Finding Contentment in Dentistry (E.308)

 

“Contentment isn’t about happiness. It’s the quiet knowing that you’re finally aligned with yourself.”
– Brandi Marzolino

Brief Overview of the Episode

After nearly two decades in dental leadership and personal development, Brandi Marzolino learned that burnout often hides behind achievement. In this episode, she opens up about letting go of perfectionism and people-pleasing, building Courage & Joy at Work, and guiding others to reconnect with what truly matters. Through her story, she shows that peace is not found in doing more but in being whole.

What This Episode Reveals

• The hidden cost of hustle culture in dental leadership
• Why chasing validation never leads to peace
• The difference between happiness and true contentment
• How slowing down creates sustainable growth

What You’ll Learn

• How to recognize when your goals and your life are misaligned
• Steps to replace burnout with balance
• Why vulnerability is the key to leadership
• How inner calm strengthens team culture and patient care

If This Sounds Familiar

• You feel successful but drained
• Your team looks great on paper but lacks connection
• You crave more meaning and less motion in your work

Next Steps

To learn more about Brandi’s work, visit CourageAndJoyAtWork.com, explore the Empowered LeadHERship Experience, or listen to her podcast, The Real Talk of Dental.

 

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TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:03] Regan Robertson: listeners, do you ever run across someone sometime, and you might not have even met them for that long, or had a big interaction with them, but they’ve left an impact on you, and you keep thinking about that person? If you have, you are gonna understand exactly how I feel about introducing today’s guest, Brandi Marino.

[00:00:21] Regan Robertson: I was fortunate enough to meet her at an event several months ago, and since that time I’ve not been able to get Brandi out of my head. Why? Because when you meet someone who is living their passion and taking the brave steps to maybe step into some, you know what dookie and push through and get out on the other side and then be able to turn around and help others so that they can avoid the dukey at all costs, uh, that’s.

[00:00:50] Regan Robertson: That’s how I see Brandy, and when I see people like that, I just feel like this is a message to share with you because I know as a listener you were really, really interested in maybe [00:01:00] taking one little step forward to avoid the dookie and have a better life. So that is the honest intro. But Brandy Marino, uh, let me give you like her fancy like overview real quick.

[00:01:12] Regan Robertson: And then Brandy, I’m gonna introduce you so. An executive level dental business and professional development coach who helps dental business owners and, uh, small groups find peace and profit while putting people first. I think that I’ve seen Brandy’s work center on aligning leadership, operations, uh, team culture so that businesses really can flow instead of feel draining.

[00:01:38] Regan Robertson: Would you say that that’s accurate, brandy?

[00:01:41] Brandi Marzolino: Yes. Yeah. I love, I love everything you’re saying so far. Yeah.

[00:01:44] Regan Robertson: Okay, good. Uh, Brandi, you’re a powerhouse. You, you have, uh, three different ways you know, that you’re sharing yourself and your gifts with the world. Uh, you have courage and joy at work, which I know we’ll, we’ll dive into.

[00:01:57] Regan Robertson: And that is, that is your coaching element. [00:02:00] You have the Empowered Lead her ship experience for women in dental, and then you have this hot new podcast called The Real Talk of Dental. So, uh, I, I’m just really, I’m eager to have this conversation, Chad, by the way. Hello. Welcome to everybody practices.

[00:02:17] Dr. Chad Johnson: Ah, yes, let’s get into it, huh?

[00:02:21] Regan Robertson: Yes. So Brandy, talk to us about, about, um. Courage and joy first and foremost. I think that that’s, that’s really interesting. So can you share with the listeners a little bit about yourself and maybe your journey in what led you here to where you are today and, and like what made, what got you excited to help Dennis and, and small groups in particular around this theme?

[00:02:45] Brandi Marzolino: Yeah. Well I’m really grateful and excited to be here and you guys are super fun. So, uh, you’re definitely my kind of people, so I’m excited to have this conversation with you and, um, yeah. Yeah. And Chad, I know I’m just getting to know you [00:03:00] and Reagan too. Um, after when I met you the first time, also, I was very touched and moved by where you’re at in your journey and your commitment to, with health and wellness and everything that you’re committed to, and the.

[00:03:11] Brandi Marzolino: The big, the big leap you’re taking in the work that you’re doing. So the feeling is mutual as well. Um, and you have killer hair, which is always, uh, c bonus. I tell her that

[00:03:24] Dr. Chad Johnson: often. I tell her that often. No lie. I

[00:03:27] Brandi Marzolino: know. It’s amazing. Um. Yeah, I mean it was a very meandering path and the quick and dirty version is what often shocks people is my degrees originally are in geology of all things.

[00:03:40] Brandi Marzolino: So I have a master of science in geology and I studied, uh, the late place Toine Glaciation of the upper Truckee River Valley in the Lake Tahoe basin.

[00:03:51] Regan Robertson: Oh boy. There we go. We promised no tangents listeners, but this good luck.

[00:03:56] Dr. Chad Johnson: I’m not even gonna ask about it, but I love it.

[00:03:59] Regan Robertson: I know that’s really [00:04:00] cool, right?

[00:04:00] Brandi Marzolino: Yeah. Lived in a tent for six months. You know, I was out there when I was living in a tent, actually, when nine 11 happened, and I didn’t know what happened. So that’s the story for another day. I. But um, that kind of puts a timestamp on things and, but I like, you know, I say that because I always say geology taught me how to think and I was just born with sort of this holistic operational mindset.

[00:04:20] Brandi Marzolino: So I’m always seeing all parts of things. And that was one of the reasons I love geology so much, is that it integrated all parts and you had to tell a story. And, you know, integrated, when I say integrated all parts, it integrates all parts of science. You know, the earth is made up of a lot of things. And so you have to figure all that out to figure out, you know, what the heck happened and how do we get here?

[00:04:39] Brandi Marzolino: And then, uh, while I was living in my tent. This is a true story. Um. Earlier part of this is on my drive from the east coast, ’cause I’m from upstate New York. Went to school out in the state of Washington during that drive, saw industrial agriculture for the first time and it really blew me away. And I, you know, was like, I need to understand our food system.

[00:04:57] Brandi Marzolino: Like how, why, how, what is going on here? Like, [00:05:00] is this where our food comes from? And I wasn’t exposed to much as a kid, so I had no idea. And just to put it, you know, again. It’s mentioned nine 11, but also just another timestamp. Google was just coming out when I graduated college. They still had the I’m feeling Lucky button, and so I wasn’t I, yeah.

[00:05:17] Brandi Marzolino: Do you remember that? And I wasn’t into technology. I was a crunchy hippie. I was like anti-tech, and I still read books. And so I didn’t, I didn’t have a lot of access to get a lot of information. It was back when you had to like read things or talk to people to learn. And so I made my way to Washington State and I became this devout vegan, had no idea how to eat.

[00:05:38] Brandi Marzolino: Uh, and so I felt like crap and I couldn’t figure out like how to not eat animal products. So when I was living in my tent, um, in California, I stumbled, you know, I was out in town and I came across a book called Becoming a Vegetarian. And it blew me away because it taught me how to eat. And I was like, what food’s medicine like you are, what you eat?

[00:05:57] Brandi Marzolino: Food confining what? Protein car, what? So [00:06:00] I was learning all of this stuff. I became obsessed with wellness and nutrition and educating people on how to take care of themselves. ’cause I thought, well, if I don’t know this, other people won’t know this. So I finished out my degree and I was obsessed with wellness the entire time, and I eventually made my way back to New York State and.

[00:06:19] Brandi Marzolino: Making a very long story short, I ended up relocating down to New York City. I worked in environmental geology for a bit, but then I enrolled in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and became a certified holistic health coach because I really wanted to help people learn how to take care of themselves.

[00:06:33] Brandi Marzolino: And you know, holistic health is MINDBODY spirit connection. Again, it’s all parts of yourself, so it’s not any one thing, and you can’t green smoothie your way to happiness. Right. As I’m working with people, I’m noticing that a huge component of their just general unhappiness and disease in their body is a relationship to work.

[00:06:52] Brandi Marzolino: And because I had been moderately insulated the entire time through academia, I didn’t realize how. Unhappy people [00:07:00] were in their corporate work environments or just in their day to day. And I’m thinking, man, we have a epidemic in this country when it comes to leadership or how people are working. Like people hate their jobs.

[00:07:09] Brandi Marzolino: You know, this is like news to me ’cause I’m over here learning, uh, and if you look at my Clifton strengths learners, my number one, uh, strengths. Oh. So I’m just obsessed with learning stuff and. I eventually was like, all right, we gotta figure this out. Why do people, because I always go like, why? I wanna learn the next thing.

[00:07:25] Brandi Marzolino: Why do people, why are people so unhappy at work? And why do leaders suck? You know, what’s going on? So I started taking some leadership courses and through that work I ended up meeting somebody that was involved in dental. Uh, she was a dental consultant and she was complaining that they needed more help.

[00:07:41] Brandi Marzolino: And that was what had me end up in dentistry, which was just wild. And I thought I was just gonna be there for a. Like not long. I actually was looking to just earn some money ’cause I was living in New York City doing my hippy dippy thing. Um, I was working at yoga places, walking dogs, you know, working for a company that was linking [00:08:00]upstate New York farmers to bougie restaurants in New York City.

[00:08:02] Brandi Marzolino: Oh sure. And I was just piecemealing stuff together and. I was like, all right, maybe I really need to get a real JOB. And so I started working at this place and I, dentistry was news to me. I had no idea, but I also knew that it was like healthcare and I could see how many people were struggling. Then I’m also seeing, oh, these are people that are taking care of other people and they’re, they’re in pain, you know, and the leaders are in pain and they’re really struggling and they’re very unhappy.

[00:08:30] Brandi Marzolino: Like a lot of these people had what from the outside, looked like great lives, like what most people would aspire to have in life. But behind closed doors, when I was meeting with them on our calls, they were really struggling. Uh, they were super unhappy in their lives, their relationships were struggling, relationships with their kids were struggling.

[00:08:47] Brandi Marzolino: They were exhausted. And, uh, as I’m having these conversations, one of the things that just kept coming up for me was, wow, like this takes me an enormous amount of courage to have these conversations. [00:09:00] And I too was going through my own personal reckoning and I was doing a lot of personal development. It was when I first started getting around the sobriety community really learning and addressing my own trauma from my past and thinking like, okay, I got some serious issues I need to unpack here myself.

[00:09:17] Brandi Marzolino: And ’cause I’m a student of this work and I always will be as well. So through that, I, you know, I ended up moving on from that, uh, consulting group and decided to go out on my own and because I wanted to have different conversations. I think consulting has its place and it always will, but I wanted to. I was seeing the results weren’t sustainable because people weren’t addressing like their core issues and they weren’t addressing like the real desires.

[00:09:44] Brandi Marzolino: We were just kind of giving them a framework on how to earn more revenue at their practice, or how to talk to patients more successfully to close cases. All helpful stuff. But if you’re still hating your life internally, it’s not gonna sustain [00:10:00] itself. Right. Having a crash diet as a solution versus addressing like the core issue.

[00:10:06] Brandi Marzolino: And so I moved on and I just was thinking. It takes an enormous amount of courage for people to do this kind of work. And I always have deep, deep, deep admiration and respect for people who are open to confronting their issues and doing the inner work. Not everybody does it, uh, as a matter of fact, most people don’t because it is too scary.

[00:10:26] Brandi Marzolino: And the joy component is really, it gives you access to joy. So when you get through it and you’re on the other side of it, you can experience that level of joy and contentment, uh, not happiness. I’m always. Hesitant to say happy because happy is just one feeling out of many. But this sense of contentment, and that’s what I wanted to bring to people in the dental industry, was helping them not only do the business component of it and the strategy and the operations, because that’s my, you know, stupid human trick that I’m really good at is.

[00:10:55] Brandi Marzolino: Figuring out like, let’s, again, let’s get to the root of the issue. I’m very good. I was trained to think that way. [00:11:00] Um, but also integrating the personal development work. So I do that with leaders in offices. I do it with teams and um, leadership teams to just really help bring that cohesion together and have.

[00:11:11] Brandi Marzolino: Help people lead lives that are connected to what they really wanna pursue and what feels good to them. And then I created the Empowered Leadership for Women Leadership Experience for Women in Dental, because again, as I’m doing all this work, I’m noticing women have their own set of. Unique issues that are, uh, that I don’t see offered in the dental space as an opportunity to really help women, particularly in a safe space in an industry that can be very tight.

[00:11:38] Brandi Marzolino: So I wanted to offer that as a safe space for women to be able to work out some of the stuff that they’re working. In dental. And also I’m just a huge advocate for women feeling empowered and unleashed because I think that is, uh, women are often the ones behind the greatest change. And then the real Talk of Dental is a podcast that, uh, I’ve been dreaming up for a while [00:12:00] because I want to de-stigmatize a lot of the tough conversations that are happening behind closed doors.

[00:12:05] Brandi Marzolino: And I think dental can be, like I said, a little closed off, a little stiff, uh, a little judgemental, and. I don’t have any time for that because people are out there struggling and they’re in pain, and I want people to feel less alone and know that there’s a lot of people out there dealing with very similar issues, and I wanted to bring that forward.

[00:12:24] Brandi Marzolino: So I wanted to create a platform where we can have honest conversations and real dialogue about life and life and dentistry. Mm-hmm. So that’s where I’m at.

[00:12:34] Regan Robertson: Thank you. How, how do you, how do you, how do you bridge like the gigantic gap? Because I had time to spend with you, so I, I got to know you and that, that builds trust.

[00:12:45] Regan Robertson: So I think, I think like having the real taco of dental is a great pathway to that. How do you help people? How do you help them be able to help themselves? Meaning how do you, how do you guide them to getting to that place of vulnerability where they’re [00:13:00] willing to even address it? Like, for example, in a dental environment, you know, if I’m working on a brand for a dentist, there’s been times when I walk them down the path and then they have their own realization during the call.

[00:13:12] Regan Robertson: I don’t even really wanna be a dentist. And, and it takes, you know, time to get there. But then what do you do with that when you discover those things? And, and if I back up a little bit in your journey as you were talking about it, like if the foundation is broken, then it’s really hard to move an entire organization forward in the right way.

[00:13:31] Regan Robertson: So, so in all of your experience, and especially being a scientist, now that I know that. I mean, what kind of questions do you ask or have people self-reflect in the first place? ’cause you’ve gotta know there’s an issue before, you know, you’re, you’re reclaiming your, your courage and your joy and moving forward.

[00:13:50] Brandi Marzolino: Yeah. It’s a process and it takes time. I, you know. People open up to me pretty quickly, and I think part of it is I’m very open. [00:14:00] Mm-hmm. And I think there’s a sense of safety that people feel that I’m not going to judge them, uh, because I, you know, I’m, I share openly about my own stuff and there is a feeling of, oh, she, she.

[00:14:15] Brandi Marzolino: Get this, and I’ve noticed that a lot of people don’t have a lot of people to talk to, um, in this kind of format. Uh, some people, you know, don’t even feel comfortable talking to their spouses right about, you know, certain things. They’re just too afraid. And sometimes I become a person for them to really be able to open up to and share with.

[00:14:37] Brandi Marzolino: And of course I’m not a therapist or licensed professional on any of that. And if any of it went that way, I would obviously suggest otherwise that they seek other help. But for some people it’s just a platform for them to be able to just start talking, getting stuff out, and having somebody just listen and mirror back to them at times what, what I’m hearing and reminding them of [00:15:00] who they are.

[00:15:01] Brandi Marzolino: With that work, they’re able to start recognizing things for themselves. So I think just like you’re saying by asking certain questions as you’re doing marketing work, they might arrive at something. So if the question is like, how do I bridge the gap between them being completely unaware to being aware, it’s, it’s through them seeing the stuff, hearing the things they’re saying out loud.

[00:15:24] Brandi Marzolino: ’cause I, I think most people aren’t saying things out loud. They think a lot of stuff in their head. You know, and they don’t have those safe spaces to really talk out loud and they’ll start saying things out loud and they’ll go, oh my God. You know, and you know, I had a, do

[00:15:40] Dr. Chad Johnson: they, do you ever get ’em going?

[00:15:41] Dr. Chad Johnson: Wow. Am I a bad person for her? Even showed them this? Yeah. Yeah. Right.

[00:15:45] Brandi Marzolino: Yeah. That happens a lot actually. Yeah, it does. Or they’ll say like, I feel so bad saying this, or, right. How do I sound like an asshole? Or, uh, and. I’m always, I’m right there with you. I’m right there with you. And I think too, it might help them, you know, I [00:16:00] remind them also like I’m in 12 Step recovery, you know?

[00:16:03] Brandi Marzolino: And I’ve been for a long time, and I’ve been around the recovery scene for like 20 years and I’ve heard a lot of stuff and I’m in there with all different types of people from all walks of life and. There’s very little that shocks me at this point that anyone says out loud. And I think that the, the fact that I’m hearing all different stories, all different things that people have experienced in their life, uh, it doesn’t, I’m not, if somebody shares something with me, I’m not going, oh my God.

[00:16:36] Brandi Marzolino: What?

[00:16:37] Dr. Chad Johnson: It’s a repackage, it’s a repackaged scenario of the same category that other people might fit into. Right? Yeah. I, I mean like, I’ve got a buddy and it’s just like. A lot of times it’s like, man, I have these problems with my mom and, you know, growing up and this and that, and it’s just like, okay, so you have mommy issues, you know?

[00:16:56] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yeah. And, and you could fit not to fit the whole [00:17:00] person into that category, but you can fit their problem into a broad category of, okay, that’s parental issues or, or, you know, stuff like that. You get what I’m saying?

[00:17:09] Brandi Marzolino: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you can also flip it. I mean, I had, um. Know, I’ve been working with a, a gentleman who owned a very, very successful practice and he, you know, was doing a phenomenal job in, in the world of dentistry.

[00:17:24] Brandi Marzolino: And on our very first call, he goes, I absolutely, I dunno what, how many swear words I can say on here, but he goes, I absolutely. F and hate dentistry. Oh man, I hate that. I’m a dentist. I hate dentistry. He had a lot of hate inside of him and a lot of anger. I mean, it wasn’t true hate. He just had a lot of anger.

[00:17:40] Brandi Marzolino: And we all know underneath anger is fear and sadness and grief, right? Anger is just a protective mechanism. And just through having conversations with him. ’cause I, one of the first questions I usually ask when I start working with uh, folks is, so, so what were your parents like? What was it like growing up?

[00:17:58] Brandi Marzolino: And through some of that [00:18:00] we learned that his dad was a very, very successful doctor, uh, top of his field. Uh, turned into, turned out to be an academic, taught at universities and very prestigious, and he worked a lot. And, uh, because of that, he always felt less than because he was, quote unquote just a dentist.

[00:18:19] Brandi Marzolino: And because of that, he hated himself because he never became what his father wanted him to be. ’cause his father had made some comments about him being a dentist. And then through some further conversations, he was like, well, my dad was never around. He worked constantly. He was a total workaholic. And when he was home, he was very, very mean.

[00:18:39] Brandi Marzolino: And he was a harsh disciplinarian. And I always said to myself, I wanted, I didn’t wanna be like my dad because I wanted a life of balance. And then we started unpacking what his everyday life was like, and he had this realization of, oh my God, I created the life I wanted. And for him to be able to just recognize that and realize that he chose [00:19:00] this path and it actually worked and he was succeeding at it, you know, and he was able to be home for his kids and their sports and stuff like that.

[00:19:09] Brandi Marzolino: It just had this complete light went off in him and it just freed him up completely. And that happened in like a few weeks, you know, and it’s, and it was just asking, just being with him. Because he doesn’t have, how many safe spaces does he have to go around saying, you know, I really resent

[00:19:26] Dr. Chad Johnson: my, yeah, you can’t.

[00:19:27] Brandi Marzolino: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:19:28] Regan Robertson: Well, bringing it to like bringing it to the surface is one step, but that to me actually is like, that’s very shocking. Like that’s a paradigm shift. That is a big perspective shift. What, what did it do for his anger when he had that realization? Like, oh my gosh, I’ve actually created the life that I wanted.

[00:19:44] Regan Robertson: Did it make it easier? Was he, was he a practicing dentist? Was it Yes. So did he continue? Like Yeah, walk us. I’m so curious. Did he, did he stop being angry? Did he go back to practicing and be okay with it? Like

[00:19:56] Brandi Marzolino: Yeah, he did. His anger subsided a lot. [00:20:00] And I mean it’s, this is an old wound for him, you know, with his dad.

[00:20:04] Brandi Marzolino: So obviously it wasn’t gonna happen overnight. But we even played around with the idea of, you know, Hey, what if we just. Uh, experiment with, this is how you’re heaven on earth, right? Every day you go in it’s heaven on earth. What would it be like if you knew that this was already heaven? Right? Because he also was a spiritual guy, and, um, he’s like, okay, I’m gonna, I’m gonna practice this.

[00:20:26] Brandi Marzolino: So he, he practiced it for about a week where every day he walked into his office and was like, this is heaven on earth, you know, this is heaven. This is, this is what it’s gonna be like. And so. It had this really cool experience for him because he started looking at everything in a completely different way, and it did, it really alleviated a lot of the anger and frustration for him.

[00:20:46] Brandi Marzolino: And, um, he’s doing some cool stuff now for sure. But, uh, and he is not, he doesn’t own that practice anymore. So he ended up, yeah. So he ended up realizing that he had climbed the mountain [00:21:00]and he had achieved what he wanted to achieve, and he just had this feeling of fulfillment because part, also, part of his resentment too, of why he hated dentistry so much was he felt like he was, uh, still striving to make his father proud.

[00:21:16] Brandi Marzolino: And then when he let that go, he was like, oh, I can do whatever the hell I want. I don’t need to give myself to anybody anymore.

[00:21:23] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yeah.

[00:21:24] Brandi Marzolino: And he want, he just wanted more time. I mean, he was, he, he did really well for himself financially, so he had a lot more opportunity than he thought he did. But he was still trying to impress somebody.

[00:21:35] Brandi Marzolino: And what’s interesting is his dad had no idea and the age gap now, I mean it’s, you know, so many decades later, his dad’s completely like. Yeah, you’re doing great. You know, it was like these conversations he had when he was much younger that impacted him. That was, do

[00:21:51] Dr. Chad Johnson: you know what would be really cool too?

[00:21:53] Dr. Chad Johnson: Is his team at work, either hopefully consciously or subconsciously [00:22:00] recognizing that it’s like, man, he’s a different guy. Mm-hmm. Like, you know, like he was better to work with. While he was still at work and stuff like that, that’d be cool.

[00:22:11] Brandi Marzolino: Yeah,

[00:22:11] Dr. Chad Johnson: yeah,

[00:22:12] Brandi Marzolino: yeah, yeah. From what I gathered, I never worked directly with his team, uh, with the relationship that we had, but from what I gathered from him, his team did have a lot of respect and admiration for him and really enjoyed working with him.

[00:22:24] Brandi Marzolino: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

[00:22:27] Regan Robertson: I’m, I’m curious, since you have, uh, since you have the, the leadership experience for women also, so you have that, that group there, and then you work one-on-one with people. What are the tensions that you’re seeing, like right now? Is there anything that, that bubbles up to the surface as a pattern?

[00:22:42] Regan Robertson: We all know burnout. That’s kind of like, uh, you know, the stereotypical, you know, umbrella that goes over everything. But are there anything, like, are there some things in particular or specifically that you see coming up? Um, lately.

[00:22:58] Brandi Marzolino: I mean, I think [00:23:00] the exhaustion for sure, like you’re saying, is really common.

[00:23:04] Brandi Marzolino: And I mean, if I go a layer deeper with all of that, it’s, I just think a chronic thing that most people are butting up against repeatedly is living outside of ourselves. Like there’s so much, and what I mean by that is. There’s a lack of like groundedness and rootedness and self-awareness. And we are such a stimulated culture right now with so much external stimulation.

[00:23:32] Brandi Marzolino: I mean, and I, I’m not over here living in like an ashram unplugged clearly. Um, but it’s like between our phones, between the 7,500 streaming channels, between, you know, uh, I mean it’s everything. It’s everywhere. Right. I mean, we’re being hit with information and data and intel all the time, and there’s so, and the self-help movement is just, it’s outta control.

[00:23:57] Brandi Marzolino: I mean, it’s, it’s flipped [00:24:00] it, it’s flipped on its head at this point, and it’s lost the point. Talk to us more

[00:24:05] Regan Robertson: about that. Go deeper. Because you said earlier you said like the green can’t make you happy, or it doesn’t lead to happiness. Like there’s always something you can be doing. Something you can download.

[00:24:16] Regan Robertson: Something you can read. Like what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Tell me how you define It’s gone too far.

[00:24:24] Brandi Marzolino: Yeah, I mean, it’s just too much. It’s too much. I mean, there’s always some kind of supplement. There’s always some kind of routine. There’s always something like mind hack, there’s some shortcut.

[00:24:34] Dr. Chad Johnson: Butter, cold plunge.

[00:24:38] Dr. Chad Johnson: I’m not knocking it, but it’s just like,

[00:24:40] Brandi Marzolino: it’s Yeah, they’re, they’re, yeah. And you know, it’s just, um, it’s, and you have all these people that are just telling you these extreme things to do. Like for what? Like what are we, are we trying so hard to get to this place of like pure enlightenment and that we’re not gonna [00:25:00]experience any.

[00:25:01] Brandi Marzolino: Pain and we’re just gonna be like so dialed in that, you know, we’ll just be writing code while we sleep. I mean, I don’t, I don’t know what the point is where to, and I got wrapped up in it too. I mean, that’s how I started, I started in the holistic health movement when you still had to go to co-ops to get, you know, organic food.

[00:25:19] Brandi Marzolino: And I love my co-ops. Shout out to Yeah, I know. Shout out and shout out to the local farmers for fighting. Thank you. Fight. Yeah. I love farmers so much. If you can find a local farm Yes, I know. I know,

[00:25:31] Dr. Chad Johnson: uh, I, let me flex for a minute that I’m green. I’m green housing. Um, so

[00:25:37] Brandi Marzolino: what are you greening though? Is the question

[00:25:40] Dr. Chad Johnson: like everything?

[00:25:41] Dr. Chad Johnson: I’m, I’m pretty, no, wait, hold on. I need to clarify. Are

[00:25:45] Regan Robertson: you kidding me? I

[00:25:46] Dr. Chad Johnson: need to clarify. I, I was like, we, no, the fruits you

[00:25:49] Regan Robertson: planting over there,

[00:25:50] Dr. Chad Johnson: all the fruits and veggies, not the stuff you smoke. Sorry.

[00:25:54] Regan Robertson: I totally, that’s amazing, man. That’s amazing.

[00:25:58] Dr. Chad Johnson: Just thought I’d wait for a minute. Think.

[00:25:59] Regan Robertson: [00:26:00] Yeah,

[00:26:00] Brandi Marzolino: that’s a big flex.

[00:26:00] Brandi Marzolino: That takes a while. Uh,

[00:26:02] Dr. Chad Johnson: I picked my first raspberry, uh, yesterday, so just thought I’d, you know, bring that kind of a big deal.

[00:26:11] Brandi Marzolino: You’re a big deal. That is a big deal. You are. Yeah. Thanks. You’re, yeah, I mean that’s, that’s, yeah. That’s, that’s killing it for sure. Um. Yeah. I think, uh, with the self-help movement, it’s like everyone is just so distracted, right?

[00:26:27] Brandi Marzolino: It’s just another form of distraction keeping us out of ourselves. Where, and I mean, listen, it’s like you can get on TikTok and find any kind of supplement somebody’s telling you to make, to have like superhuman powers. Sure. And it’s like, how superhuman can we actually be? And the reality is, is it might not work for us.

[00:26:43] Brandi Marzolino: It might not work for our constitution, it might not work for what we need. And it’s, we we’re not. Communicating with our bodies and we’re not checking in. And it can get very, very overwhelming where we become so concerned about biohacking everything [00:27:00] that we’re not even present until what our bodies are saying, what, how we’re feeling, uh, the situation at hand.

[00:27:06] Brandi Marzolino: It’s just, you know, and the bro culture is just like so intense and. And women fall into that too. I mean, I, I can slip into bro culture very easily. I’m half bro, I think, but get me on the right day. I’ll row down. Um, but yeah, so I think because of that. So many people don’t have cell. They, they don’t know what they want.

[00:27:31] Brandi Marzolino: They don’t know why they’re hurting. They don’t know why they’re in pain. And I, and I mean physical pain even too, or they’re not, um, they’re not connected with themselves. And so what that ends up causing is a lot of agitation.

[00:27:42] Regan Robertson: Yeah.

[00:27:43] Brandi Marzolino: And people are walking around, highly agitated

[00:27:46] Regan Robertson: that can lead to chronic inflammation.

[00:27:48] Brandi Marzolino: Chronic Inval Nation talk

[00:27:50] Dr. Chad Johnson: about agitated. I mean, man, the last five years since COVID, people just seemed over agitated.

[00:27:57] Brandi Marzolino: Yeah. Yeah. It can be very hostile out [00:28:00]there, right? Yeah. And I see that, and then it’s like, you know, this intensity, this overdrive this. More and more, more like we are so addicted to more.

[00:28:10] Brandi Marzolino: We’re so addicted to, uh, performance and doing and being productive and you know, the productivity culture that we are just soaked in is so intense. And so I see a lot of that, I think, and I really wish people would slow down. I know that is probably nails on a chalkboard to most people, especially those that are listening to this.

[00:28:33] Brandi Marzolino: If we just slow down and check in and get present with ourselves, I think we will find so much more clarity. And then again, it’s having the courage to make those choices that probably don’t look sexy on paper or look sexy to people on Instagram or LinkedIn or wherever you’re posting these days. Um,

[00:28:53] Dr. Chad Johnson: like, like, Hey everyone, I slept more last night.

[00:28:57] Brandi Marzolino: What everyone? I did nothing this weekend. [00:29:00] I literally did nothing.

[00:29:04] Dr. Chad Johnson: I deleted a few things off my calendar

[00:29:07] Regan Robertson: when someone’s able to make that aniel like shift and, and they’re able to recognize it and, and. Be more present. How do they end up showing up as a leader in the practice? Like how does that ripple out?

[00:29:20] Regan Robertson: Because like you, we haven’t even touched on the systems and the operations and the, you know, the, the technical data logistics of a practice. But, but staying in, in the realm of being in touch with yourself and knowing what you really want and the story that you told about the doctor, that once he had that shift in perspective, all of a sudden that anger was able to feel seen and heard and get out and.

[00:29:41] Regan Robertson: He could move on. Which by the way, I think that’s something that is worth far more than just a few minutes. Like that actually is a huge transformation that is very difficult to achieve, I think. And in fact, to have it happen in a few weeks is, is surprising. ’cause it’s just, that’s really big. What do you see as the ripple effect as someone [00:30:00] in a leadership position is able to make that shift to their team and their patients?

[00:30:04] Brandi Marzolino: Or is there any Yeah, I mean, I think. This stuff is slow, you know? It really is. And I think that’s what’s really cool about this process is it’s slow, but then all of a sudden there’s like a quantum leap. Mm-hmm. Right? And where you’re doing the work. And one of the things, I mean, I’m a huge advocate for is consistency.

[00:30:27] Brandi Marzolino: Because again, we live in a society that wants quick results. And I’m not a quick results person because again, it’s not sustainable. Right. So if you’re looking for like a total transformation or a complete overhaul or to have all your problems and be happy overnight, like, well, I’m definitely not the person for you.

[00:30:46] Brandi Marzolino: Also, you’re just gonna be severely disappointed. You’re gonna spend a ton of money on so many coaches and consultants or systems or processes or tech or whatever. I mean, how many doctors out there have invested in tech that just gets dusty and never used? [00:31:00] And they’re on this idea of like, oh yeah, this is gonna solve everything, you know?

[00:31:03] Brandi Marzolino: And then they, it never gets used. Or they use it for a little while and they go back to their old ways, or they get software and the software’s gonna solve everything and then they go back to their old ways. ’cause it just doesn’t work. And that’s just kind of how we are all the time. And if we just slow down and check in, the idea is, you know, what you end up seeing is more intentional action within the practice.

[00:31:23] Brandi Marzolino: You know, more intentional action with like, okay. What do we need to address here? It’s like, it’s just that checking in and slowing down and actually making systemic change versus quick bandaids or quick fixes, uh, because again, that’s not sustainable and who’s, who’s gonna manage that? And it’s just gonna go away.

[00:31:43] Brandi Marzolino: Any, you know, it’ll, it’ll go away anyway in no time. But I think it’s the pausing and looking holistically, I mean, I know I keep saying that word, but you really have to look at holistically what is going on as an organization or what is going on as an office. And how can we get to the root of this problem and really make intentional [00:32:00] strategic moves that are gonna help long term?

[00:32:05] Brandi Marzolino: And I think that’s the biggest difference because when you really check in, slow down, pause, brave, you know, is this the right move? And again, I talk to doctors too that are in emerging groups and what do they wanna do? They wanna hurry up and grow.

[00:32:19] Dr. Chad Johnson: Mm-hmm.

[00:32:20] Brandi Marzolino: And I’m like, you sure about that? Because are you set up to buy 10 practices this year?

[00:32:26] Brandi Marzolino: Because, lemme tell you something, if you don’t have your system set up properly and you go out and buy 10 practices, uh, you’re gonna be one miserable person, right? Mm-hmm. Within the next two years. And your marriage probably won’t survive it either, and your kids are gonna go, where the heck is mom or dad?

[00:32:45] Brandi Marzolino: Mm-hmm. And it’s just, and it’s not fun. They think growing is fun. Growing is not fun. In prac, you know, when you’re growing practices, when you’re growing your business, like there can be some fun involved in it, but it has to be intentional, fun, but it’s a lot of work, and [00:33:00] that’s what I really want people to get present with.

[00:33:01] Brandi Marzolino: Like, is this what you really want? Tell me what you want your life to look like. Because what you want your life to look like and the direction you’re heading in, they don’t match. You’re gonna have to pick

[00:33:11] Regan Robertson: Ooh, underline. Yeah, because that, because how many times have we seen that we think though, and, and we include, you think it’s gonna go this direction, like that’s gonna get me the life that I want.

[00:33:20] Regan Robertson: But is it really? And having somebody reflect back that. And I think also you saying, you know, growth isn’t always fun. I mean, I am not a practice owner, Chad is, I’m sure Chad can relate to what it feels like to have multiple practices. Not at all, not being fun.

[00:33:37] Dr. Chad Johnson: I’m over it

[00:33:38] Brandi Marzolino: over while the springs come true.

[00:33:40] Dr. Chad Johnson: How? How about I’m over it? Yeah.

[00:33:43] Brandi Marzolino: I’m gonna give you a medal at the end of this and, uh, tell you that you were good enough.

[00:33:47] Dr. Chad Johnson: I’ll bite into that medal like it’s my gold bronze. I’ll take it. Yeah,

[00:33:52] Brandi Marzolino: yeah. You win. You and hey,

[00:33:54] Dr. Chad Johnson: I’ll tell you, Reagan, this is a lot.

[00:33:57] Dr. Chad Johnson: Tangential, uh, [00:34:00] cousins of the last podcast we did.

[00:34:02] Regan Robertson: It is, it is, and I think it’s, I think it’s unintentionally by, by to sign, like subconscious design. Don’t you think? I mean, we’re heading into the holidays and it’s stressful. Even more so than, uh, you know, than the normal Well, every time No, it feels like everything is is like hurried now.

[00:34:19] Regan Robertson: Everything is hurried and yeah. Costco is selling Christmas stuff in, in August and it’s like you have to just, we’re already Halloween. Who knows? Like past that one. I mean, we don’t even, we’re gonna get over things. You drove

[00:34:31] Brandi Marzolino: fast.

[00:34:32] Regan Robertson: Yeah. It’s just go, go, go, go, go. And, um. So I don’t, I don’t know Chad. Yeah, we just had Dr.

[00:34:37] Regan Robertson: Eric Eron, who boxed breathe with us on the podcast.

[00:34:41] Brandi Marzolino: Oh yes. He’s incredible, right? Yeah.

[00:34:43] Dr. Chad Johnson: So, br Brandy, talk to me something that we talked about, um, on the last podcast, but talk to me about your idea of contentment and what that looks like for people that you work with.

[00:34:59] Brandi Marzolino: Peace. [00:35:00] Really, I, I, it’s this, it’s this knowing, uh, you know, this inner peace where there’s a knowing. That’s what, that’s what I ha have, have experienced in being content. And that’s what I want for the folks that I work with. And a lot of ’em achieve that. Some of ’em don’t. Some of them are just continuing to unpack and work through stuff, and it’s a really, really long process.

[00:35:29] Brandi Marzolino: And just knowing, I mean, it took me a really, really long time to get here and it also took a lot of help and a lot of support. And it also took a willingness for, from my end to just fully surrender to going, okay, what I’m doing isn’t working and. Not everyone has that because our minds are so fricking powerful and they’re so deceiving and they’re so, so talented at protecting us from pain that they can justify our [00:36:00] minds, can justify anything.

[00:36:01] Dr. Chad Johnson: It’s true

[00:36:02] Brandi Marzolino: and it’s really incredible. I see it so often too on LinkedIn, like some people just post constantly about. They, they’re stuff, I’m, I’m trying not to give away names here, but it’s like, and I’m just looking at it and I’m like, I wonder if they know that peop, you know, some people looking at this is like, dang man, that guy, that gal is chasing something.

[00:36:28] Dr. Chad Johnson: So David Goggins, we were just talking about him. I mean, you know who I’m talking about.

[00:36:33] Regan Robertson: I didn’t know all of him. Yeah,

[00:36:34] Dr. Chad Johnson: yeah. Right. Uh,

[00:36:36] Regan Robertson: I don’t know. Are we, are we get, are we at the, get hard again? Is this the get hard guy? Stay hard. Get hard. I, yeah, yeah.

[00:36:42] Dr. Chad Johnson: It’s something hard. It’s just all the time at once.

[00:36:47] Dr. Chad Johnson: Right? All the time. Stay 100%, 24% or right, but like brand, you get that like, like some, somebody’s watching him going, man, you have issues. And he’s accomplished a [00:37:00] lot, but he’s also just so. It’s just like, dude, like maybe you need to talk to a therapist and cry it out. Like,

[00:37:07] Brandi Marzolino: or you need a hug.

[00:37:08] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yes. My goodness.

[00:37:10] Dr. Chad Johnson: Like,

[00:37:10] Brandi Marzolino: yeah, who let you know?

[00:37:11] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yeah. It just, he seems like he’s chasing everything and all the while leaving everyone in the dust and pushing everyone away. Yeah. And I think he looks at it and he is just like, man. ’cause in his book he talks about at the, you know, like every few chapters, he’s like, someday when I face God, I want him to go.

[00:37:29] Dr. Chad Johnson: Wow, that’s some, you know, that’s some impressive human, I didn’t even think that that was possible. Like that’s one, one tough mother effort and stuff like that, you know, and it’s just like, dude, I mean like, it seems like you’ve got some issues you need to work through just by saying that, you know, it’s.

[00:37:46] Brandi Marzolino: Yeah. If you’re gonna be life is to impress God, like, I don’t know. You got, that’s such’s a tall order, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I do like get that question of [00:38:00] like, um, like. Peace, you know, just feeling okay where there’s not this, this chronic drive to prove or, uh, hustle. And then also, you know, just on the, on the average, like you’re gonna have your low days, you’re gonna have your high days, you’re gonna have all kinds of feelings.

[00:38:19] Brandi Marzolino: But if the middle ground is that you’re at peace with yourself and you feel that connection to yourself, uh, that’s, that’s my hope for people is to experience that.

[00:38:33] Regan Robertson: Brandi Dentistry needs all of you. That what with what you’re willing to give within your parameters to keep you at your own peace. I, I think that this has been such an enlightening time with you today, and you’ve given me a lot to think about.

[00:38:47] Regan Robertson: Which means listeners, I know you have a lot to think about too. Um. It’s really important work. It’s really, really necessary work to help people stay grounded and, and connected and calm and at peace. It, it can, it [00:39:00] can, it feels like it is the elusive thing that we are chasing and, and perhaps by looking inward, we can actually get to where we’re trying to go.

[00:39:07] Regan Robertson: So it might not be out there, it might be inside. A

[00:39:10] Brandi Marzolino: hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. You guys are red. Thanks for having this conversation with me.

[00:39:15] Regan Robertson: How do people get in touch with you? We have the real talk, right? We have the real talk of dental, so Go, that’s on Spotify, right? iTunes. All the places.

[00:39:25] Brandi Marzolino: It’s on all the places.

[00:39:26] Brandi Marzolino: Also on YouTube, and uh, yeah, you can find me on Instagram, Brandy, B-R-A-N-D-I, Marino, M-A-R-Z-O-L-I-N-O. On Instagram and on LinkedIn. That’s where I hang out the most, so find me there.

[00:39:39] Regan Robertson: What’s your, what is your professional website?

[00:39:44] Brandi Marzolino: Courage. enjoy@work.com.

[00:39:49] Regan Robertson: Courage. joy@work.com. Mm-hmm. Very thank thanks for joining.

[00:39:55] Regan Robertson: Yes, very great to have you. Thank you. [00:40:00] Thank you for listening to another episode of Everyday Practices Podcast. 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.

[00:40:18] Regan Robertson: Drop us an email at podcast. At productive dentist.com. And don’t forget to check out our other podcasts from Productive Dentist academy@productivedentist.com slash podcasts. See you next week.