Episode #362: There is Always a Better Way, with Dr. Gary Sanchez

If you can't enjoy your life outside the office, your amazing career in dentistry is worth nothing. That is the core message behind Kirk Behrendt’s company, ACT Dental. His purpose is to help dentists create a better practice and better life, and he discovered this passion after meeting Dr. Gary Sanchez from the WHY Institute. In today’s crossover episode, Kirk and Dr. Sanchez share how discovering your “why” is the first step to success in any part of your life. If you want to awaken your “why,” find your passion, and find a better way, listen to Episode 362 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

• Discover your “why” to find your purpose and passion.
• Understand the nine “whys” formula and put your thoughts to action.
• You need mindset, commitment to a process, and execution for success.
• Know when something is “good enough” so you can move forward.
• Embrace the journey and be humble. There's always something to learn.
• The obstacle is the path.

Quotes:

• “Here’s what the world wants: everybody wants to run the marathon, but nobody wants to do the training. They want the medal. They want the reward, but they don't want to do the work. This is the secret that no one does. You can get the attention of every expert in any industry. You know how you do it? I can actually walk into any town and get the top 10 CEOs to book an appointment with me. Do you know how I can do it? I can tell them that I'm creating a research project or, ‘I'm writing a book about the 10 top CEOs in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and I've selected you. You're one of the top 10 CEOs. You're going to be a chapter in my book.’ Every single person will give you an appointment. Same thing with a podcast. You can say, ‘I'm creating a podcast called The Best Practices Show. I'm selecting the best dentists or experts in the world. You're one of them. I need you on my show.’ Anyone will move their schedule to be an expert that's selected in your book.” (12:19—13:18)
• “You can get an appointment with anybody. Just interview them. Interview them, document it, and put it somewhere. That is the easiest way to become an expert.” (13:20—13:28)
• “Just do the right thing. Because any time you don't do the right thing, it’s going to catch up to you. It always does. We see it in sports. You see great people fall all the time. When Joe Paterno and some of the biggest names — Bill Cosby — get off track, it comes back and catches up to them, at some point. I'm not going to sit here and tell you I'm the perfect human being. But when you walk into an industry like dentistry, just do the right thing and stick to it, and you'll be okay.” (13:38—14:09)
• “My whole life now, since meeting [Dr. Gary Sanchez] and doing what I do is, I just have to stay in my circle, which is my “why,” helping people create a better way. A better practice leads to a better life. It’s not about more money, it’s, ‘How do we make this better?’” (15:41—15:55)
• “I got this from a restaurant that I went to. This woman hands us a check, and she had a little rock on the check. And they have a little saying, and it says, ‘The obstacle is the path.’ . . . Now, in my work, I love the obstacles. Give me your biggest obstacle, and we’re going to make that the path. We’re going to find a way to use this obstacle to create it and make it better.” (16:01—16:28)
• “There's a lot that you don't know in the journey, and you've got to constantly stay curious.” (18:13—18:16)
• “One of the greatest, most important things any human being has to constantly work on is being self-aware. Because the lower your self-awareness, the more challenges you have as a human being.” (18:33—18:44)
• “I don't know who said this, but I keep thinking of the three selves. There are three selves: the self you think you are, the self everybody thinks you are, and the self you really are. And you lead the less turbulent life, it’s the least stressful to be as close to those three as possible. (18:47—19:07)
• “I'm a big Dan Sullivan fan. I've been through Strategic Coach, so I did the exercises on unique ability. And when you do the unique ability, you basically find out you're only good at two things, or three, at the most. Nobody’s good at nine things. And he teaches you to just stop doing all the things you're terrible at and find other people to do them, and your life gets better. But you have to let go in order to grow.” (19:29—19:51)
• “I think the challenge for anybody is to figure out who you are and figure out how do you do a body of work that means something.” (20:15—20:20)
• “The wisdom of the world, it’s already been created. You just have to be willing and be open to that.” (21:59—22:03)
• “Peter Dawson said it years ago, I asked him, ‘What's the one thing you know for sure?’ And he said, ‘That's a great question, Kirk. The one thing I know for sure, even at my age, is don't ever say you have it all figured out.’ He’s 89 this year. He says, ‘Kirk, even at 89, I don't have it all figured out.’ And he said, ‘The people that you get to know that “have it all figured out,” they're not that much fun.’” (22:43—23:06)
• “The world is willing to help you. You just have to be willing to go out and get it.” (23:17—23:23)
• “I'm constantly curious. I think it’s one of the greatest things. Curiosity is the fruit. Now, you're also going to see it’s also one of the greatest marketing tools in the world. I mean, American Idol, The Voice, everybody uses curiosity. “We’re going to see who’s going home after this break.” Curiosity is just where the world lives at . . . The least fun people I work with, they're not curious at all. They “got it all figured out.” They don't want to know anything.” (23:27—24:00)
• “[Nick Saban] says [what you need for success are] three things. Number one, mindset. My biggest challenge as a coach, even in my business, and he says this as a coach, ‘I've got to get everybody thinking the same thing.’ . . . The second thing is committing to a process. You've got to commit to some type of a process. And it’s the same challenge that dentists have. Their challenge and mindset is, ‘Well, people can't afford dentistry.’ I'm like, ‘That's dumb. Stop thinking like that.’ You as a dentist have to believe that money spent in your office is some of the best money people could ever spend.” (25:24—26:12)
• “The third piece is execution. Somebody’s got to be able to execute. We can sit here and talk about great ideas. But you've got to have a team of people that can execute. We call it GSD in our company, get stuff done.” (27:24—27:34)
• “For me to have a sense of fulfilment in my life is, it just has to be a little bit better. And again, it’s my better way “why.” Because at the end of the day, I need progress. I have to have progress.” (31:05—31:20)
• “This was a challenge for me to figure out as well, because if we’re always looking for a better way, when do we finally stop? I struggled with it, and I was like, ‘Now, when am I going to stop?’ But it came to me one day. What we’re actually looking for is “good enough.” Good enough. The only time it’s good enough is when we say it’s good enough, when we actually say, ‘Okay, that's good enough. Now, we can move on.’ Until we say, ‘That's good enough,’ we’re going to keep going.” (36:16—36:58)
• “Gratitude is a very interesting emotion, because whenever you fully experience gratitude, it cuts off the air supply to all other emotions, whether they be anger, frustration, “not enough.”” (37:19—37:32)
• “The first [“why”] is to contribute to a greater cause, add value, have an impact in the lives of others. The second “why” is to create trust, to create trusting relationships. The third “why” is to make sense of the complex or challenging. The fourth “why” is to find a better way and share it, which is our “why.” The fifth “why” is to do things the right way in order to get results. The sixth “why” is to challenge the status quo and think differently. The seventh “why” is mastery, to seek mastery and understanding, to dive in deep and take it to the nth degree. The eighth “why” is to clarify or create clarity. And the ninth “why” is to simplify or take the complex and make it simple so that it’s understandable and easy to use.” (39:51—40:45)
• “What the “why” formula does, which I just shared with you, is it gives you the words to articulate what you've always been feeling but couldn't put in words so that you can actually use it.” (42:02—42:12)

Snippets:

• 0:00 Introduction.
• 3:05 Kirk’s background and journey.
• 11:27 How Kirk found success in the dental industry.
• 14:12 Know your “why” and find better ways to do things.
• 17:17 Don't be afraid of saying “I don't know.”
• 18:45 The three selves.
• 21:08 Advice for younger dentists on self-awareness.
• 23:24 Curiosity is the fruit.
• 24:22 Three steps for dentists to overcome their biggest challenges.
• 29:40 It’s about progress and improvement.  
• 34:06 How to handle the challenge of making decisions.
• 36:12 When do we finally stop looking for a better way?
• 37:14 Know when something is “good enough.”
• 39:39 The nine “whys.”
• 44:36 What Kirk’s company does, and his contact information.

Reach Out to Dr. Sanchez:

Dr. Sanchez’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/garysanchez2000

Dr. Sanchez’s social media: @drgarysanchez

Resources:

WHY Institute website: www.whyinstitute.com

ACT Dental Inner Circle: https://www.actdental.com/ic

Dr. Gary Sanchez Bio:

Dr. Gary Sanchez’s WHY is to find a better way and share it. HOW he does that is by making things clear and easy to understand. WHAT he brings is simple solutions to help people move forward. He and his Team have worked with hundreds of thousands of individuals, as well as thousands of companies, from small yoga studios to Fortune 500 companies, helping them get clear, stand out, and play bigger.

Outside of the WHY Institute, Gary enjoys playing a round of golf, messing around on the pickleball court, and hanging out with family and friends, enjoying some red chili dinner.