’s website: LoveYourPractice.net
* Laura’s podcast: Love Your Practice!
Laura’s Facebook pages:
* Leadership Coach for Busy Dentists
* Love Your Practice
* Laura’s personal page
Thank you so much for tuning in to this podcast! I would love it if you would share it with others and leave a review for others to see!
~ Laura
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Dec 22, 2021
Creating Synergy With Dr. Karen Tindall
Are you ready to be kind to yourself and your team members? It’s time to focus on synergy within our lives! In this episode, I welcome Dr. Karen Tindall who is originally from Yorkshire, England. There she was a family dentist prior to entering orthodontics. She and her family moved to the United States when her husband had a job opportunity here. After some time as a stay-at-home mother, she became an internationally accredited professional life coach for female dentists who are juggling their busy careers as well as family life at home.
Noting the outdated nature of “work-life balance,” Dr. Tindall explains why she created a new concept of looking at juggling life at work and life at home. Her new concept is called the work-life synergy approach. She says, “It’s impossible to separate your life from your work and vice versa… It encourages you to blend those various parts of your life together so they work as a whole… It’s much easier to create something that makes you feel good.” This episode focuses on wellness: both your own wellness as well as the wellness of your team. This may mean handing some tasks off to others to manage or finding creative solutions by opening your thinking to how you can manage to accomplish tasks. It is critical that we spread the message of focusing on wellness within dental practice teams, and that starts with YOU - the owner. There is great value in focusing on the ROI of investing in yourself before anything else, and this episode will show you some ways to create work-life synergy!
Highlights from this episode:
* Work-life synergy: what it is and how to view it
* The blending of work life and home life
* Equilibrium’s sliding scale and how it can let you be kinder to yourself
* The mental load concept of owning a dental practice
* How to reduce or remove the mental load by sharing tasks
* The Mint Door as a space for open conversation: its elements and how you can join
* Bringing wellness to the forefront of dental practices
Resources and links mentioned:
Laura’s free course: Redirecting Your Employees
Fair Play by Eve Rodsky
The Mint Door website
Watch Laura's podcasts on YouTube: Love Your Practice!
Laura’s email: DrLauraMachDDS@gmail.com
Laura’s website: LoveYourPractice.net
Laura’s podcast: Love Your Practice!
Laura’s Facebook pages:
Leadership Coach for Busy Dentists
Love Your Practice
Laura’s personal page
Thank you so much for tuning in to this podcast! I would love it if you would share it with others and leave a review for others to see!
~ Laura
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Dec 8, 2021
Embracing Change: Why It’s Hard, Why It’s Important, and How To Do It
How are you doing at this point in 2021? It has been a roller coaster of a year, especially when we, as practice owners, look at our staffing issues. We’ve all experienced ups and downs as we’ve dealt with staffing turnover, but what about changes you’ve wanted to make to your practice? Have you wanted to implement new training, software, or equipment only to have those suggestions met with negative reactions? It is very normal to be uncomfortable with change, and we have to recognize that our employees’ brains react the same way as ours do!
Our brains are wired to like and appreciate the status quo; we like systems and order. So, when we plan to make and implement changes, our brains try to protect us. The desire for the changes we want to make has to be greater than the objections our brain will register. We have to recognize our need to move forward by making the changes we want to make. And our employees’ brains are just like ours; they want to protect them. So, we have to understand that these defensive reactions will be normal. In this episode, I share with you a valuable system to overcome this natural tendency for your employees to hold out against change. From understanding that your employees’ feelings matter to allowing them to ask questions, listen to this episode to understand all the steps to overcoming your employees’ resistance to change and increasing their trust so you can successfully implement changes to YOUR practice!
Highlights from this episode:
* The importance of expressing gratitude
* Our brain’s instinctive behavior
* What the speed bump of change is and how to overcome it
* Looking at how your employees’ brains react to changes we want to implement
* System to overcome your employees’ resistance to change
* Why your employees’ feelings matter
Resources and links mentioned:
* Podcast episode featuring Dr. David Maloley: Maximizing Your Team’s Instinctive Strengths
* Watch Laura's podcasts on YouTube: Love Your Practice!
* Laura’s email: DrLauraMachDDS@gmail.com
* Laura’s website: LoveYourPractice.net
* Laura’s podcast: Love Your Practice!
Laura’s Facebook pages:
* Leadership Coach for Busy Dentists
* Love Your Practice
* Laura’s personal page
Thank you so much for tuning in to this podcast! I would love it if you would share it with others and leave a review for others to see!
~ Laura
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Nov 24, 2021
Integrating Dental Sleep Medicine Into Your Practice With Dr. Mona Patel
Sleep… we know we need it, we know how important it is… but are we prioritizing it in our lives? Lacking sleep from sleep-related breathing disorders can have far-reaching detrimental effects in our lives. My guest in this episode is Dr. Mona Patel, a private practice owner for nearly 30 years who now teaches teams how to implement Dental Sleep Medicine into their practices.
Making changes in our practices is often met with fear and resistance. This is a natural response in our biologies. However, it is possible to proceed through this fear to get your practice to the point where you want it to be! Dr. Patel shares her story of overcoming fear and rejection by putting her patients’ health concerns ahead of her fears about making changes within her practice. And sleep issues are serious concerns for patients. From educating your staff to adding new questions to your screening questionnaires for patients, this episode will walk you through ideas to integrate Dental Sleep Medicine into your everyday care for patients. Listen to this episode now to hear Dr. Patel’s amazing path to creating her “Dental Snoozology” business and how you can customize implementing sleep care into your practice!
Highlights from this episode:
* Shifting to a new mindset within the dental industry
* Dr. Patel’s path to selling her practice
* STOP-BANG questionnaire: what it is and why it is good to use as a screening tool and introduction to patients
* The importance of integrating Dental Sleep Medicine into dental offices
* Getting your staff on-board with discussing sleep medicine with patients to save lives
* Overcoming your fears about implementing change in your practice
* The process of integrating communication about sleep issues into your everyday conversations with patients
* Where to find a questionnaire right now to begin sleep conversations with your patients
* The Kaiser method and how that applies to your practice
Resources and links mentioned:
Dr. Mona Patel’s website: Dental Snoozology
Dr. Mona Patel on Facebook: Snoozologist
Watch Laura's podcasts on YouTube: Love Your Practice!
Laura’s email: DrLauraMachDDS@gmail.com
Laura’s website: LoveYourPractice.net
Laura’s podcast: Love Your Practice!
Laura’s Facebook pages:
Leadership Coach for Busy Dentists
Love Your Practice
Laura’s personal page
Thank you so much for tuning in to this podcast! I would love it if you would share it with others and leave a review for others to see!
~ Laura
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Nov 10, 2021
Overcoming Your Thoughts to Build Your Business With Nutritionist and Coach Rachel Leigh
The businesses of dentistry and nutrition have many common challenges and similar goals! This is an interesting episode because I am co-hosting it with nutrition therapist and business coach Rachel Leigh to serve both our audiences as we share our wisdom and inspirations to help you thrive in your business and live a happy life! Rachel and I went through our life coach training together, and, in addition to owning her own nutrition business, she is also a business coach for other nutrition therapists who are building their practices. Our clients have common goals of wanting to feel better, be healthier, and provide amazing services to their clients and patients… So we are excited to bring this episode to our respective industries!
Are you having fun as a nutrition therapist or dentist? If not, now is the time to start! As providers of care to our clients, we want to provide the best treatments possible for their long term health. But we all know that sometimes those treatment plans…
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Oct 27, 2021
How To Feel the Way You Want
There are many common emotions that we feel as dental practice owners. Do you ever feel frustrated, stressed, fearful or overwhelmed about owning your dental practice? If so, you are NOT alone! These emotions do not serve us well. However, the good news is that there is a biological justification for these emotions, and that once we understand the biology, it's easier to feel something new. This episode will help you understand your emotional reactions to situations so you can ultimately create new, intentional emotions.
First of all, it’s normal and expected to not feel positive, happy thoughts all the time. We are all human, and we have our emotional ups and downs! However, being able to see how an emotion comes from our origins as a human species and from our mental choices gives us the power to create a new emotion… but that takes practice! This episode goes through the process of learning how to feel something new when you are presented with a situation that normally makes yo…
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Oct 6, 2021
“Life Interrupted” - A Passionate Conversation About Love, Loss and Hope
This is a very special episode. Today I welcome general dentist and practice owner Dr. Parul Dua Makkar, the sister of Manu Dua, a dentist who passed away earlier this year from oral cancer at the early age of 34. Manu was her younger and only brother, and now Dr. Makkar is shining a light on his life and his writings. She has compiled and published his series of blogs that he wrote during his fight with cancer. This episode focuses on her story of her experiences and lessons learned through the process of escorting her brother through the end of his life as well as the goals of his book of finding your inner peace.
Compiling, publishing and promoting his book is part of Dr. Makkar’s current healing process. “This was his message. He was very vocal about his journey. It is to share his wisdom that he felt as he faced mortality… One of the things he talks about is hope.” We are often bound by our own fears and fears of failing. But we can all continue to learn from the opportun…
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Sep 22, 2021
Strategies to Improve Employee Retention
Are you interested in some strategies to help you retain your dental practice team? Being the employer and the leader of the practice is often the most difficult part of being a dentist. And right now, it’s no secret that our industry is facing team shortages. But there are some outstanding ways you can keep morale high in your office. This episode, I welcome Dental Human Resources Consultant Kara Kelley who has been working to improve dental team practices for about ten years. She is the founder and CEO of Clinical HR LLC, an advisory firm for dental and medical practices. Kara focuses on cultivating leadership skills, managing employee relations issues and implementing competitive total rewards systems. Our conversation explores ways to keep team members feeling happy and appreciated so they are willing to stay!
As Kara says, “Your perfect employee is out there!” But right now it may seem like a struggle to find that person to hire. However, don’t fall into a negative mindse…
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Sep 15, 2021
How Receiving Coaching Impacts All Aspects of Life
“Ladies, this is life changing!” says today’s guest, Dr. Ashley Izadi. Ashley is a Baltimore native, completed all of her education in Maryland, and bought her practice in 2012 while caring for twins! Her practice has continued to grow and now has 11 operatories and over 20 staff members who focus on the patient experience. Ashley is one of my Mastermind class members and shares what led her to seek out coaching, her journey through the process, and the transformation that this experience has created in her life as she has increased her awareness and intentionality.
Taking control of your thoughts is empowering! Are you ready to take the first step in changing the rest of your life? My candid conversation with Ashley reveals how she has become a completely different person thanks to joining the Mastermind class. She has done the work to get to a place in her life in which she LOVES where she is. As Ashley says, her journey through the Mastermind class and meeting with the dive…
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Sep 9, 2021
A Case for Taking “Me-Time”
Now is the time to invest in yourself while creating a practice that you love and want to work in! I am so excited to welcome to the show Dr. Betsy Phillips, a general dentist and co-owner of a practice outside of Minneapolis. A couple of years ago, Betsy recognized that she needed to make some changes. With an overwhelming schedule and struggles of managing a practice, she was not making any time for herself. And adding to that, she had many self-limiting beliefs that were holding her back from making positive changes in several aspects of her life. Does this sound familiar? This episode tackles those concerns and shines a light on how adding a life coach can create amazing changes to your life and your practice immediately.
As dentists, we all want what is best for our patients. And sometimes that comes from taking a step back and making time for ourselves. It has been an honor to connect with Betsy as a student and together develop the life she wants to live. Betsy discusses the…
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Aug 31, 2021
The Power of Belief
Are you trying to feel less stressed? Dental office ownership worries about elements such as employees, patients, and dental insurance can be a lot to handle. But as a certified and trained life coach, I can help you feel less stressed so you can have a better life. This episode will help you recognize your beliefs as thought habits, help you see that your thought habits influence how much you enjoy owning your dental practice, and learn how you can create a practice that you love!
Have you ever thought about the power of your beliefs? Your beliefs can be helpful… but they can also be detrimental. Think back to the happy and hopeful thoughts you had the day you bought your practice. Do you feel different today? Our experiences impact our thoughts and create new thought habits. Have some difficult situations arisen in your practice that have made your brain focus on perhaps one problematic person or instance? Worrying is a natural human thought that can create the emotion of discoura…
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Aug 25, 2021
Dr. Bethany Piziks Talks About Relaxation Technology
It is a privilege to welcome back to the show for a second time, Dr. Bethany Piziks! Bethany is an amazing dentist who loves taking care of patients and is dedicated to reducing dental anxiety by relaxing patients in a natural way. The product, NuCalm, she is involved with creates amazing calming states without the use of drugs, and she focuses directly on its use within the practice of dentistry. This product’s meditative and restorative properties are perfect for both practitioners as well as patients. If the patient is relaxed, it is much better for us as doctors because when patients are stressed, we absorb that anxiety, negatively affecting our physiology.
Are you ready to turn off the stress? Bethany explains how NuCalm balances the nervous system by shutting down the stress response in someone’s system. Headphones are also employed to pace the brain into a different frequency, slowing the brainwaves to a state of deep meditation. The neuroscience involved in this took 20…
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Aug 11, 2021
A Fun Look at Being a Working Mom With My Little Sister, Marla!
I am so delighted to welcome to this episode my favorite podcast guest ever… my little sister, Marla! She has been such a big part of my life and a very positive influence upon the person and professional I am today. Marla is a loving wife and mother and has been a nurse for 10 years. She cares so much for others, and I am excited to chat with her so you can get to know her… and enjoy our fun and positive outlook on facing the challenges of being a working mom and getting through each day!
Marla works in a cardiac unit in a hospital - undoubtedly, this position can be very stressful! Then she goes home to all of her responsibilities at home, which includes taking care of a son with Autism. So, friends, life in her home can be busy! This episode focuses on “keeping it real” at home, recognizing that things don’t have to be perfect, acknowledging it’s okay to rely on others for help at times, and the importance of taking care of yourself. We laugh our way through this fun ep…
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Jul 14, 2021
Dr. Natanya Brown Talks Weight Loss
Are you a busy dentist who works hard at keeping others happy all day? And have you possibly put some of your extra “emotional baggage” into extra physical weight on yourself? Dr. Natanya Brown has experienced this situation and now focuses on mindfulness and taking care of one’s self by first taking care of one’s mind. She is an endodontist and a weight loss coach for dentists, and she is excited to share the key pieces you can focus on to retrain your brain and finally nurture what is going on in your life.
If you’ve ever been on a diet plan, you know that they can be very action-based and focus on eating certain foods, avoiding specific foods, exercising, and more. However, it is essential to look at your thoughts so you can create an action plan that can become a regular part of your life. Dr. Natanya will walk you through overhauling your thoughts and feelings about the actions you want to take… This will help you have the motivation to create habits you can car…
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Jun 29, 2021
Maximizing Your Team’s Instinctive Strengths With Dr. David Maloley
Employee engagement is the key to a strong business today. Do you want time freedom and a profitable business? If so, learning and tapping into your employees’ best methods of taking action is the way to increase productivity and operate your dental practice (or any business) with efficiency. And, with that, your patients will benefit as well as they recognize your empowered team that works together for their care plan. My guest on this episode is Dr. David Maloley, a Kolbe-certified coach, who shares his viewpoints on the importance of recognizing the superpowers that we each have and the amazing impact that can result from being given the freedom to use those strengths in the workplace.
People operate within their lives in different methods. And it is essential to understand what team members within our practices need so they can be effective leaders in their given roles. This idea of leveraging the individual assets of our team members can create powerful results within our o…
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Jun 14, 2021
Why We Feel Overwhelm and How to Get Out
Most of us feel OVERWHELMED at some point! Owning a dental practice creates crazy days that can be a lot to handle! Do you sometimes feel like you don’t know what to do next because you’re stuck in an overwhelmed state and too busy to move forward with making decisions and properly leading your practice? If so, this episode will help you break FREE from this feeling that you’re experiencing and open up a new way of living and leading!
Do you know it’s possible for us to love our businesses and our lives by only changing how we’re thinking? Our brains are human, created by nature; and they do what they think they need to do to keep us safe. In this episode, I’ll explore how the biology of the brain relates to our reality: why we feel overwhelmed, why it’s bad for our businesses, and how to get out of that feeling. Sometimes feeling overwhelmed can freeze us in place, and then we can’t make good decisions for ourselves and our practices. But we have the power to chan…
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Jun 2, 2021
Managing and Teaching Dental Employees With Jodie Pearson
When we own or manage a dental practice, we get ourselves into a position our brains don’t like, as productivity is sometimes challenged and we have to deal with issues as they arise. However, having proper plans in place can help you handle those situations! My guest this week is dental office manager Jodie Pearson. She has 35 years experience in the dental industry and shares many of her insights, from the challenges of learning her own role to coaching employees so they are aware of their responsibilities and ways they can help advance the practice.
This episode explores some of the tools necessary to set yourself up for success and be confident as a manager. When we get so focused on patient care, we forget about the humans who are helping us with that. But our team is essential to our success. From job descriptions to office policies, it is important to have documentation in writing so that everyone has a clear understanding of expectations. And, it’s important to know…
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May 18, 2021
Leadership, Your Brain and Your Practice Vision
What do you want for your practice? Did you know that your practice is a manifestation of your thoughts? In this interesting episode, Dr. Laura Mach will help you make changes - not from a to-do list but from what is happening in your mind!
It is possible to redirect your brain to have better thoughts about how you see yourself and your practice. Think about that for a minute. This could be big news for some of you as you learn to think about how your practice can serve your life and make you proud. It is so vital to examine multiple aspects of what drives you, what you want to accomplish and what gives you joy. Essentially, who ARE you? If you need a little help with this, you are in the right place! Dr. Laura walks you through the process of using awareness tools of what the brain is doing so you can contemplate your current situation and the potential for change in your practice. This will open your eyes to a wonderful new vision for yourself and your practice! So, grab a notebook,…
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May 3, 2021
Your Leadership Brain With Christine Curtis, RDH
Are you trying to be a good leader, but nobody told you how? Do you take the proper time needed to be a good leader in your dental practice? With all of the time dentists spend doing procedures, it is difficult to then devote the attention necessary to focus on leadership. However, this episode presents how essential it is to have a healthy brain to have a healthy body and practice. Explore the “Brain Revolution” with guest Christine Curtis who provides you with new ways to consider what and how you are thinking and see how that relates to leadership in YOUR practice!
Consider the fact that our brains are organs designed by nature, and everything nature designs serves a purpose. Have you thought about the fact that our brains process the information that enters them and filters in survival? Some of the information that enters our brains as practice owners puts our brains on defense, and bad habits can be formed when our brains look to the negative instead of the positive. However,…
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Apr 20, 2021
Being Judge-y Versus Being Curious
Thanks to human biology, people become judge-y from time to time, and that’s okay because human brains just work that way. However, there is another path - a much more positive one - that can be taken along life’s journey! In this episode, host Dr. Laura Mach acknowledges that looking for problems can be a survival technique, but living life in a negative mindset does not let you enjoy yourself or your practice. As Laura says, no judgemental sentences you tell yourself “are going to put you in a proactive state where you are feeling motivated to make changes.”
During this introspective episode, Dr. Mach moves listeners from acknowledging judgemental behavior to a state of looking at life through a lens of curiosity so that improvements can be made. By asking helpful questions instead of saying how things “should” be, you will learn how you can see options for improving any situation that you are questioning. Changing how you look at things heightens your creativity,…
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Apr 7, 2021
Mindset and Creating Freedom from Third-Party Payers One Step at a Time
Mindset and Creating Freedom from Third-Party Payers One Step at a Time With Kleer CEO Dave Monahan
Do you think it’s dangerous to break out of the mold of dealing with third-party payers? Are you nervous about eliminating insurance companies? My guest on this episode is Dave Monahan, the founder and CEO of Kleer, a company that helps dentists create membership plan programs, allowing dentists to offer care plans directly to their patients. He explains why you don’t have to feel anxious about growing your independence from third-party payers while you tap into your expertise as a caregiver who can create the care plans your patients need!
Let’s talk about how we want to look at our businesses with regards to third-party payers. How do we want to look at these things in order to be ready to break free? This episode will help guide you on the steps necessary to develop care plans - which are one piece in creating that freedom from discount plans - for your patients, prese…
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Mar 24, 2021
Insurance Mindset With Dr. Nicole Vane
Why are you a dentist? What do you WANT to do in your practice? Consider the fact that YOUR practice belongs to YOU! How you run your practice is up to YOU. You do not have to be a pawn in the game that belongs to the big insurance companies anymore. Today’s guest is Dr. Nicole Vane, and she shares her story of how she has forged ahead in her practice to create a new way of managing her practice so she is the person in charge. Her experience will help open your eyes so you can look at yourself and your practice in a new way.
We can get dentistry back to where we want it to be… but we have to work TOGETHER! Have you been churning out the work in a fast-paced, high-producing practice that is heavy in PPO billing? If so, there are other business models you can incorporate to boost your profits without running yourself into the ground. You can break the cycle of a business model that does not serve you anymore.
Say “Yes” to yourself and to your practice by saying “No” to be…
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Mar 9, 2021
Conversational Intelligence with Robyn Ramirez
Today’s interview can enrich your life and make you a more successful leader. In fact, it’s a conversation about conversations! With about twenty years of experience in the dental industry, Robyn Ramirez is a dental consultant and is a Conversational Intelligence Certified Coach… so she understands the neuroscience behind conversations. Based on her experience as a business development coach focusing on helping dentists grow their dental practices, she recognizes that increasing financial numbers in a practice does not necessarily make people feel better. She realizes how important experiencing true happiness from work is, and there is a path to get to that point. One critical component is the art of conducting successful conversations.
Conversations cause people to release hormones. An actual physical change happens. This process changes your perception of reality, and that can carry over into future conversations and affect your whole day. And often conversations are not under…
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Feb 23, 2021
Leadership During Crisis
My listeners, you deserve to hear this story from my guest, Dr. Sonya Stolze. She shares why she decided to enter dental school, how she began her career working alongside her father, and how she learned about the business side of managing the practice. Everything was rolling along until there was a major crisis in her life and the operation of the practice. This episode is one that every dentist needs to listen to… being prepared for impactful life changes is essential, and this story presents a real-life example of how leadership must continue and evolve during times of crisis.
When a practice goes through a crisis, it can be very difficult for the entire staff as well as the patients. But it is vital to be able to assess the changes that need to happen, pivot to meet those needs, and learn new systems to implement to manage the practice through the critical period. With delegation and staff training, efficiency comes; and this episode delves into Dr. Stolze’s experiences as s…
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Feb 10, 2021
Recognizing and Overcoming the Imposter Phenomenon With Dr. Jessica Metcalfe
Do you question your abilities and struggle with feeling that you are not qualified to be at the level where you currently are? Maybe you are having a negative inner dialogue that needs to be changed. If so, please know you are not alone! This episode will enlighten you to what you are really experiencing, the fact that you are part of a large community of people going through the same thing, and that there are ways to deal with these thoughts! Dr. Laura Mach welcomes Empowerment Coach Dr. Jessica Metcalfe who shares her story and explains how the “Imposter Phenomenon” can be dismantled.
Most people have some elements of Imposter Phenomenon happening. However there are ways to escape it and become comfortable again. When experiencing times of self-doubt, it is important to not push these feelings under the rug; rather, give yourself permission to think about what you’re thinking and acknowledge that your brain is wired to be negative because it’s trying to find potential probl…
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Jan 26, 2021
How to Love Your Practice
If you own your own practice, you know how busy life can be! And, as a practice owner, having a good sense of leadership is essential to creating a positive work environment. But how do you manage to create that good space for you and your employees when there are so many daily commitments to manage? It can be overwhelming!
If you want to learn how to LOVE your practice, Dr. Laura has some ideas for you! First of all, buying a new piece of equipment, taking a CE class or hiring a consultant won’t help you feel better about your practice. Unfortunately, that just doesn’t work. You have to change how you think about your practice to change how you feel about it. And that can involve asking yourself some pertinent questions so you can acknowledge and identify your feelings. Are you ready to make some positive changes in how you direct your feelings and have the practice you’ve been dreaming of? By listening to this podcast right now, Dr. Laura will enlighten you and give you some e…
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Jan 13, 2021
Feeling the Temptation to Give Up
Do you ever have doubts about something you’re doing? Maybe you’re branching out into a new area… but then something happens that creates an emotional roller coaster for you. If you feel like you are weighed down and just want to hide, don’t give up!
Know that you are not alone. Dr. Laura has had those same feelings, and in this episode, she shares the reasons why we have emotions, where they start, and how we can control our feelings. Identifying and evaluating the thoughts we have that create our feelings can help us get to the root of how we are feeling so we can then eliminate the thoughts that do not serve a positive purpose in our lives.
Everyone has their own unique qualities that need to be developed and shared. So, keep reaching to achieve your goals!
This episode will teach you the steps to set your brain so you consciously decide the new thoughts that help you feel invigorated to work toward your dreams. Dr. Laura is here for you and ready to help you move forwa…
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Dec 30, 2020
Releasing Your Happiness Hormones With Dr. Laura Schwindt
We women need each other and need to support each other through positivity! We are all going through similar challenges… While we may be apart, we are also very much together in our experiences of life’s ups and downs. In this episode, Dr. Laura welcomes Dr. Laura Schwindt who believes in “hacking your happiness chemicals.” Right now, we all need as many of those happiness chemicals as we can tap into, and we can accomplish this by choosing positive thoughts and actions.
Your feelings matter! This episode will enhance your self-care by showing you how you can carefully include well-orchestrated moments of mindfulness and joy into tasks throughout the day. Actively doing certain actions can release chemicals into your brain that create positive feelings and invigorate you. These actions can include a wide range of great activities such as simply practicing gratitude after an accomplishment, complimenting others, playing with animals, being outside, and enjoying nice smells. The…
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Dec 21, 2020
Listen In As I process Being Criticized
Many times as business owners we risk being criticized. We put ourselves out there in the public eye and can get a bad review, a complaining employee, or a patient who is angry and leaves the practice.
As I find my own voice as a life coach, it's like I am singing a song on a busy corner. Most people keep walking but some people find that the song is exactly what they need. A few say it's horrible. This week as I was singing my song someone who is well known criticized me in a very public space.
This episode goes through the emotions I felt, explains why it hurt, and goes into how to let the emotion pass, and what to do next.
Resources and links mentioned:
Laura’s email: DrLauraMachDDS@gmail.com
Laura’s website: The Life Coach for Busy Dentists
Laura’s podcast: Feeling Good: A Podcast for Dentists
Laura’s business Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DrLauraMachDDS/
Laura’s personal Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/laura.fauchier
Thank you so much fo…
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Dec 17, 2020
Steps to Make “the Money” Less Stressful With Barb Stackhouse
It’s natural to open your bank account and check the balance; that’s our human nature! And this year has had so many swings that we have just tried to hang on and make it through. Now it’s time to make some plans and some changes for 2021. Dental practice owners, it is time to get organized with regards to your practice’s finances. Dr. Laura’s guest this week is Barb Stackhouse, author of “Profit First for Dentists,” who sheds some valuable light on how to pay yourself as a business owner!
You work hard as a dentist, and now is the time to take care of yourself first… by paying yourself and taking care of your money before anything else! Step back and ask yourself what you need to feel to give yourself what you deserve. Is it love? Is it pride? What feeling will drive you to make a change to make 2021 better? Know that you deserve to pay yourself. Think about that. And then take the simple steps outlined in this episode to change how you manage your practice so you can…
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Dec 2, 2020
Setting An Impossible Goal
Our brains are creatures of habit! We are always multitasking, and so our brains like to take shortcuts and jump to conclusions. And in this crazy year of 2020, everyone has had so much to process and handle. As practice owners, our brains have gone in many directions… and often those directions are merely reactions to situations as opposed to conscious steps toward goals. Friends, it is time to change that!
Have you thought about some awesome goals for next year? In this episode, Dr. Laura discusses ways to create a strategy to accomplish your goals and amaze yourself! It is important to note that our actions come from our emotions, and our emotions come from what is happening in our brain. So, are you ready to change your brain so you can overcome obstacles? Dr. Laura can help you do exactly that. She talks about how to override your brain so you can see the path to achieve your dreams you’ve been telling yourself are impossible! Listen to this episode now, and get ready to embr…
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Nov 19, 2020
What I Wish I Would Have Known When I Bought My Practice
Experience is so valuable! There are multiple ways people can learn lessons in life. We can make our own mistakes and discover better ways to handle situations. Or… we can also listen to the advice of others who have gone down certain roads before us and absorb their words of wisdom to help us avoid some pitfalls. In this episode, Dr. Laura discusses some concepts she wishes she would have known when she bought her practice, and she is happy to share her valuable insight with YOU!
From actively listening to learning to say, “No,” Dr. Laura offers some great methods she has implemented in her practice and highly recommends to others in the process of making decisions that impact business. This episode will provide you with great experience-based advice to consider in how you look at your marketing, how you treat your patients, buying new equipment, ensuring your employees feel appreciated and much more. Everyone makes mistakes and learns lessons the hard way at times. Take a few…
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Nov 4, 2020
Decision Fatigue: How to Get Out
Have you ever had a decision to make but you just put it off and off for quite some time? And you just can’t make a decision? This “Decision Fatigue” can be exhausting. This episode will help show you the way to fight through this, make a decision and move forward without regrets!
We’ve all been there. We have a major decision to make, but all of the options run through our brains and grip us so tightly that we don’t move on. Sometimes you need to take a step back and look at the facts surrounding the decision you have to make so you can objectively decide the best and worst scenarios of your situation. In this episode, Laura provides you with methods to analyze decisions you need to make and offers a wonderful mantra to guide you through the process so you can feel confident in the path you select. Are you ready to lower your stress regarding making decisions? Listen to this episode to learn ways to embrace the choices you make and skip the regrets!
Highlights from this ep…
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Oct 22, 2020
Keeping Your Practice Happy Through Good Communication With Your Team
For most of us, as dental practice owners, being an employer is the hardest part of our jobs! My guest this episode is Adrienne Twigg, the co-owner of Bent Ericksen, a dental human resources company that helps clients in all 50 states with their leadership needs. As Adrienne says, we want to be good at everything we do, and being the leader that your team needs comes with many challenges and requires energy and commitment from you… But once your employees and staff members are confident in how you manage the practice, your team can become your competitive advantage!
This episode will help you create a happy atmosphere in your practice that reduces stress and allows your team members to thrive. We discuss some great ways to communicate with and show your employees they are recognized and appreciated as well as some ways to handle situations that require correction. Adrienne points out, “What we accept, we teach.” So, it is important to correct or address issues within about 24 ho…
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Oct 7, 2020
Improving Your Mind and Body with Dr. Josie Dovidio
I’m always working to make the lives of my listeners better! And I’m excited about this episode’s guest, Dr. Josie Dovidio, who has been in dentistry since her part-time job in high school! She has been a dentist for over 23 years and has always been into health and fitness. But over the years, she has become committed to yoga as “It addresses the musculoskeletal issues that dentists and dental professionals face,” she says. We all need to pay attention to self-care on a regular basis so that we don’t find ourselves in a bind in later years!
Dr. Dovidio recently took a sabbatical to focus on caring for herself and reducing stress, and she is now a certified yoga instructor who is in much better health than before. She wants to encourage other dental practitioners to practice yoga and has created “Yoga for Dentists” social media platforms to spread the word of how necessary it is for body maintenance in our profession. If your body is in a state of stress, some workouts…
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Sep 23, 2020
What I Love About Myself and You!
We all work to learn, better ourselves and become better members of our communities. And I know YOU love to better yourself because you listen to this podcast… to improve yourself! I LOVE that about you and am thankful for it!
I think you are really going to enjoy this episode. I share my three favorite things I love about myself and my three favorite things about you, my listeners! And if you’re wondering… yes, I do know a lot about you, my amazing listeners, as you’ll hear in this episode. For all of us, it is so important to take some time to look at ourselves and notice the things we love about ourselves; that action creates positivity for us and gives us that extra spring in our step as we move forward in our interactions with our families, our patients, our staff members and others in our communities. For me, I know that I am strong both mentally and physically, and in this episode I’ll share not only what I love about you but WHY I love those wonderful traits that m…
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Sep 9, 2020
Radically Improve Your Ability to Make Money in Your Practice
Would you like to make more money in your practice? I bet you answered, “Yes!” If so, this is the episode for YOU! Join me as I walk through my process, “The Model” for how we get results in our lives and see how you can apply that model to your dental practice to get the money flowing into it. So, stick with me if you want to make more money!
Friends, there is a simple action you can take to make your practice more profitable! In this episode you’ll hear me say, “Our businesses are a manifestation of our thoughts.” This is because our businesses are an accumulation of all of the actions that happen on a daily basis, and those actions are a direct result of what we are thinking. I will guide you through the process of examining how you approach patients based on various thoughts you could be having… and look at the impact those thoughts can ultimately have on your practice’s success. Recognizing that your thoughts will create certain emotions in you that affect your…
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Aug 26, 2020
How to Not Go Home Exhausted
Our days can be so busy that it is easy to go home feeling exhausted! Ever since the COVID shutdown, there have been changes in our practices that are just wearing us out… possibly due to our new PPE or a lack of order to our days. With so much coming at us, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and tired. However, there are several actions you can do to help you not only get through your day better but also avoid feeling exhausted at the end of your day!
In this episode, I share my list of actions that I have for you. These pointers are changes - both physical and mental - that you can incorporate into your life to help you manage your days and your feelings so that you are not so tired. From actions as simple as making a concerted effort to drink more water and work in some exercise to understanding the vital concept of “emotional adulthood,” I will walk you through practices that can change how you progress through your days, take steps to trigger positive feelings from your thoug…
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Aug 12, 2020
How to Not Go Home Angry
Have you had an event in your day that upsets you… and then you stay focused on that one negative instance for the rest of the day? This can be frustrating as you try to proceed through your day! However, there are some great steps you can take to stop this process from happening to you and, instead, allow yourself to end the day in a much better way.
In this episode, I present actions to deal with a negative event or feeling. There is a process to this so that you can not only acknowledge the negativity but move out of that space into a much better place. Our brains pay attention to things that are shocking or negative, and those instances then hold our attention. So, it is important to take the steps to move beyond that stage. Do you practice gratitude? And do you regularly take time to do things you enjoy such as hobbies or helping others? I will tell you exactly why those activities - things that bring joy - are so important! This episode will help you increase your awareness…
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Jul 29, 2020
How Marketing Can Make a Dentist’s Life Easier
We all want less stress in our lives! And this episode can help you get to that point! I have the pleasure of welcoming Grace Rizza, owner of Identity Dental Marketing, to the show. She began her company at a young age; and now, in her business, she is excited for challenges such as COVID-19, as she sees those challenges as what happens before a growth spurt. I love that Grace says, “Mindset is the difference between feeling trapped by your career and feeling empowered by your career.” That is so true. As I like to say, “Discomfort is the price of your dreams.” The uncomfortable place is the path of where you want to go. This ties into Grace’s comment because if you manage your mindset, your business follows. For us as dentists, part of managing our mindset includes looking at the elements of our businesses that cause us stress and getting help in the areas where we need it. Marketing can definitely be one of those key spots.
In this episode, we discuss how you can get to…
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Jul 15, 2020
How Your Employee’s Mindset Matters
The actions made by your employees matter! But did you ever stop to consider just how much you can influence those actions? This episode explores that question and also provides some valuable insight on various ways to handle situations in your office.
A dental business is an accumulation of thousands of actions during a given year. Many of those actions are made by the dentist… but there are also countless actions being taken by employees. And those actions are extensions of you, the dentist. They are actions being made by people who represent YOU. So, yes, those actions matter! The actions need to be consistent to make the business a good one. In this episode I discuss the fact that actions result from emotions, and those emotions originate from thoughts in our minds. This fascinating cycle, when understood, can help you manage your employees. Be sure to listen to this episode to learn how your leadership can ultimately influence their actions!
Highlights from this episode:…
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Jun 30, 2020
Why Your Feelings Matter As A Dentist
Your feelings matter, and it's not why you think! It's not because I think, or anybody else thinks, you deserve to be happy (which I do!). It's also not because you SHOULD be happy. Your feelings matter because your feelings drive what you DO, and that includes how you run your dental practice.
In this episode, I discuss the feelings that we all have, their importance in our lives, and the fact that our feelings drive our business decisions. Actions are driven by feelings, so they play an incredibly central role in our lives. For example, your to-do list may exist, but if you’re not in a good spot emotionally to deal with those items on your list, they’re probably not going to happen! Or, if you are in a great spot, feeling completely confident, those feelings can drive you to make wonderful decisions that propel your business forward. Also, do you know new feelings can be created? Be sure to listen to this episode to learn about a tool to not only manage your feelings but also…
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Jun 18, 2020
Addiction in a Global Sense with Dr. Ronni Brown
Dr. Ronni Brown is a practicing dentist, speaker, author and a public dental health specialist who enjoys working with patients in the community. Her career took an unexpected path when she accepted a position as the dentist in a jail. She has been there for 23 years and recognizes what a pivotal moment it was when she accepted that role. Early in that position, she was introduced to patients suffering from extreme dental decay and discovered that it was due to their use of methamphetamines. The patients were honest with their use, allowing her to explore the effects of substance abuse on a person’s dental condition.
In this episode, Dr. Brown delves into the challenges and complexities of recognizing the addictions people have and how those impact their dental treatment plans. She has recently written a book, “A State of Decay - Your Dental Guide to Understanding and Treating ‘Meth Mouth.’” This book has transformed the messaging of key concepts in her presentations and w…
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May 29, 2020
Why I Became a Life Coach and Why This is Good News for You
My journey to becoming a life coach is one with some obstacles, and I’m proud of having overcome them to reach my goals. From growing up in poverty, to challenging my family’s religious teachings that said women should not work, to marrying young, my path to dental school was riddled with challenges.
However, I succeeded in becoming a dentist and having a very profitable practice. But by 2018 my leadership and morale suffered because I was not enjoying my work. And then my numbers suffered because I was in my “scarcity slump” of not looking at things in a way that demonstrated abundance. Luckily, thanks to life coaching, I had an epiphany: I can be in charge of my OWN feelings! After going through the coaching process, I myself became a certified life coach; and this is good news for you, too, because I now know how to train dentists to train their minds, and I am sharing this information with YOU!
Highlights from this episode:
* Overcoming obstacles to reach goals
* T…
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May 13, 2020
Feeling the COVID Quits; Why I Sometimes Have Fantasies of Selling My Practice
Have you been questioning various aspects of your life lately? If so, you are NOT alone! During this pandemic, many people have taken time to do some soul-searching and consider what changes they may like to incorporate into their lives. And, my friends, let me tell you that I am one of those people!
In this episode, I demonstrate how my mind has gone multiple directions during the recent months while my practice has been closed… even so far as to think about the outcomes if I sold my practice. I put my coaching tool, “The Model,” to use in analyzing these thoughts and intentionally creating what I want for my life. And you can use this process to work your way through whatever circumstances you are questioning as well.
Highlights from this episode:
* The principles of what the brain wants and what its mission is
* The motivation triad and how it adds meaning to why we do what we do
* Applying “The Model” to the consideration of a circumstance such as considering…
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Apr 29, 2020
How I Used The Tools I Teach To Solve My Own, Very Personal, Problem
If someone takes an action that goes against your thoughts or beliefs, how do you react? Do you lash out or take time to think about how you want to react? This episode explores a system for analyzing any problem or anything good that is happening, and it is a way for you to help yourself create what you want for your life. This system is called “The Model.”
In this podcast I explore the very relevant topic of my child’s gender orientation and demonstrate the method I have used in certain opportunities to be a bridge person and show up with love instead of defensiveness. I also discuss how “The Model” can be used in any situation, including dentistry. It can help you understand yourself, your practice, your team members, your patients and how to intentionally lead your practice.
Highlights from this episode:
* What “The Model” is and how it can be applied to various situations
* The method to being a bridge for future change of heart while drawing boundaries
* Ho…
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Apr 15, 2020
Becoming a Happier Person After Overcoming a Struggle
Perspective is everything! Life is certainly presenting some challenges these days, but how are you facing the changes to your daily life? Today I am pleased to welcome Dr. Noemi Cruz-Orcutt, DDS who practices dentistry in Mason City, Iowa. This is a fascinating bonus episode for you as she shares her incredible story of recovery after losing her practice to a fire.
Hear her emotional journey from going through the shock of the loss, her immediate thoughts of her team and how they would be affected, the process of recovering, and the positive effects that ultimately dawned from this disaster. This timely episode clearly focuses on the importance of putting things in perspective and how gratitude can get you through a crisis. As Dr. Cruz-Orcutt says, “Trust that it is going to be fine… There is always a silver lining.”
Highlights from this episode:
* Facing the challenges of a property loss and recovering from it
* The emotional process of moving forward after a loss
*…
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Apr 8, 2020
Give Yourself Some Grace, Girl with Dr. Shakila Angadi
I am thrilled that we are able to welcome Dr. Shakila Angadi to this episode today. She is a general dentist and a Social and Emotional Intelligence coach. She focuses on emotional processing, awareness and learning how to use our emotions as information. This is so vital to our current world situation right now!
People are worried and fearful of the unknowns of the pandemic we are all experiencing. Fears can lead to reactive behaviors that do not make sense because people are in survival mode and filled with panic. We need to recognize these emotions, listen to them and process these big emotions. And we need to realize that there are no right or wrong ways to process these emotions. When it comes to these big feelings of anxiety and overwhelm, as Dr. Angadi says, “We don’t get over it, we get through it.” This may be uncomfortable, but it is so important to realize this.
In this episode we explore these emotions we are all experiencing and the fact that we deserve some grace…
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Mar 31, 2020
How being emotionally intelligent is good for business with Chuck Blakeman
We’re doing things a bit differently on this episode of Feeling Good. We’re still talking all things wellness, but we switched it up and this time my guest will be interviewing me! Chuck Blakeman, a fellow dentist with a podcast of his own, asks me why our best leadership skill is our emotional intelligence.
You may not know it now, but all of us dentists need emotional intelligence if we want to run a successful dental practice.
What is emotional intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is our ability to not only be aware of our own thoughts but to understand the way our staff and our patients are also thinking. No, this doesn’t mean we all have to become mind readers. Having emotional intelligence means you’re able to recognize how others’ thoughts will influence their feelings and actions.
Too often we’re all in survival mode and only thinking about “me me me”. But with emotional intelligence, you’re able to understand the way others think about themselves and…
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Mar 18, 2020
Bonus Episode: Coaching Call Recording: Worries About COVID-19
Today we have a special bonus episode! One of my clients volunteered to be coached on the viral pandemic we are experiencing while being recorded so that you can listen in. Hearing someone be coached is a very powerful experience and helps each listener also see into their OWN minds. Don't miss out on this episode: listen as the two of us talk about the worry of the virus and the responsibility of making the "right decision." I then guide the client through seeing what she is thinking and believing about herself, and help her work through what she would rather believe and feel.
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Mar 10, 2020
The Top Mistakes We Make as Female Dental Practice Owners with Kris Plachy
We like learning about mistakes on this podcast. I mean, how else are we supposed to learn if we don’t make a few mistakes along the way? Fellow life coach Kris Plachy is my guest on this episode of Feeling Good because she knows a thing or two about making a mistake. More importantly, she knows how to help dentists overcome our most common mistakes.
As dentists, we all face similar challenges in our practices. We may have gone to dental school, but not all of us went to business school. Being a dentist isn’t always about dentistry. But you’re just as much an entrepreneur as you are a dentist. Running your own dental practice comes with its own unique share of trials and tribulations. You’re bound to make mistakes with your staff, but Kris is here to show us ways to learn from these missteps and keep moving forward.
One of the most common mistakes we make as dentists is not having the infrastructure in place to hire and manage our staff. Of course, most of us were never train…
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Feb 25, 2020
Every Dentist Deserves to Get a Little Weird: An Interview with Dr. Ankur Gupta
I’m very excited about my guest on this episode of Feeling Good. I met Dr. Ankur Gupta at a dental conference in January, and we had such an interesting conversation that I had to invite him on the show! Dr. Gupta used his own dental practice as a personal and professional experiment in self-improvement, and we’re discussing all the ways we as dentists can be healthier and happier in our practices.
Success isn’t just measured by numbers. No matter how much money your dental practice can make in a month, that kind of success isn’t guaranteed to make you any happier. Too many dentists focus too much on making as much money as possible and ignore the other ways in our lives that we deserve to be happy. According to Dr. Gupta, when you take on too much in the dental office like that, you’re just making yourself age faster.
Dentists need to make sure that the demands we’re putting on ourselves and our practices don’t exceed our capacity for handling that level of stress.…
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Feb 4, 2020
Why Being A Human Dentist Is Lonely
Loneliness is really daunting for a dentist. That’s why this episode of Feeling Good is dedicated to understanding where this loneliness comes from and the strategies you can start using today to start feeling less lonely.
Modern humans, with all of our self-driving cars and smartphones, are lonelier than we’ve ever been. Connectivity is essential to our survival, and individual human beings are wired to be interdependent. This doesn’t mean co-dependent. Rather, this is our evolution telling us to connect and work together with other members of our species. Unfortunately, with all of our modern amenities, it’s become much harder for us to connect and get those warm fuzzies from being together with the members of our tribe.
In this episode, I’m taking a closer look at this tribe mentality with a little help from Sebastian Junger’s book Tribe. I pull some examples from his book as well as from my own experiences as both a dentist and a life coach to get a closer look at why…
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Jan 21, 2020
Kelly Hanlin McCormick On How to Understand Your Anxiety
Welcome to the landmark 10th episode of Feeling Good! I’ve got another interview lined up, and this one is extra special for #10. Kelly Hanlin McCormick is a fellow life coach who specializes in anxiety. Life is stressful enough, but dentistry adds a unique layer of stress on our lives that can be a little harder to deal with. That’s why Kelly is here - to share with us her strategies for battling anxiety.
Therapy is amazing and can really help us process our emotions and feelings, but what happens when we lack the tools to apply all that we’re learning in therapy? That’s the question Kelly sought to answer for herself. She knew her own panic attacks couldn’t be the right way to handle her emotions, and she went looking for a new way to handle stress. What she learned is that anxiety is not just an emotion, it’s a physical response that can send our thoughts and emotions on a rollercoaster ride.
Kelly shares the meta-cognition techniques she learned to help us all deal…
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Jan 7, 2020
Understanding Mindset Of Patients and Employees with Dr Christopher Phelps
Get ready! We’re doing something a little different on today’s podcast. I’m having my very first interview ever on Feeling Good, and I couldn’t be more excited. I just spent a weekend seminar with fellow dentist Dr. Christopher Phelps, and I want to share the insights we made over the weekend with all of you, my favorite listeners.
Dr. Phelps is sharing with us today his experience with the power of persuasion. Or, as he calls, “pre-suasion”. Working with Robert Cialdini’s 6 Principles of Influence, Dr. Phelps is changing the way we think about our patients and their treatment plans. We’re talking today about Dr. Phelps’ techniques and how you can use them in the dentist’s chair. It’s all about setting the stage for helping patients accept the treatment options you’re explaining and how to offer them the best possible treatment.
Where did this unique perspective come from? Dr. Phelps answers that and many other questions about his dental career today, but the…
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Dec 24, 2019
Story Versus Fact
Story vs. Fact Welcome to the 8th episode! I just want to give a shoutout to all my fans and say “thank you!”. Starting a podcast has been on my to-do list forever, but I’ve been doing this for a month now and I couldn’t be happier. I asked for reviews and you guys responded in droves! It’s been such an amazing experience that I’ve decided to share it with everyone. I’ll be reading a review before each of my episodes from here on out just so any new listeners - and my longtime ones too! - can really engage with what others are saying. What I’m talking about to do is such a freeing concept. Once you hear about it you’re going to feel like a huge weight has been lifted off your shoulders. That concept is Story vs. Fact, and it’s going to give you a brand new perspective on your career. You’re going to look at your dental practice in a whole new light, I promise. Story vs. Fact isn’t about the news or social media. The stories and facts I’m talk…
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Dec 10, 2019
My Happiness Experiment
Have you ever walked into a room and just KNOW that you interrupted an awkward conversation? You happened upon all that negative energy and now it’s influencing your entire day. It even has the power to change the trajectory of your day, for better or for worse. But what happens when you take control back from those emotions and choose to be in a different mood?
That’s what we call “emotional intelligence” and I’m unpacking it all on today’s episode.
Humans are pack animals. That means we pick up on each other’s emotions. We can communicate without words, and we pick up on these nonverbal cues more than our conscious mind is aware of. That’s our emotional intelligence at work, and it’s responsible for driving our moods and ultimately our actions as we go through our daily routines.
As dentists, our emotional intelligence is our biggest factor in determining the success of our practice. We set the mood for the day with our mood. Our assistants and our patients bot…
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Nov 26, 2019
My Own Weight Journey
Today we’re getting raw and personal. If you’re ready for some juicy details, then tune in right now. I’m taking you through all the ups and downs of my weight loss journeys. That’s right, we’re talking about more than one weight loss journey today. Because losing weight is never a one-and-done kind of thing. There’s lots of twists and turns. My adventure even comes with a bikini contest!
We’ll all try anything once if we think it will help us lose weight. For any dentist who’s ever struggled with their weight, you know how frustrating it can be to lose those pounds and keep them off. I’m sharing my personal journey with weight loss on today’s podcast so you can see that you’re not alone in this.
Remember when I was talking about over-desire and over-hunger? This was back in Episode 3, but I’m giving a quick refresher today because this desire and this hunger are all contributing to your weight loss roadblocks. Over-hunger is why we’re always starving wh…
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Nov 19, 2019
How To Feel Better
Welcome back to Feeling Good! I’m very excited about today’s episode because I’ve been nerding out on thoughts, feelings, emotions, and where all these things come from. So many of you are telling me that you’re stressed and worried, whether it’s about your dental practice or your health and wellbeing, and believe me, I know how you feel. I’ve been there. We’ve all been there. But I don’t want you to feel discouraged. I’m here to tell you that it’s totally possible to feel better, and here’s how:
You are fully capable of feeling better no matter the circumstance when you understand where all your thoughts and emotions are coming from. Today I’m breaking down our evolutionary and natural development of emotions and why they motivate us to feel or act a certain way. All animals have emotions because it’s nature’s way of keeping us alive, but these days our emotions are manifesting in modern ways.
Nature uses emotions to agitate us into action. These emotio…
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Nov 5, 2019
How to Eat to Reduce Overhunger and Overdesire
If you’ve been listening to my podcast, you might be wondering: what in the world is a life coach for dentists? What does she mean by that? What I mean is that dentistry is more than just drilling and creating tooth dust. Life is stressful enough, and my job is to help my fellow dentists reduce that stress and live better, healthier, and more fulfilling lives. Dentists face special challenges when it comes to our relationships and managing our stress, and I’m specifically trained to address these unique challenges.
I’m talking about one of those unique challenges today. Today’s episode is a follow up to my previous episode #3 Why I Was Overweight. I’m going to be talking about how you can make some really big changes to your lifestyle that will help you lose weight and live healthier.
Nature has goals for you that influence how and why you eat - and sometimes overeat - certain foodstuffs. But we don’t live in that prehistoric environment our bodies were designed for. We a…
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Oct 25, 2019
The Real Reasons I Was Overweight
Welcome back to my third episode! This is a more science-y episode, but don’t expect it to be as dry as a high school textbook. I’m talking today about the two main reasons why I was overweight. You might see a lot of similarities between my lifestyle and yours, and I hope what I’ve learned can help you finally kick that weight.
Yes, weight gain can be narrowed down to two big reasons: over-desire and over-hunger. In my last episode, I talked about dopamine and how it can relieve your stress and make you feel great. Unfortunately, this dopamine is released whether the behaviors are healthy or not. This can trick you into eating more, especially when it comes to our favorite sweet treats and candies, or what I refer to as “concentrated foods”. You start to desire these kinds of foods that aren’t always good for you and can cause you to gain weight, or make it harder for you to lose weight.
Modern food is designed to hit that bliss point in our brains and release that s…
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Oct 25, 2019
Why We Want A Glass of Wine After Dentisting All Day
Want to grab a glass of wine after work? Yes please! I’ll meet you at the bar and enjoy myself a glass of red with you.
But why are we craving this glass (or two) of wine after work? What’s happening to our brains and bodies after a long day at the dental office? Where do these cravings come from and why do we always seek them out after a particularly stressful day? The secret is in the dopamine, and I’m explaining why in today’s episode of Feeling Good.
Nature developed systems that keep your body in line, and every action our brain thinks is essential to our survival is rewarded with a treat. In this case, that treat is dopamine, a neurotransmitter that boosts your mood and reinforces certain behaviors. Dopamine is our natural stress reliever, and we will seek out whatever action, that glass of wine, that sugary treat, or maybe even a hug from a lover or friend, in order to get that rush of dopamine. Our brain doesn’t realize that some of these behaviors are unhealthy,…
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Oct 25, 2019
How To Sleep At Night When Your Dental Practice Lives In Your Head
Welcome to the brand new Feeling Good Podcast for dentists! I’m Laura Mach, a practicing dentist and professional life coach. I’ve been practicing dentistry for 12 years now, so I know a little something about stress. That’s why I started this podcast. I’m here to help dentists manage their stress and start treating themselves better. Whether that means balancing your schedule, managing your dental office, or just learning how to talk to yourself better - this podcast is for you.
In today’s first ever episode I’m giving you a sneak peek of the stress management techniques I teach as a life coach for busy dentists. I’m running my own private practice on top of being a full-time wife, mother, and life coach, and I know the toll stress can take on your life. I started this podcast to help dentists “deal with the feels”, as I like to say. We all have emotional reactions to our worrisome thoughts, and I have a few tricks that can help you manage that kind of anxiety.
The…
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