Ep. 211 – Requested Replay: “If You Say You Can’t, Then You Must”

“If you say you can’t, then you must.” ~Dr. Bruce B. Baird

In this replay episode of The Productive Dentist Podcast, Dr. Bruce B. Baird delves into a philosophy that has shaped his life and career: “If you say you can’t, then you must.” Dr. Baird explains how adopting this mindset can transform your approach to both personal and professional challenges, making the impossible achievable.

Stay Tuned for:

• The origin of Dr. Baird’s philosophy and how it has guided his career and personal life.
• Practical examples of overcoming self-imposed limitations in dentistry.
• The importance of continuous learning and practice to master new skills.
• How to build confidence and achieve high productivity in your dental practice.

As you listen to this episode, ask yourself the following:

• What self-imposed limitations have I set for myself in my practice or personal life?
• How can I reframe these limitations into challenges that I must overcome?
• What steps can I take to improve my skills and achieve higher productivity?
  

Regan Robertson 00:00
Hi, doctor. Regan Robertson, CCO of 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? And 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 productivedentist.com/workshop. That’s productivedentist.com/workshop to secure your seats now.

Dr. Bruce Baird  01:00
You get to something where you think, I can, you know, I’m not a good businessman. I’m just not good at business. Well, that means you’ve got to get good at business. That’s your challenge. That’s what is going to make you better than you were last year. Hello everyone. This is Dr. Bruce B. Baird and you’re listening to the Productive Dentist Podcast. In this podcast, I will give you everything that I’ve learned over the last 40 years in dentistry, working with thousands of dentists. I’ll tell you, it’s not that my way is the only way. It’s just one that has worked extremely well for me and, and I’d love to share that with you. So you too can enjoy the choices and lifestyle the productivity allows more time for things you love, increased pay, better team relationships, and lowered stress. Let’s get into it with this week’s episode of the Productive Dentist Podcast.

Dr. Bruce Baird 1:49
Hi, this is Dr. Bruce Baird with the Productive Dentist Podcast  and today we are going to talk about something that. You know, I’ve been kind of following my, my whole career, my whole life. I don’t remember who it was that told me, or when I heard this, my kids have heard me say it a hundred times. Uh, and, and the statement is, if you say that you can’t, then you must and when I heard that, you know, I was, I was like, well, I, I can’t hit a curve ball. You know, I was playing, playing baseball. I can’t hit a curve ball. Well, if you say that, then again, I don’t remember where I heard it, but then I must. So what I did is I practiced and practiced and practiced until I could hit a curve ball. Uh, my kids would say, “I can’t do that.” You know, I remember working with Micah on math. She goes, “Dad, I just can’t do that,” and I said, “Well, if you say that you can’t, then you must,” and so she would roll her eyes and then we would start working on, you know, working on math and she became very, very good at math and I think everyone can take a lesson from that, you know? And the reason I say it is because when you say you can’t do something, you’re basically limiting opportunities. You know, uh, or you say, “I’m not, I’m, I’m not good at doing this, or I’m not good at playing golf.” Well, if it’s important to you now, if you’re not good at playing golf and you don’t like golf and don’t, and you can’t stand golf, then you don’t have to worry about this but if you say, “You know, I can’t do something then,” and it’s something you’d like to do, then what you do is you must do it and meaning I’m going to work at it. I’m going to practice. I’m going to do better and how does that affect us in dentistry? You know, when I first started, I said, you know, “I’m just not good with teams. I’m just not good with employees,” and I did that for 15 years, you know, if, if I say now that I can’t work with employees, then I must work with them. I must find better ways. I must find, uh, yeah, I must, I must learn. I must take whatever courses I need to take, um, uh, you know, across the board. Uh, I’ve always said, you know, I hate doing root canals and it’s not that I wasn’t good at them, I just didn’t enjoy it. You know, I went to all the courses. I became very good at doing them very effectively and efficiently. It’s just, I didn’t, didn’t really like doing them. So that’s different. You know, if I said I can’t do a crown prep. Uh, in under 20 minutes, you know, which remember you could take a high-speed handpiece, electric handpiece and cut a tooth and a half in 30 seconds. So you ought to be able to do a crown prep in less than 20 minutes.

Dr. Bruce Baird 4:55
Um, in the old days, there were guys who were teaching crown preps in less than five minutes in less than 60 seconds but the bottom line is, if you’re saying, you know, I can’t do something within a 20-minute period, but you feel like it’s something that’s possible, then my suggestion to you is figure it out, learn, uh, you know, watch others, watch videos. There’s so much stuff now. Uh, back in the day, we didn’t have YouTube. We didn’t have all this digital Uh, learning, you know, to watch somebody do certain things and now you can find, you know, all types of different procedures that can be done. You can say, you know, “I don’t like doing veneers,” and that’s very different than saying, “I really can’t do them to where they look well, they look good or they, they, I can’t do them, uh, to the, to the level of, of, uh, excellence that I want to be able to do them.” Well, that’s the perfect time to say, “Well, I must learn to do that,” especially if it’s something you would enjoy doing, changing  people’s lives, changing their smiles. It’s a big deal and so, uh, I think all of us, um, that have a philosophy of next year, I’m going to be better than I am this year, which I, I’ve done for pretty much my whole career. I’ve always thought I’m a better dentist today than I was last year. At the same time, and even though I put the handpiece down, I honestly believe because I’ve continued to read and research and look at the new digital equipment, everything I do believe that even though I haven’t picked up a handpiece, I’m better this year than I was last because of all of the different things that I’m learning and picking up and so, um, a good example is, “Well, I can never do 2, 000 an hour like Bruce, you know?” Um, and I thought, well, I could never do more than 2, 300 an hour. 

Dr. Bruce Baird 07:00
That was kind of how PDA was started. I don’t think I could ever do more than 2, 300 an hour but when I found out, I didn’t really push myself. When I got up to 300 an hour, in which many people say, “I don’t know how you can do that and do quality dentistry.” Well, working efficiently and doing bigger treatment plans and having better marketing and having a great team. Don’t, don’t shortcut yourself because it’s not you that’s going to be doing 2000 hour. It’s your system. It’s the team that’s around you. If you say that you can’t. Then you must, and I will tell you that philosophy can take you lots of places you never thought you’d be able to go. Um, again, me saying, you know, “I don’t ever see me doing 2300 an hour. Wonder what that will look like.” It didn’t mean I couldn’t do it but I was going, “Man, I’m just not sure if I could ever get there.” Well, when I got there, I was like, well, that really wasn’t that hard. Um, and as, as my productivity prior continued to grow over the next few years, you know, when I put the hand piece up, I was at the highest production levels in my entire career. I was doing over 4, 000 an hour, 4, 200, I think 4, 300. And you know, that’s, that’s 32 to 35, 000 a day. If you say that you can’t, then you must. If you say it’s going to be hard, well, yeah, you’re going to be right, you know, but when you say can’t, that’s when, that’s when my kids would say, “Dad, I can’t do that. Dad,” well, let’s just step back a little bit. Let’s figure out why you can’t. Do you have the physical ability to be able to do it? Well, yeah. Then why do you use the word can’t.? Is it mean because it’s going to be too hard for you? Is it going to be that you don’t want to put in the time and the work to be able to hit a curveball or to be able to hit the jump shot or to be able to hit free throws at a certain percentage or to be able to, you know, deal in anything and it doesn’t just have to be a sport but, you know, I hear him say that. Well, I hear doctors. All the time saying, “Well, I could never do what you’re doing.” Well, okay, what you’re either saying is one of two things. You’re either saying, “I could never do what you’re doing, Bruce, because you’re so much better than I am.” Well, I can promise you that’s not true or you’re saying, “I could never do it the way you do it, Bruce, because I’m not willing to put in the time and effort.” Well, those are two different statements.

Dr. Bruce Baird 9:38
So what I don’t want you to do, if you don’t want to put the time and effort in, then you’re, you’re fine. You are going to be where you’re going to be but if you step back and say, “I could never do it like,” you know, name a dentist out there that is one of the top dentists in the country. You know,”I could never do things like John Coyce. I could never do things like Franksburg. I could never do it like whoever, uh, never do implants like a room guard. I could never do implants like. Like, uh, you know, Carl Misch,” but that doesn’t mean that you can’t strive to be the best that you can be and you’re going to find that you’re going to end up somewhere that you really never thought you’d be, which is what’s so fun to me about dentistry. It’s what’s so fun about life. You know, right now I’m going through a process. I’m, I’ve been starting to play a little more golf. Um, I’m usually a once a week golfer, but I’ve been picking it up a little. I played twice this week and my game’s getting better, but I can’t hit my sandwich. So I hit a good drive. I’m hitting a sandwich right in front of the, right in front of the green, or I’ve got maybe 120 yards, 110, 105 and I have these different wedges that go different distances and I’m sitting here going. I can’t hit him. Well, and I sure enough, if you believe you can’t, then you can’t, you know, there, there’s lots of old adages about that. You know, if you can’t, if you say you can’t do something, then more than likely, you’re not going to be able to do it but what I’m saying is, “I can’t hit my wedges,” but the next couple of weeks when I’m not traveling, I’ll be in Palm Beach the next three days and I’m going to be lecturing in Albuquerque this weekend coming up. But if I say I can’t hit my wedges, I’ve got to, and I’ve got access to a track man simulator. I’ve got a great teacher and instructor, and I told him I’m having trouble hitting them, but I’m, and I’m saying I can’t hit them. Well, that means I must hit them. You know what I mean, because. I mean, it’s going to save me three or four shots around. Is that important to me? Well, obviously it is and I’m saying, yes, it is important.

Dr. Bruce Baird 11:59
I want to play if I’m going to be out on the golf course, I want to play the best of my ability. And you know, I’m not going to be shooting my age anytime soon. Uh, although it’s in the back of my mind someday that I, that I hopefully will be able to do it if I stay in good health and good shape, but no matter what it is that you’re doing, take a, take, take, take time to listen to yourself, take time to listen in your mind, the things that are coming out and the things that are coming out of your mouth, because the negativity of saying, I can’t do something again, remember you may not ever want to do that. You may not like that. That’s fine. I can’t do that. Don’t want to do it. That’s fine but if ever in your life, you get to something where you think I can, you know, “I’m not a good businessman. I’m just not good at business.” Well, that means you’ve got to get good at business. That’s your challenge. That’s what is going to make you better than you were last year.  If you say I can’t manage people, that’s like saying, “I can’t handle it. I, at that point began learning everything I could about how to manage people, how to become a leader, how to, how to do those things. Some people through osmosis, it happens. They’re, they’re, they’re just good. You know, you always know that, “Oh, they’re good at everything.” Well, we’re more than likely, they worked their ass off. More than likely, they worked really hard to get where they are, you know, are there people out there that just naturally are good at something? Yeah, but they’re probably not good at something else and so they’ve had to have that exact same philosophy of, I want to be the best that I can be. At the things I want to be best at and when I say best, best I can do, I’m not going to say I’m better than anyone else. I just want to be the best that I can be. Does that make sense? It’s, I want you to challenge yourself.  You know, I’m just not a good business person.

Dr. Bruce Baird 14:05
I hear that all the time. Might mean you don’t like it but it doesn’t mean you’re not good at it because you’ve never really even attempted it and so what I will say is I’ve had some pretty crappy business people come through Productive Dentist Academy that now are crushing it because they understand their business. They understand it top to bottom, front to back and did it take them a while to learn it? Yeah, it took them a while. You know what? All that stress of saying I’m not good at business is now gone because they have that confidence that says, “Okay, I’m, I’m pretty damn good at business. I like business,” and it’s something you never would have thought you liked. Have you ever done something where you really worked at it and now you go, “Man, I really like this. This is a lot of fun,” and a lot of times you don’t know until you do it? Dentistry to me is fun. If there was ever anything that I just wasn’t comfortable doing, I would do it over and over and over again. Um, when I was in the military taking out thirds, you know, I was taking that complete bony thirds. I was not that good at it when I started, but when I finished, I was really good at it. So I’m challenging you guys that are out there listening to think about those words, “Man, I can’t do that or I don’t do this well, or I don’t like doing this.” Well, why don’t you like doing it? Because you haven’t committed to it and so make those commitments, make the commitments of being better next year than you are this year and if you do that, you’re going to find yourself when you turn 50 or 60 or whatever, 10 years down the road, 15, 20 years down the road, you’re going to find that you’re in a place that you never thought you’d be and that’s what I wish for you. That’s what I pray for you and just hope that those things, uh, become kind of a mantra for you. It was a mantra for my kids because I would tell them, “Oh no, if you say you can’t, then you must,” and they would, if they ever said, “I can’t do that,” they immediately would follow up,”But, but I know I must,” and that’s because that was a constant that I always was doing.

Dr. Bruce Baird 16:05
So anyway, I hope you enjoyed this podcast and I look forward to the next week and the next podcast we do. Thank you for joining me for this episode of the Productive Dentist Podcast. If you found this episode helpful, make sure you subscribe, pass it along to a friend, iTunes and Spotify, or drop me an email. at podcast@productivedentist.com Don’t forget to check out other podcasts from the Productive Dentist Academy at productivedentistpodcast.com. Join me again next week for another episode of the Productive Dentist Podcast.