Is Your Want to Bigger than Your Know How

Here is the question…

Is your want to be a (insert anything here), bigger than your knowing how to be (insert same as before).  You see this question can be anything you want it to be, it can be as deep as you want it to be or as challenging as you want it to be?  This simple question is so powerful and universal. The point is, you “want to” should always be bigger than your “know how”. As long as this balance is in place, you can in most cases achieve what you set your mind to.  Do you want to learn about the keto craze, what about the mastering yoga, or learning to sew (it is the new yoga, you know). It matters not how much you know about those subjects if you don’t want it more, than you have is a lot of unused knowledge.

Today we are going to examine this through the eyes of the dental lab.  We will look at the following examples:

Is your want to go digital in your laboratory bigger than your knowing how to design a crown digitally?

Is your want to develop a great positive culture in your lab bigger than your knowing how to do it?

Is your want to do a digital denture bigger than your knowing how to fabricate one?

Is your want to quit your job and open a dental lab bigger than your knowing how to make a crown?

Let’s start with the first example.  Going digital may seem like a no brainer to many of us, but it is simply not the only go to answer for many labs.  Can they see the time savings? Yes. Are their doctors asking for zirconia? Yes. Do they see that the price per crown will eventually really pay off.  Of course. But none of this matters if the want to change or evolve is not there. Now to flip this conversation. Going digital is costly, there is a learning curve, you will be working with new materials, there are new components, software updates and many unknown variables.  There is a lot you probably will not know the answers to, you will have to learn how to design a crown, how to sinter a crown,how to load a mill. But even with all those unknowns, if your want to go digital than your know how, then it will eventually win out. You will desire so badly to fill that want, that overtime it will overpower your fear of not knowing how, the price, the software or any other limiting belief that tells you “You shouldn’t go digital”.  You will want it so bad that you will develop a business plan, you will attend summits, you will learn, you will seek help through study groups. However, this will only happen if you want it bad enough.

What about the next example...creating a positive culture.  This is one that every guru out there will tell you that you need, and I am no exclusion to this philosophy!  I too believe that this one will pay you dividends. But, it doesn’t come without a price all too often. Many time your culture can be affected by 1 of 3 driving forces.  All of these forces will require some uncomfortable realizations and then conversations. And if your want isn’t bigger than your know how, you will continue suffering through your days in a culture that you and most likely your employees do not enjoy.  What are the top 3 driving forces? The newbie, the oldie and YOU. You might have had a great culture, and then you started growing, and needed more help. Rushing into hiring happens often when you are pressured by growth, this also makes it harder to let that new person go if they are not the right fit.  “If I let them go now, then we will be right back where we were before, needing to hire again.” Yes, I have heard and thought that same thing before, but sometimes it is just the opposite, sometimes the great team you had before realizes what they had and they are willing to stick it out for as long as it takes to find the right person!  Leave it to a great team to surprise you with this one. Another example is having the one who has been there for years, who has been through all the changes, who has “watched you grow up”. This realization comes with lots of conflicting emotions. What do I do? Do I have a conversation to let them know that sinoirity doesn’t mean bullying or special treatment?  Do I ask them if they are ready for retirement? This one is not advised. Or do you decide that it is time to let them go. Now the one that is the hardest. Is the problem you? What does your team have to say about you when you aren’t around? Do you expect too much, do you not listen to them, do you respect them, do you understand they have lives also, do you talk about your employees to other employees?  Yes, owning, managing and/or supervising does have it’s perks, but it comes with a great responsibility to lead by example. We have all attended enough seminars and been living on planet Earth long enough by now to know how to have a positive work culture, but this is one that for sure requires a bigger want to, in order to achieve it.

So what about the lab owner who has all this equipment, who just keeps thinking, “Man what is going on with this Digital Denture craze?  So here is the deal. I heard Frankie Acosta one time say. You already have the equipment. Why not make it do everything it can possibly do?   This statement echoed in my mind. You have already spent all this money getting this top of the line equipment, and it is capable of doing this newest and greatest thing since sliced bread, but you are still just thinking about the day that you will eventually decide to maximize it to it’s fullest potential.  Between the study groups and summits, the advanced trainings and of all things YouTube. You can probably figure it out, but the question is…”Do you want to?”

Now to finish with my story.   So you are most likely sitting there with many more years of experience than I have and for sure had a little over a year ago when I quit my job and opened a dental lab.  Why do I think you probably had more than me? Well, that would be because I had zero experience. Yes, I had never worked in a lab, I had never fabricated a crown, I had never wax, pressed, stacked or stained anything.   But I had a desire, a passion and a want to that far outweighed my know how. With this want to, I began gaining knowledge and increasing my know how. It was the scariest, most exhilarating career move ever. Here I am one year later, making my mark in the dental lab industry.  It has been hard and without an overwhelmingly strong want to, I am not sure I could look back and say that I wouldn’t have given up, even after gaining all the knowledge. I love what I do and more importantly, my want to still outweighs my know how; and to top to off, I hope that never changes.  

So, no matter where you are or what decision you are facing, accept and acknowledge that your want to has to be there.  Nothing worth doing is easy. It is going to take hard work, extra hours, sacrifice and an extremely large amount of want to.  Your knowledge will get you in the door, but your passion and desire to see things happen is what will get you invited back again.