Episode 217 – The Balancing Act: Stoicism, Joy, and Dentistry with Dr. Chad Johnson

“They would ask, “Where did you learn economics?’ and I’d reply, ‘At a waterpark.’” ~Dr. Chad Johnson

This is a rather unique episode of Everyday Practices podcast, in which host Regan Robertson is joined by special co-host Dr. Jason Ehtessabian to delve into the life and multifaceted journey of dentist, mentor, family man, and usual Everyday Practices co-host Dr. Chad Johnson. From his days managing a water park in the 1990s, to coaching his daughter’s basketball team, Dr. Chad shares what makes him tick.

We explore the intersection of stoicism and joy in Dr. Chad’s life, with a unique perspective on finding balance during challenging times. We also uncover the secrets of cultivating a successful dental practice, fostering meaningful mentorship connections, and navigating the delicate dance of family dynamics.

This inspiring conversation touches on everything from biochemistry struggles in dental school to the joys of coaching youth basketball. Dr. Chad’s journey is a testament to the glory of embracing life’s challenges while having a joyful heart. 

As you listen to this episode, pay close attention to:

• The crucial role of mentorship and continuous learning
• How to balance stoicism with joy in life
• Dr. Chad’s holistic approach to life, and what his future aspirations are

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Regan 0:01
Hi, Dr. Regan, Robertson, CCO productive dentist Academy here and I have a question for you. Are you finding it hard to get your team aligned to your vision, but you know, you deserve growth just like everybody else. That’s why we’ve created the PDA productivity workshop. For nearly 20 years PDA workshops have helped dentists just like you align their teams, get control of scheduling, and create productive practices that they love walking into every day. Just imagine how you will feel when you know your schedule is productive, your systems are humming, and your team is aligned to your vision. It’s simple, but it’s not necessarily easy. We can help visit productive dentists.com/workshop that’s productive dentist.com/workshop to secure your seats now.

Dr. Chad Johnson 0:47
I like mentoring. And that was evident with like me doing Ceric mentor group down in Phoenix where I would go help you know, let’s say two to four times a year, on a weekend course for other dentists explaining how to use the serac machine, you know, because I had just learned it so it was fun. Mastering it by Re explaining it, you know, because mastery involves, you know, being able to teach it to right. That’s the idea to also the word Doctor being teacher. And you get to become a better teacher by mastering your subject.

Regan 1:27
Welcome to the everyday practices Podcast. I’m Regan Robertson, and my co host Dr. Chad Johnson and I are on a mission to share the stories of everyday dentists who generate extraordinary results using practical proven methods you can take right into your own dental practice. If you’re ready to elevate patient care and produce results that are anything but ordinary. Buckle up and listen in.

Dr. Chad Johnson 1:59
This is different. This one is with our hosts Jason and Ragan. It’s an I’m the guest,

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 2:06
that’s right. Yeah, so that’s cool. Chad. No, I

Dr. Chad Johnson 2:10
mean, you know, so, so you have to own it.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 2:15
I’m, I’m on in in

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 2:17
chat. Who are you? Who is Chad

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 2:20
Johnson? What is Chad Johnson? What does Chad Johnson do? What does Chad Johnson contribute to the world? Who is chair? Who is Dr. Chadwick Aaron Johnson?

Dr. Chad Johnson 2:32
Do you know I’m gonna give a deep answer. You’re not expecting this yet? No,

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 2:36
I am expecting such a broad question.

Dr. Chad Johnson 2:39
I’m trying. I’m I’m trying in small ways to become less me and more for others.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 2:45
Cool, man. Yeah.

Regan 2:47
Are you trying to have an ego death? Is that what that means?

Dr. Chad Johnson 2:50
Yeah, that would be one way to describe I’ve not heard of that, per se. But I like that. Yeah. So I you know, and Jason, you know, this, well, regen you as well. parenthood brings this about, right. You know, you’re where you realize that, you know, it’s not as much about you. And you want, I don’t know, like ragging, you know, to I’ve got, you know, some speaking potentials, like, you know, some engagements and stuff like that here and there that I really, in the last few years have, have just dialed back from interest into, like really trying to seek that out when it’s just like, you know, I enjoy the quieter life than you think I’m loud and personality, but at the same time, I have enjoyed, you know, dialing it back. And it’s the goal isn’t necessarily like Jeff itself, per se. But then again, the more that there is of that, the more that I’m accomplishing, I think what I want to do,

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 3:52
yeah, that makes sense. What do you want to do?

Dr. Chad Johnson 4:00
That is the better question, because I think that changes over time. I think, Victoria from productive dentist Academy, asked this of us at the last workshop for IGP. And one of my answers on the paper, she had his pull out of paper, and one of my answers was, you know, simply to bring glory to God. And that is bigger than dentistry. And though, for me, that involves dentistry, because it’s the way that I get to interact with patients and people. But I tell a lot of patients when we’re just you know, chewing the fat and stuff in the chair like, Hey, what are you up to today? Well, I’m picking up the grandkids, right? And I go grandparenting has to be the coolest gig in the world because I find parenting to be difficult because it’s I have to be the kind of guy I don’t want to be like I have to be the disciplinarian. You know, like, Hey, I didn’t say to do that. And then diggin? Why did I say that? I’m like, man, it sounds so stupid. But I mean, someone has to because someone has to teach the kids the right way. Right? You know, so you have to be authoritative. I’m not a fan of that. Like, Jason You never saw that in dental school because I just

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 5:16
never saw you’d be a parent in dental school now.

Dr. Chad Johnson 5:17
Correct. Well, were that attitude

Regan 5:20
at all. He wasn’t a teen father. So yeah, well,

Dr. Chad Johnson 5:23
but it was more of just, you know, a fun loving, you know, free spirit kind of guy. And then, you know, you still are man, I am in at heart. And so what I’m looking forward to I tell the, you know, the grandparents at my office, I just go I can’t wait to be a grandparent. And sometimes I wonder if I’ll want to, like, retire from dentistry early and then just be like a grandpa daycare and we call it a grumpy, grumpy, grumpy daycare or something like that.

Regan 5:51
And you’re gonna be grumpy? Yeah, I

Unknown Speaker 5:53
don’t know. Yeah, I

Regan 5:54
vote for this. Yes, Graham’s

Dr. Chad Johnson 5:56
gonna be fun again, and stuff like that. And you get a you know, like, you don’t have to have the daily grind of the disciplinarian and the authoritative this and that. And so I don’t know, I’m kind of looking forward to that. So. But then again, I know that I look forward to that. But I don’t know much about what that will look like. I mean, so it’s almost just too far away to know. It’d be like asking a kindergartener, what do you want to do with your life? They might have an answer, but it’s not the answer. It’s just, you know, a possibility. And, you know, my girl wants to Daphne, she wants to raise puppies and stuff like that. I’m like, that sounds neat. And all but and it’s a possibility. But Is that likely going to be what she does? Only time will tell? But it’s just one of a million possibilities? I don’t know. That’s a really weird answer. But I don’t know. I don’t, I don’t know.

Regan 6:44
Is that you? Were you well, you went down a bunny trail. So back a little bit, you said that your role would be to bring glory to God. So how do you define bringing glory to God that

Dr. Chad Johnson 6:55
could, that could really be anything and the beauty of that is the liberty that that affords you is a lot when when your goal is to it? Well, I’ll tell you what, it would be the opposite of bringing glory to yourself. Because in America, and humans just want to bring glory to ourselves. And you know, we’re, we’re, a lot of times focused in naturally I do the same on what we need, you know, like, when your hunger starts building up, you’re hungry, you get hangry. And then you, you know, you satisfy that need, and then you’re satisfied and you move on to your next need and your next one. And there’s different you know, levels of that what is that Maslow’s hierarchy and stuff where, you know, there might be a need or a wants then then base needs, but at the same time, the more that we get over our desire to fulfill self? And again, yes, you need to eat Yes, you need to drink some water and get some sleep and stuff like that. Sure. But the opposite of that of ringing glory to God, there’s a lot of liberty to that, because now instead of having to always feed yourself, you’re looking at, okay, what is the bigger picture, taking care of others, doing His will, which would just mean, you know, I suppose with within different religious beliefs and stuff like that. Doing what’s said of you, whether it be in the Bible, the Koran, the Book of Mormon, all that kind of stuff, you know, that there are different ways to look at what that means. For me, Wow, this is deep. For me, the bringing glory to God would be when, when within the Christian faith when you are when you are saved, you are thankful for what God has done for you, in spite of who you are, so you don’t earn it, it’s kind of the way Christianity looks at it is that that they’re unique and that you don’t earn your respect from God. And so he gives it to you in the first place. And then from there out of gratitude, you respond to like someone that’s basically brought you out of the mud. And you want to do what this king who took care of you wants you to do so it’s it’s out of gratitude that you do it then I suppose coming out of Thanksgiving season, going into Christmas, that gives you the kind of the idea where a lot of outsiders the way I see it, look at a Christian faith like that. We’re trying to follow rules, so that way you can please God so that way you can earn points from him. So you’re good to go. And I believe that some people think that but in fact, it’s kind of the opposite. He takes care of you from the beginning. And then you respond in kind with trying to do what this king who took care of you wants you to do. I don’t know what to make it that but there’s my response.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 9:51
It’s awesome chat. Awesome.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 9:54
Response, man. That’s incredible. Like, yeah, best response of all time.

Regan 10:00
When we’re done, oh, wow, wow. Okay, was there a moment in time where you were reflecting on your life as it was, and you had a moment where you thought, Oh, I’m bringing glory to myself or I’m kind of an ego of myself, and it’s time to shift gears.

Dr. Chad Johnson 10:19
I’ll tell you, I was, I had a convertible. And this was in high school. And so I had some music playing this music was I was going on a singing tour with a choir that coming summer, and I was learning the music, okay, I was learning the words and stuff like that. And I came up to this intersection. And I still remember on William Street, nice University in Des Moines, I was coming down the hill, it was just weird that I remember a lot about this. And the song was count the cost, take up the cross and follow him. There’s imagery there. And the song, the words were Don’t be ashamed, you know, to follow Jesus. And when I came to intersection, the songs playing and I’m just like, I don’t know, this was kind of weird that like, people can turn it down. And I’m realizing that I’m learning the words, don’t be ashamed to follow Jesus. And I’m ashamed and turning down the sound to this, because I’m like, I don’t want people to hear this. You know? And then I realized, wait a second. Do that says a lot about me. And now that was at age 17. Okay. Was I done dying to self at that point? No, it’s a lifetime of learning how to do that. Right. But that was, I think, the pivotal moment, when I realized I was like, I am I’m ashamed. I’m learning a song to sing about not being ashamed. And yet, if I’m honest with myself, I am why. And I was just, I didn’t know what I wanted people to think about me, you know, at that intersection. And it’s really weird. Like, that became a, like, a moment of deciding, you know, is this something that I want to be ashamed of? And, you know, chuck it off? Or do I lean into it, and find a way to enjoy God’s presence and be with him and where I’m not ashamed about it. And that’s probably where it started. And Jason, then, you know, a few years later in dental school, when you see me being comfortable, you know, being who I am. And it’s just like, why does it why is this guy so comfortable being the way that he is? I think there were little points along the way where I was just like, you know, what, I am different. And I have to acknowledge that it’s just I’m, I can’t not be.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 12:44
Well, I’m glad you came to that realization. At some point, you got to share who you are with everyone else, as opposed to being like, Hey, this is who I am. But I’m not going to actually let you know. Yeah,

Dr. Chad Johnson 12:54
yeah. Because most people try and fit in and I’ve just met what’s cool is I see it in my kids, too. They don’t they don’t really fit in. And, and I really liked that. I’m just like, that’s cool. Like, I wonder if you know if there’s any genetic predisposition to that too, or if they’re just culturally within our family learning that, but my kids are kind of mini me’s in one regard. And it’s fun that to see that sometimes. I’m just like, man, you don’t go with the mold either, do you? So,

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 13:20
you know what I love. I asked like, Hey, I asked, like, who’s Chad Johnson? What do you do? Who was Chad Johnson? You didn’t say anything about dentistry? It was? Like, oh, yeah, by the way, I’m a dentist.

Dr. Chad Johnson 13:34
But idea, you know, but I mean, you didn’t even say that. It’s not even a vital way. It’s not even really, it’s part of who you see how you see yourself. You know, I’m just a people person. And like, I like serving and helping other people. So the fact that I get a capacity to do that, and you know, I have to admit, it makes great money. So it affords for us to be able to do cool stuff. Yes, that’s awesome. I mean, so I’m really thankful for that. But, ya know, it’s just one facet. I mean, sometimes I remember, you know, people are like, Well, what happens if you get hurt, and you can’t do dentistry anymore? I’m just like, well, then I’ll do something else, really, to the best of my ability. You know, like, it doesn’t, it doesn’t faze me. It’s like, oh, no, if I can’t be a dentist, you remember, Ragan Brian toorani, who fell off the ladder, hanging Christmas lights or whatever it was broke both of his wrists, and, and then he decides, he’s just like, I’m going to be a pilot. I can’t do dentistry anymore. And so I’m going to be a pilot. I would do the same thing. You know, whether it’s piloting, or who knows what

Regan 14:32
he just I think he just got his one of his big certification. prints. Yeah. Did he get it? Or is he like, right on the cusp of getting it?

Dr. Chad Johnson 14:40
I think he like according to his Facebook post, it seems like he got it. I really

Regan 14:44
like that. So listeners go back and there is Dr. Brian toorani. It’s a great podcast episode and, and yes, Jason don’t I mean, I hear I hear Chad’s saying, really that he didn’t have he doesn’t tie his identity to being a dentist which that’s A very, very, very, I think the majority common problem with anybody not even just in dentistry, but with your job title, you didn’t tying your identity to it. So when you unexpectedly lose it, what do you fall back on. And I feel like Chad, that’s what you’re saying is you have a faith that’s very strong, that that protects you. So that if you were to lose anything in your life, you you still feel safe, you’ll you’ll still be taken care of, even if it goes all the way down to your physical body. That’s what I heard you say, Yeah,

Dr. Chad Johnson 15:28
but I have to admit, like, like, to not revere myself too much on this, because it’s like, I do admit that, like, I take a lot of identity in being a dentist, and, you know, there’s a pride to it. And now the problem is, what to do with pride, you know, like, you need a little bit of pride to be able to, like, not be like, Oh, I can’t do anything, you know, you don’t want to be a total loser that can’t, you know, like, like, you know, if you were just like, Well,

Regan 15:56
some people suffer with that a little bit. Excuse me, I’m sure, but

Dr. Chad Johnson 16:01
like, this doesn’t have to do with being a dentist or not. But if someone even just said, Hey, I, you know, I think you do a good job blank. If you just said, Well, I can’t do it. I, that’s just false humility. I’m not talking about that, you know, so you have to have a smidge of, you know, personal responsibility and pride in that. But at the same time, when it builds up enough that you’re like, you know what, I am awesome. It’s like, Wait a second. I mean, you know,

Regan 16:26
so Jason, you know, Chad wakes up looks in the mirror and it’s like, I am

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 16:33
in the morning, and he pees excellence

Dr. Chad Johnson 16:39
Do you know it’s, oh, I don’t even look at myself in the mirror in the morning. Stream is strong. Yeah, I get up. I get up in the morning. I don’t even look at myself in the mirror. I get I get ready in the dark. It’s kind of funny. I just go out the door. What you see is what you get.

Regan 16:56
And the hair just looks like that every time. Yeah, actually, I

Dr. Chad Johnson 16:58
tell dry. And I go like this. And they’re like,

Regan 17:01
Are you a Lego? You’re like, we’re like The Lego Movie. Everything. Everything is awesome. And it just stays.

Unknown Speaker 17:06
I do love that movie. It’s so funny. Our chat,

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 17:09
here’s a question that I get sometimes I say like weekly or bi weekly, someone will ask like, Hey, why did you become a dentist? Or why are you doing this or

Regan 17:18
something like still to this day? Yeah, constantly, constantly get

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 17:23
this? And I don’t think it’s that great of a question. Because it’s kind of like, hey, we we made this decision? I mean, how old were you when you made this decision, Chad, because you you may have seen that Dennis prior to entering undergrad. Right?

Dr. Chad Johnson 17:35
I mean, so I mean, you were when I was in eighth grade

Unknown Speaker 17:39
13 jobs.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 17:43
You know, but I think the appropriate question for you chat is, it’s, it’s, Hey, you made this decision when you were in eighth grade, right? Be a dentist. What still motivates you? What still pushes you what still challenges you about what you’re doing? To do it?

Dr. Chad Johnson 18:04
So yeah, I’m one of the weirdos that, that chose to be any profession and then actually stuck with it. Because a lot of people you know, when they’re in third grade, choose to be a veterinarian in eighth grade, they want to be an attorney. In 12th grade, they want to be a doctor and then, you know, they become an accountant. You know, it’s all just all over the place, right? And that’s okay. I’m just one of the weirdos. So I went from wanting to be a Marine, like my dad, to know, I want to be a dentist, I got my front tooth bumped playing basketball, and there it is. Yep. And I had to visit a an endodontist. And this one dentist came and in early, and you know, saw me on an emergent basis. There was this dentist in my church that I really looked up to. And I was like this, this like he was he had what I wanted, like, I was just like, he seems to have family time. You know, he gets to own his own business to call his own shots work when he wants. I was just like, that’s cool. And then the crisis moment, I went to my Algebra teacher, and I said, I want I’ve decided I want to be a dentist, so I don’t need to know math. You know, I told him, yeah. And he laughed. He laughed, and he said, Well, Chad, you know, like, how are you going to do physics? And I was like, That’s a good question. He said, How are you going to do biology and chemistry as I read your right? And it was the first moment actually, that I decided that I wanted to start trying in school, like, because, up until then I really hadn’t tried much. And so I thought, I’m gonna start trying, because I want like, I wanted to be this dentist. And it was cool, because I had this excuse that I wasn’t doing well in math. And I was like, You know what, I won’t need to know math. And then he’s like, yes, you will. And I was like, Wait a second. It’s something that I want. And then there’s this obstacle in the way. Okay, I want it bad enough that I want to keep on going. And so then I was like, Well, I guess I’ll start trying in school and I did I started trying in school, and I never considered myself a smart student there. And we explained it this I think last time. Yeah. And, and I just was a hard worker. And so I was like, um, you know, and then come to find out, I started working hard. And I was doing well with the smart kids. And I was like, huh, who knew? Like, if I try hard, I can actually, like, be one of the, you know, like I can I can be with one of these smart kids. And then at some point, it was actually I think in Spanish, you know, that they were like, Hey, how are you studying for this test? And I was like, why are you asking me? I’m not smart kid. Like you, you know. And I like that. They were asking me how I was, you know, doing well, you know, and so, that to get back to your question, though, that was kind of the backstory. You’re so what motivates me today, though. Um,

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 20:50
because it’s been 25 years, almost now that you guys, I mean, you know, and we’re still you’re doing this, you know, you’re still well,

Dr. Chad Johnson 20:57
the job is invigorating. I mean. So, the, from 2005, when we graduated, I think the first five or six years, I was doing the same dentistry as the day out of school, you know, there wasn’t much I was doing CEE, but at the same time, it was starting to get into a rut of I was just like, it’s just the same dentistry, you know, PFM crown, core, build up a feeling here and there, it was just stuff, you know. And 2011, I started, I bought a stearic machine, I started going to American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry stuff. That’s when a couple years later, I was like, Hey, we’re finishing up with our AEGD fellowship. And Jason and I, you know, wrap that up together, because, you know, he was like, Well, dude, I’ll finish with you. And I’ll, you know, we’ll do the fellowship, graduation, whatever you they call it, you know, together. And so we did that ceremony together in Nashville. And that started my process of being like, okay, I get it now. Like, I can be a better dentist, if I break out of the mold of the rudimentary stuff they taught me in dental school, and that’s not stopped like And so before we started recording, I was talking about the vampire facials, you know, that I do and, and stuff like that with PRP that Dr. Garg taught me, and, and stuff like that, that’s just one facet of it. So it’s just cool that I have a unique skill set now, to be able to help patients out, be the healthiest they can. And PRP facials is kind of a lame example, considering you know, that it’s no regen, just hear me out because like, there’s really cool stuff we can do, you know, like, biopsy something and find cancer. And, you know, like, that’s really cool. That’s significant. A facial is really cool technology, and it’s really cool applied, but it’s not saving lives or anything like that. But it’s still an example where, you know, using PRP, PRF applications within the mouth to make it heal quicker, really cool stuff, you know, for bone grafting for, for implantology all that stuff. So, I don’t know, you know, that’s the specific dentistry stuff of what gets me excited is the fact that you know, like, you can lean into learning more, I think after that it’s, it’s having actually the, the wealth to be able to coach my girls as basketball team to be able to go to my son’s archery, this and that to, you know, to vicariously live through them by taking them to do cool stuff that I never got to do growing up. So like, you know, I’ve taken them to for example, this last summer we went out to Utah and did all the national parks out there finished out in the Grand Canyon. I never saw that any of those until now. Like I never saw any of those. And you know that my kids are are doing that this next summer we’re going we’re doing the last couple of trips and and gave my oldest will have been to all 50 states and that wow, it’s it’s just fun to be able to do that kind of stuff and stuff that I never got to be able to do. So that’s all

Regan 23:57
How was Delaware?

Dr. Chad Johnson 23:59
Oh, it was a pastor.

Regan 24:02
I was just trying to gauge you know, how much how much do we see those 50 states? The expression that I made over the Vampire Facial wasn’t for the facial? I just I had a connection moment. And Jason, I’m super happy that you asked that question. Because Chad is a is definitely a voracious learner, but also a really good study. So I have talked about you chat quite a bit. You know this in different circles because of the languages that you know, I’ve talked about a lot on the podcast how you just seem to soak up knowledge but I think to when you say what continues to motivate you. Just like Bruce, you can’t you’re in an environment where you can keep stoking your learning fire so you you’re never going to be bored. You strike me as an individual that if you’re sitting you’re going to be you’re going to figure out how to whittle a car out of wood like you will not sit still. So So do you feel like it gives you the opportunity to still continue to learn each year. Are you planning out your CTE like I’m going to take this on this Hear and wait a couple years and then I’m ready to take on another thing or are you feeling you can coast like I’ve learned enough now and I’ve

Dr. Chad Johnson 25:06
been there before. I hate to say this because people aren’t going to be expecting this. I’ve been there before. And right now I’m kind of in a coasting pattern.

Regan 25:14
It’s okay, Victoria, our CEO told me this year 2024 Is my coasting pattern. And I was like, Oh, okay. Because I told her, I’m like, Okay, what am I going to sign up for? What am I going to learn this year? And I’m like, I’ve just been doing it for several, many years, like every year, and she said, why don’t we just ground down and actually, you know, let’s train the team, the things that, you know, let’s, let’s give you the opportunity to use your expertise. And I was like, Okay, you

Dr. Chad Johnson 25:38
think that’s good. So in my office, the year of, I think it was the year of 2022, was a moratorium of change, no dates, no change. And the idea was, let’s perfect what we do know, in the systems and everything like that, we’re not gonna I’m not gonna throw a new ball into the, you know, like, Hey, we’ve learned to juggle five balls here, six, you know, so I was like, it’s a more in my, my staff, they loved it. They were just like, thank God. And, and also, right now, I think my one of my goals was to get my fellowship and implement all this stuff and go to the CEE, while my kids were young. So my take home is if you’re a young career dentist, and your kids are little that you can travel, and they might not remember that you are gone to do that while you can. Because like right now with my kids in high school, and junior high and stuff like that, I’m trying to be around more. And then, so like, I’m kind of on a coasting pattern on purpose. And yes, I plan out my C’s, like, next year, I have two kois courses planned in November in September. You know, stuff like that. So I have that planned in. But it’s, it’s, it’s not exactly like a full throttle. And then when the kids are out of the house, I’ll probably lean in one more time, like real heavy for a few years and, and max out with stuff. And then maybe Coast again before, before, you know, retirement or something like that. So the way I look at it, like I when I started, I graduated at age 25. And I was like, I’ve got 40 ish years. And so we’re coming up on the 20th. Year and at that 20 year, I’m going to celebrate halftime like look at it like a basketball game before quarters. Yeah, we did. We had a we had a 10th anniversary barbecue, and we celebrated the fact that I nothing other than just that I had done 10 years. It was the end of the first quarter so far. And so I’ve been celebrating you know, like that and all celebrate the 20th anniversary, we’ll probably do ribs again. And I actually in my mind, I know that I want to ship them up from pappy Smokehouse in St. Louis. I’ve got all this kind of mentally planned out. Jason, you’ve got to try pappy smokehouse. Fight me out for that man. I’ll

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 27:53
pick Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Chad Johnson 27:55
I’ll tell you a little bit deeper, though. Regen. My mom has commented before that when my dad retired. She’s like, he doesn’t have any hobbies. Yeah, he doesn’t have any any. Like, he just he just kind of, and it’s, I suppose you could look at it as one falter. My dad’s on the flip side. I think my dad is easily content. So you just you just you know what you do? Like I read, you know, this. And that’s all.

Regan 28:23
And there is an art to just being and it does. It does? I don’t know. It will. It’s a trauma response. I’ve heard I’ve heard I have no psychological background. But I mean, I’ve heard that it can be tough to force. It’s a form of coping that you have to always be busy, that you can’t just sit in and be so I guess Oh, no way in retirement. If you want to sit, you get to do whatever you

Dr. Chad Johnson 28:44
want. Yes. And, you know, someday that sounds amazing. Right now, I don’t know if I could, but you know, it’s funny, I do audio Bible and how it talks, the last couple chapters that I’ve been in the New Testament, it talks about being a busy body, and not that that’s a good thing. And I found that interesting, you know, that Paul was saying, you know, they’re busy bodies, and he’s like, it’s not a compliment, you know, so you have to find yours. Like you could think, you know, if I’m going to be spiritual, I’m going to really lean into it and be busy and stuff and take care of the world. And Paul himself was just like, No, they’re busy, but you know, so it doesn’t say that always you have to be busy just to be godly or, or awesome or whatever. So I think there’s something to be said about it. But it did affect me in that I was just like, I don’t want to end up like that. So I want to you know, like have a passion for life.

Regan 29:31
So you know, what you’re describing to I think if if, if you you didn’t go through here on a mission, but you’ve heard me talk about here are one of the Donald Miller course. Yes. He’s very pragmatic about he approaches. So he starts off the entire course Jason, with asking you the question, when are you going to die? put a date on it. So he says you know, I put 85 on mine. Okay, so let’s backtrack this. I’ve got 35 years, what am I going to accomplish? So he basically Like takes his life and makes it a business plan. And you’re writing out your obituary. I mean, it gets really deep for a while. But the whole goal of is it to help you set up your milestones. And Chad, you just displayed you’re very excellent at setting up those milestones so that you can celebrate and recognize and look back at how far you’ve come. And then you seem to have that handle on mortality. You know, it’s not forever. Oh, yeah. So you’re very thoughtful about it?

Dr. Chad Johnson 30:23
Well, I talked about that with my wife, when COVID hit when I just said, I realized that people that are not are not aware of where they’ll spend eternity when they when they’re unsure, you know, of how they sit with God that they were very worried about COVID and the fact that they could die in two weeks. And, and I was just like, Sarah, I, I’m not worried. And I think it’s because I know I where I sit with God. And I noticed that there are people that are comfortable. And then there’s other people that are worried to death. Why are they worried because they thought they were immortal? Up until COVID, and then COVID hits and it’s like, What do you mean, there’s, there’s 1000s of people dying. What do you mean, I could die? Like, in two weeks? I’m not ready for this like, and they realize, yes, you are mortal. And can you imagine this? This is timeless because the bubonic plague probably had the same thing when it hit Europe, you know? Yeah. What do you mean? Like I could, you know, like, this is a human response.

Regan 31:25
Yep. Well, I was wondering, I was one of the early ones to get COVID. And I didn’t realize that I had COVID was March of 2020. And I was in bed for weeks. But I remember I just laid there and I didn’t, I did not have any fear. I just thought, this is really well. All right. This is interesting. We’ll see what happens here. But I can’t say I’m definitely not fearless. I definitely wait about my kids. I worry all the time constantly. I was definitely worried for them. So yeah, sure. And I like at first I was I was getting ready to argue with you and be like, No, not everybody just thinks that they’re immortal. But

Regan 32:01
no, it’ll be

Dr. Chad Johnson 32:02
coming. It’s a broad brushstroke. It’s an overgeneralization. But by and large there’s people that are either comfortable with the fact of their mortality or not.

Regan 32:11
Well, when it came to my children, it was very crystal clear I was like absolutely not that is unacceptable. And because I do think of that, I mean, in terms of immortal being, you know, they they go after you I go first. So COVID did make me focus and realize that and kind of put that front of mine like that’s that’s right, that that anything could happen to anyone at any time. And you get the call so it’s yeah, it’s very interesting. Wow, we went really deep Jason really fast with

Dr. Chad Johnson 32:41
there’s a little bit here chat but Jason I before you change gears I thought I’d say what’s funny too is with the enigma that is Chadwick Aaron Johnson is yeah, the weird thing is I sometimes can be playful in a superficial mode and then all of a sudden it’s like how did we go from that to like the gravity of all gravity’s you know, it’s like death and God and life and stuff it’s like well, I mean, it’s fun to dabble in all those like I like superficial and fun and and then I’m I’m not just a static character was like wait a second he went really deep. It’s like yeah, I know. I’m sorry. But yeah, all right. So your your thoughts

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 33:23
from you you today which is why it’s so awesome. And I feel I feel bad taking this topic like mortality and Chad talking about mortality and his views on it and where the world is and I’m like, Alright, now let’s bring it down to business let’s talk but that’s what I want to do. Man I want to talk about business a little bit good. I mean, because chan you know, it was it was a we graduated in the class of 75 students from dental school Chad was the only nice dental student to start his practice day one still doing that practice still celebrating those quarter wins at a you know, with with barbecues and things like that, but really, you know, number one, obviously, the business mind that Chad has, isn’t a mind that I would possess or that anyone else I don’t want to say anyone else could that mean you have is rare on Musk’s in your your whatever, but I mean, wait,

Regan 34:12
Jason, he opened his practice in like, in 2005.

Unknown Speaker 34:18
Yes, right out of school. Right. I

Regan 34:20
did not know that. There will be that’s crazy, right? Yeah, keep going. Jason You have such beautiful questions planned. But that just blows my mind. I didn’t know that was him in 2011 You don’t mean practicing? No, I didn’t I did not map the math. I can’t believe that. Wow. Oh, geez. Okay.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 34:43
So chat. Yeah. Mind like yourself. Yes. Now you’re doing two you’re wearing a few hats now right? You’re doing strange, productive dentist over here. You’re doing your your practice. You know what walk us through man. What do you what do you you know when you talk about what Like, uh, you know, giving back and things like that. And you know, but like, what’s your goal with this hat over here with productive dentist? What’s your goal with this hat over here with what you do and your daily grind in work? And yeah, yeah, fill me in man. So I

Dr. Chad Johnson 35:15
like mentoring. And that was evidence with like me doing Ceric mentor group down in Phoenix where I would go help, you know, let’s say, two to four times a year, on a weekend course, for other dentists explaining how to use the serac machine, you know, because I had just learned it. So it was fun. Mastering it by Re explaining it, you know, because mastery involves, you know, being able to teach it to right, that’s the idea to also the word Doctor being teacher. And you get to become a better teacher by mastering your subject. Just as we saw with your interview, you know, as you’re mastering sleep, you know, you’re spending more time in it. So you’re more involved in your, you’re more comfortable with being able to explain those thoughts, as opposed to a novice, and that’s the way it should be. When I went into productive dentist Academy, I, I really gained a lot of insight from Dr. Bruce on how to be a boss and how to be a leader and everything like that. And I think some of it was already head head knowledge of mine, but it was it became more heart knowledge that I was like, Okay, I’m willing to apply this. And I want to help other dentists get there? Like, so I was, in the sense of mastering it, I would, you know, I asked, Could I come down and, you know, hang out with the other dentists that are learning this? And then they’re like, I mean, do you want to do an hour of the lecture? And I was like, Yeah, I mean, I’d love to I, you know, why not? And, and being able to engage with questions and help people through, I would explain, I’d be like, Alright, now when I, when we’re talking about scheduling to production, I was really on the edge. At first, when I learned this, I was like, now this isn’t the way and then I realized, oh, so then, you know, telling the dentists, you know, so that moment you’re, you’re you’re you’re sitting there with your arms crossed, to some regard, whether physically or just, you know, there’s, there’s a wall and you don’t believe this, and yet, I was there too, until I realized, oh, wait, there’s a few ways that you can break the rules. And then as you do scheduling to production, you also then are able to take more time to talk with patients when you have downtime, to be able to treatment plan. So that way, it feeds your scheduling. And that was my aha moment where I was like, the breakthrough what I was like, oh, okay, I didn’t get it at first. And so it’s one example where I love coming down, eating good Texas brisket and barbecue and talking with other dentists about, you know, their, their struggles, and like getting through it together. And so it’s it’s mastery for me as being able to learn with them, and then reteach it and this podcast is the same thing. It might my effort is to give people who are listening to this an insight into changing, how they rewiring, how they think about something in a good way, you know, not as though it has to be contrarian to what they think. But in the going, you’re right, Chad, that reinforces my thought, but I had a qualm about it and now I see it. Okay, you know, I’m willing to apply that business principle. So business clinical, whatever. I don’t know if that answered your question. Sorry.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 38:34
Sounds awesome. Man. Rain, what should we dive into with Chad, we have all this stuff, I almost think we should take it back towards mortality again, that was awesome.

Dr. Chad Johnson 38:45
Well, hey, before we go diving into death, again, let me let me explain something to what made me an anomaly. Growing up was I worked at a waterpark in Junior High in high school, and in the summers. And the really cool thing was my, our boss, there were about 120 employees. And our boss would let the the teens that had some leadership, you know, potential, be the managers of the place. And so at age 16, I was running the waterpark. And I mean, again, this is the 90s Right. And so I don’t know if that would happen much these days. But it was cool, because it gave me a ton of responsibility. And, you know, because I’m working with eight cash registers. I’m working with 1000 customers a day. I’m in charge of 60 employees at any given time. You know, I remember I was I just had my swim trunks on no t shirt on, and a pith helmet, if you can picture it. And so the this one woman was upset and she was like, hey, I want to talk with the person who runs this place. I was like, Yeah, that’s me. And she goes, No, I want to talk to the person who’s in charge of the whole place? And I said, Yeah, that’s me. And she says, No, that like the owner, I said, well, the owners in South Carolina, he put me in charge what? How can I help you? You know, and it’s just weird that age 16 I’m like, the buck stops here. I, I’m, I run this place, you know? And it kind of like this mom was like, What in the world who would put this, you know, like it kind of this shocked look on her face. But at the same time, I hadn’t stopped to realize, oh, yeah, it’s a weird. It’s a weird opportunity that I had to be in charge of, you know, this seven acre waterpark, that was, you know, you know, take, it was just an amazing opportunity for eight years that I worked there to be able to be in charge of, you know, training employees. All that stuff. So then when I took micro economics and macroeconomics in undergrad, like they, they clicked. And so if sometimes it’s like, where did you learn business? It’s like, at a water park. You know? Yeah.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 41:06
Macro Economics, which somebody like me never taught. Yeah, true. True. That’s awesome. True. Yeah.

Regan 41:14
How do you how do you add that opportunity that you had was incredible. And I agree with you? I don’t know that many kids would get that nowadays. Right? How do you plan on? Or do you? Or do you insert? Do you guys plan on helping each year kids have those types of opportunities, because that anecdote, totally gives me a window inside because you are an individual that I find to take full responsibility for things. And that that, to me, is, is not super common. Yeah,

Dr. Chad Johnson 41:45
I struggle with that. Because I want to take cool vacations and if gave, for example, has a job where he has to be, you know, there on Saturday, I’m like, I want to leave on Saturday, you know, my problem is I’m just like, No, my like, I want it like the selfish part of me. I’m like, No, I want to spend that time with the family. And then here, you’ve got it this piddle job paying eight an hour, and how about I just give you eight bucks. And here becomes the problem of the rich Dennis, you know, bail your kids out, right? You know, it’s like, I’m like, I just want to give them you know, here, here’s eight bucks, come on, let’s go as but at the same time, some of those lessons, if I hired him to work here, he’s gonna have an easy boss me, you know, because, you know, if he doesn’t do a good enough job, I’ll try and act like a dad about it. But at the same time, it’s not the same as an external boss. That’s objective. And I remember it was it was almost funny because the owner to the waterpark, one time I was using the golf cart, and I was picking up trash and I was taking, he let us use the golf cart to bring the trash up to the trash bins. And I was just like, Man, if I load this thing down, I can get done sooner, right? You know, rather than taking two garbage bags at a time, I put eight things, you know, like on that. So I loaded the thing up in on the seats. But there’s, you know, they have the slushies. And the garbage bags are purchasing it and the juices dripping out onto that. So yeah, so he’s all grossed out by this. He calls me over and he’s like, Jen, I want to take you on this golf cart. He’s like, have a seat right there.

Unknown Speaker 43:15
Well

Regan 43:17
have a seat in the juice. But

Dr. Chad Johnson 43:18
here’s the deal. So here’s where it backfired. Am I sat down, I was like, Alright, let’s go. And he’s like, alright, so Chad, here’s the deal. I was hoping you’d realize that you just sat in garbage juice. But you know, like, but he told me to I did, you know, I was like, Okay, and so I just sat in the garbage is, and he’s like, you kind of spoiled my point. But here’s the point, no one other than you wants to sit in the garbage juice. So you can’t be putting the garbage bags on the the golf cart, because, you know, like, just just make multiple trips. And I just kind of thought that was funny, because he was trying to teach me a lesson. So with Gabe, at the same time, you know, like, I might be able to be hard on him, but it’s not gonna be the same as that kind of boss that’s being you know, like, Hey, dude, you know, have a seat in the garbage shoes, and having some of those hard lessons. So my dichotomy is, what I do lately is I tell my kids, we find books and online courses like Khan Academy, and some other stuff where I find the courses and I incentivize them, because I tell them, I say, alright, you read, you do this course on precalculus. And I’ll give you 100 bucks. If you finish these books, and I tell all the kids that we’ve been doing this for years, I’ll give you $5 For each of these books that you finish, this one’s a chapter book, I’ll give you 10 This one’s a pattycake book, I’m going to give you $1 for this book, and we price them all out and I tell them to in the summer, you finish these books and I’ll pay you you know this money and so that becomes their job because I’m trying to give them the books for the wisdom to learn the stuff but they they’re not old enough to have a job job but Gabe keeps on going. I want a job dad and I’m like he’s probably right. I probably should allow him to have a job just so he can have that external force of learning. Yes. So I was like, so it’s come. He’s 14. Now it’s coming. And I’ve been dreading this moment. Well, can he

Regan 45:11
legally work in Iowa at 14? You can do. Oh, you can? You can even at work.

Dr. Chad Johnson 45:16
Yep. seasonal jobs. Yeah.

Regan 45:19
I think that was a great I don’t know, Jason, if you knew that about Chad, but that was one of my favorite mind shifts. It was a few years ago that I learned that he said, my kids jobs are two things, education and play. So I reimburse them for education. So of course, I totally stole that. I was like, That is a great idea. Like it just, it helps. You know, we talk a lot about the just the challenge of learning in and of itself, and being able to work through frustration and everything. And that’s yeah, that’s I definitely took that as a note as a note from you, but yeah,

Unknown Speaker 45:50
let him get a job. Jason, here’s

Unknown Speaker 45:54
the thing, the same. You

Dr. Chad Johnson 45:56
can remember in Biochemistry, biochemistry, our first semester of dental school, that was, I know, three

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 46:04
years ago. Yeah, I

Dr. Chad Johnson 46:05
remember it like that. But, but I’ll tell you, I was with you when 911 happened. I mean, I flashed right back to that. And, uh, God, I was just walking right down that street from that library, where we took the test and, but biochemistry I didn’t do so hot on it. And and it was the first time I had ever been exposed to it. I did three years of undergrad. So I never, you know, took biochemistry and undergrad. And were you the same? Did you do three years undergrad? Knew we both? Yeah, yeah. And so, um, so I had never seen this stuff before. And, and I actually had to do remediation on it, because I was doing so poorly on it. So they had a tutor set up for me to help you know, me, you know, learn how to study this kind of stuff, because they’re like, there’s 20 amino acids, dude, it’s not hard, okay? Like, just learn it and do it. And I’m having trouble with it. And, and I realized, if I would have taken this class early, so actually regen, this comes back to the book, idea is, in my mind, if Gabe can take a pre calc class as a ninth grader or something like that, that when he’s actually taking it for a grade in 12th grade or, you know, in college, if he’s taking a biochem kind of thing. But he’s dabbled in Khan Academy with it before that, even if he didn’t finish the course, that, that it won’t be the first time that he’s seen it. And so

Regan 47:25
I wonder if it makes your brain more pliable. Like when you’re learning a language, when you’re younger, you’re more easily ready to adapt so that they’ll have some memory, some memory, we’ll come back to them a little bit if they Yep,

Dr. Chad Johnson 47:37
so it’s funny, the idea that I’m applying right now actually goes back to my trauma of biochem sucking so bad for me that I was like, man, if my kids could take you know, this class beforehand, then when they’re actually, you know, taking it, it won’t be the first time there’ll be like, of course, you know, Jason, some of those guys that were a smidge older, a couple of like, the dads in our class, you know, that were, you know, 30 at the time or whatever, they would smoke the test, because they’re like, oh, yeah, I was, you know, I did biochemistry for a job for a couple years. This is cake. And I’m like, I’m so jealous, because I’m like, I’ve never seen this stuff before. So many

Regan 48:13
jobs are in biochemistry. Can you give me an example? No,

Dr. Chad Johnson 48:15
I don’t know. But I know. I know, they were taking biochemistry job. Who knows? You know, they might have been working at the university or a hospital or something like that. The people who are applying, it’s trying to get into school like that are

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 48:28
doing jobs related to trying to get into school like that. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 48:31
Good point. Good point.

Speaker 1 48:34
Yeah. But, but those struggles chat, which

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 48:37
shaped you into who you are. Without the struggles, you know, and in the end, it’s all a cakewalk. So you know what I mean? So it’s good to, you know, it’s kind of like, it’s kind of like growing grapes for wine, right? So the grapes are supposed to struggle a little bit to turn into good wine. If it’s like an optimum place for growth. They grow and there they don’t, you know, but yeah, so it’s kind of like introducing a little bit of study set rich dentist, you can obviously give your kids a lot of opportunities that we didn’t have, right, couldn’t do. But then at the same time, we need to introduce some things to actually challenge these kids. That’s right. We’re not everything can be that Cakewalk and so I like that. Hey, that’s part of that. re enter you like and this.

Regan 49:24
I love it. You’re totally right. Yes. I love it. So I mean, that’s one of the hardest healthy way in a healthy way. Because I’ll tell you I do this every episode I’m learning something my go to and I sound like an old person immediately as I when you were a kid, you should be grateful for it. Like like right now. One of my kids wants their very own bathroom. I’m like, this house has three. Oh, I had one. For every one. What are you talking about? It didn’t even have a fan. So what you’re saying, Jason Yeah. How do you introduce it but in a positive way, like in a really like, you know, a way that’s that’s a healthy challenge not a naggy not an Aggie, Regan say and you should be grateful. Right? On that note

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 50:21
if you had to impart some of your secrets, do you have secrets? Do you have secrets like that? You know, obviously, you talked about mortality, you talked about religion. You talked about family, you talked about kids, you know, but if I were like, hey, Chad, what makes you unique, you know, because you’re one of the most unique people I’ve ever met in my life, like, in a great way. I mean, you’re one of these fantastic people, ya know, but but you’re but like, the way that you impact people’s lives is meaning, you know, like, and I hope that’s intentional or unintentional, or just part of who you are. But like, so the question is, Chad, what’s your secret?

Dr. Chad Johnson 51:06
If if I had to figure one facet of my secret, because I don’t know if it if you can formulaically just say these two things. But what first comes to mind is finding a way to embrace stoicism and have joy. So the problem with stoicism is that you could become a grumpy, you know, like, it’s just, you know, the grind of life and whatever. But stoicism basically just says, Be in charge of what you can be in charge of, and don’t let go of the stuff that you can’t be in charge of. Right? And then the joy factor is also you know, like enjoying life and having

Unknown Speaker 51:49
having

Dr. Chad Johnson 51:52
happiness like embracing happiness and joy and celebration and stuff like that, and not just being a curmudgeon of a stoic, but a joyful stoic is the best type of of leader. There you go. Joyful,

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 52:07
stoic. I love it. Yeah, that’s great.

Regan 52:09
I think that would be a wonderful monologue podcast, the joyful, stoic. Yes, Chad Johnson, and then our band that Jason didn’t know he’s going to be a part of. Yeah, touring will have to tour in 2025 Perhaps garbage juice,

Dr. Chad Johnson 52:25
garbage.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 52:26
All my worst garbage. That’s really good.

Regan 52:33
I love it. Christian metal core coming straight to you.

Dr. Chad Johnson 52:39
In the garbage shoes, but Jesus come along and he say dogs. That’s

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 52:43
our first lyric.

Regan 52:52
Oh, oh, well, thank you, Chad for being in the hot seat. And I Jason great questions. Fantastic. I suppose you are.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 53:02
Oh, this was so cool. Having this opportunity to interview chat. I was looking forward to this. This is fantastic man.

Dr. Chad Johnson 53:09
Answer and not the questioner because like I want I’m wanting to bounce questions. And then I’m trying to behave by not. If I could have one question, though, just to lighten the mood before we leave. Because I asked about your scene in the background to your left. But oh to your right. You’ve got the basketball. Who signed the basketball?

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 53:31
Hall? It’s an old it’s an old Marquette Golden Eagles basketball. It’s a it’s, it’s yeah, got the whole team on it. Awesome. Wow.

Unknown Speaker 53:45
I don’t know. 90s.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 53:48
Probably early 2000s. Okay. But yeah, we’re actually no, it might have been the 90s. It might have been. I’m not quite sure. But yeah, but yeah, it was back when Tom Crean was their head coach. So his signature is a really big one on there. And you have to look through the rest. I don’t know. It’s funny. This stuff sits here. And

Dr. Chad Johnson 54:09
I’m just curious because I don’t remember. You remember the bowls player? Derrick Rose. Did he pay for Marquette? No,

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 54:15
no, Dwayne Wade was Marquette. Yes.

Dr. Chad Johnson 54:17
That’s it. That’s who it was. But, so he would have maybe been on that basketball, or?

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 54:23
I don’t think he is I’d have to look. So Dwayne Wade, Chad. He played at Marquette. They made their Final Four run our freshman year in dental school, which should have been my senior year in undergrad. Yes, I should have been going to. Yes,

Dr. Chad Johnson 54:40
all the cool games. Biochemistry tests. Yeah.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 54:48
And instead, oh, well, that’s a story about me. So I’m gonna skip it because I want to focus on your chat, but

Unknown Speaker 54:55
a few more questions. Yeah, let’s do it. All right.

Dr. Chad Johnson 54:59
Regan. Do you have time him. Yes.

Regan 55:00
Not supposed to be really in office today. This is my secret day

Unknown Speaker 55:04
out here.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 55:08
That’s why I’m asking about secrets and things like that. So Reagan has secret days, which I feel like we should be interviewing Reagan at some point and dive in for days.

Regan 55:15
Next we have to come back again and raking snacks. We made our we made our goal in our in our company here. You don’t have to put that on the air. Ricky. But yeah, we made our goal. So the the prize for all employees was they got December 22 to January 2

Unknown Speaker 55:31
off. Wow, there.

Regan 55:34
Yeah, but there was no question. I was like, odd casting with Jason. I’m not missing this. Great.

Dr. Chad Johnson 55:42
I was coming in Yesterday was our last clinical day of the year, taking next week off. But of course this morning, I had to get a text it says hey, can you re cement a crown? And I was like, you know, just when you thought you were done. I

Regan 55:55
wondered why you were in the office. I was expecting you to be in the home office. I was like your house. Me too.

Dr. Chad Johnson 56:00
Me too. I was like, Well, fine. I’ll go into the office and do this because I thought next week I’m gone after Christmas, you know, so I was like, I’m not gonna does she know yet? She does not know yet. She’ll know. Jason You know, though, right? You know, it’s come to I’m taking Sara to Iceland.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 56:14
Oh, man, that’s our highest, let’s say on the computer or no,

Regan 56:20
the funny thing is that a podcast about it.

Dr. Chad Johnson 56:24
I’m really flirting with, with with danger. Because I’m saying I’m telling everyone but her it seems like you know there’s 8 billion people around the world minus one that know the secret. So it’s kind of funny. Okay, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 56:37
Have you seen it? Is Ben Stiller movie. It’s fantastic. It was a book but they it’s they have an Iceland scene in it. And it’s so cool. I after watching that movie, I’ve never I’ve never been to Iceland. But I said to my wife. I was like, hey, next trip Iceland. And she was like, nope, next trip beach every trip be very one dimensional.

Regan 57:00
There are beaches in ice. Tell her?

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 57:05
Sure. I’ll sell her on now.

Regan 57:07
There’s hot springs. Lots and lots of hot springs. Do you

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 57:11
have watch that movie? Before you go? Oh, I

Dr. Chad Johnson 57:14
can’t wait. Yeah, I’ve already brought it up on the computer because you’ll love it. But

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 57:18
one more but one more question before we go. So chat. You know, obviously as you normally being the interview or and not the interview II Yes. What question man? What question would you want to ask yourself to be able to share?

Dr. Chad Johnson 57:34
This is going to be an inside joke for anyone who’s listened since episode one. But the answer is bacon.

Regan 57:39
Oh my god. Yeah.

Dr. Chad Johnson 57:40
No. That was just a joke. What question? No, here’s the thing. I roll with questions to like, where the interview goes. So I don’t have a quintessential question that I asked people. I’m just trying to I don’t know. The the audio people can delay my non response here in my

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 58:05
three claps when you’re ready, right.

Unknown Speaker 58:11
What?

Dr. Chad Johnson 58:14
Ask it again, so I can frame frame it better in my mind. Yeah. So.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 58:18
Yeah. So I mean, you’re used to at the being the one asking all the questions, not the one sitting in the seat, given all the answers, right. Oh, I mean, now I think

Dr. Chad Johnson 58:26
you’ve done it. What do you what, what makes you tick? You know what, what in the past is?

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 58:34
Reagan what Chad’s trying to say here is that we just crushed it. You know, he has zero improvement on anything we’ve already done, where we’re, we’re, we try to be humble, and that, like he was saying earlier, it’s not gonna happen.

Regan 58:53
Jason, you did get him down to basically his third level of why as far as Yes, Chad’s gonna go. So you really did actually about this really, really good questions.

Dr. Chad Johnson 59:03
So how about this? What’s next?

Unknown Speaker 59:05
Yeah.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 59:07
What’s next?

Dr. Chad Johnson 59:08
So what’s next? Oh, no, I have to admit you already. We, we dove into that to some degree in like, you know, at some point, grandparent hood has got to be the coolest thing. And I really look forward to that. But that’s a ways out. So what’s next? This next year taking Gabe and the family to his 50th state. The girls also have Idaho left. That’s all that they will have left and then they’ll have been to offset the state’s

Regan 59:35
Koi. Oh, wow. You really saved the big one for last.

Dr. Chad Johnson 59:40
I know. It’s just it’s a hard state to hit too. You know, like, we love Montana and then you have to go over the mountain range to get to Idaho. And then let’s see. So, I’m excited that I just finished coaching. My middle one Sophia, her last year of basketball. So All I have left is actually Daphne for coaching fifth and sixth grade. And then I’m done like with coaching in a formal setting like for ever. And what’s next is, oh, I have an associate coming in this next year, and he should be starting in the next month. I’m excited about that, and replicating the practice to include him in. And from there dialing in my like, number of days worked in the schedule and stuff like that to just, you know, cultivate it into the best. I like a garden, cultivating it into the best work day that I can, and making the most of, you know, every hour that I’m here, so that way I can book it out and enjoy family time. I don’t know, I think that might be the best that I could answer for now. I don’t know, you know, per se, the five year plan or anything like that. So

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 1:00:50
what’s the five year plan chat?

Dr. Chad Johnson 1:00:54
No, no, no, I’ll actually answer that. So like, I’ve talked with my I’ve talked with my family is seriously about running for some kind of political office. Yes. There we go.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 1:01:05
Come on now. Yeah,

Regan 1:01:06
no, why? Oh, this has been a dream in the making. Yes, it has been you and Donald Miller should run at the same time, because Donald also has political aspirations. Well,

Dr. Chad Johnson 1:01:15
but but he’s probably a more on a national level. And he’s got a big I’m talking like on a state kind of thing. So you know, I don’t need to crush it. You know, Baby steps, baby step. Sure. Sure. So for that. I want where we’ve decided as a family to wait until the kids are basically like graduated from high school, at least, which then gives me about a tenure. Also, I have a huge stack of books that is never ending that probably everyone has that. You know, like, I’d like to read. And oh, for our 20th anniversary, within the next five years. So for our our 20th anniversary, we’re going to take the whole family to Italy. And my big dream is I’d like to take off nine weeks in the summer and do Italy like basically the whole summer. And, and then like so right now. Like all of us are learning Italian. So that way we can make the most of our experience there. And so I’ve we’re doing that. So I don’t know, big stuff like that travel books. I’m getting into gardening. I’ve got a greenhouse coming in the spring that so? Yeah, just stuff like that. So those are some weird tangents of like long term plans. Yeah,

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 1:02:34
that’s awesome. All right. Yeah. Cultivating fruit cultivating vegetables cultivating life. Cultivate life. Call it Yeah, yeah. All right, The Grapes of Wrath

Dr. Chad Johnson 1:02:48
and antioxidants from stress.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 1:02:52
All right, you guys. Well, I want to say thank you for allowing me this opportunity today. This was an incredible opportunity. Chad. I love you, man. Thanks, buddy.

Dr. Chad Johnson 1:02:59
Love you too.

Dr. Jason Ehtessabian 1:03:00
It’s always for me so much fun for me. You know was last time when I did this. My wife walked by and saw me like laughing or something. She was like, Jason, whatever you were doing in there, do that doing it. We’re having so much fun in there. She’s like, keep doing it. What does that mean? You have to understand most of time when I come into my office, I’m sitting here working, you know, and so it’s kind of cool

Dr. Chad Johnson 1:03:23
landscape. Probably. She probably saw a younger you that you know, it gets kind of weeded out over time, you know, and so it’s good to break. stoicism,

Speaker 3 1:03:31
Joy. Joy. Yep. Joy, eternal joy eternal forevermore,

Regan 1:03:36
forevermore. Thank you for listening to another episode of everyday practices podcast. Chad and I are here every week. Thanks to our community of listeners just like you. And we’d love your help. It would mean the world if you can help spread the word by sharing this episode with a fellow dentist and leave us a review on iTunes or Spotify. Do you have an extraordinary story you’d like to share? Or feedback on how we can make this podcast even more awesome. Drop us an email at podcast at productive dentists.com And don’t forget to check out our other podcasts from productive dentist Academy at productive dentists.com/podcasts See you next week.