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10 Strategies for Transforming Anxiety and Fear into Success and Achievement by Donna Galante, DMD

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Are you feeling a bit anxious or stressed these days? Economic and political events can make people anxious and fearful about the future. According to the National Institute for Mental Health, anxiety is the top mental health issue in the United States with more than 40 million people affected by some type of anxiety, stress or fear.

As I talk with colleagues across the United States, I get a feeling that most feel varying degrees of anxiety about the future. In this article, I am going to share 10 strategies for dealing with anxiety that do not require a prescription or even a trip to the doctor. My hope is that one or more of these strategies will help ease your anxiety and help you look forward to a healthy and prosperous 2013.

1. Focus on Others

Uncertainty can make you hibernate and think only about yourself and your family. This makes you feel even more isolated and helpless. Do something completely different and focus on helping others.

Recently, my husband (also an orthodontist) has been very anxious about the economy. He volunteered to work in a free dental clinic one Saturday morning as part of a church "serve day." He absolutely loved the opportunity to help those in need. When he got home at the end of the day, he could not stop talking about his experience and how he could not wait to do it again. He told me it helped him forget about all the economic and political problems when he realized how many people were really in need.

While volunteering your time or going on a dental mission trip will help you focus on those in need, there are ample opportunities right in your practice to focus on others. For example, you can help your patients by not just focusing in on their dental health, but by spending the extra time to comfort them with a loss of a family member or maybe the stress of job loss. I know from personal experience an open ear and the willingness to spend the time to listen can bring comfort to a patient. We have opportunities all day long in our practices to truly focus and help others in need.

2. Focus on Relationships

In uncertain times it is easy to focus on your "stuff " - your practice, your house, your 401K, your bank account and your problems can take top priority. Instead, focus on building relationships with your patients, employees, family and friends. Dig deeper to make those relationships stronger. The stronger your relationships become, the less important your "stuff " becomes.

For example, take your family on that vacation you have wanted to take forever, or treat your staff to a special outing, maybe a day at the spa or an exclusive restaurant for dinner. The extra effort to do something "special" for your patients, employees or family will make them feel appreciated and respected. Your reward is the happy smiles and joy they and you will receive.

3. Focus on Creating Value for Patients

When people are losing their jobs or fear they might, the last thing they want to do is spend money that might not be there next week. You need to create solutions to their problems that will bring real value to their lives. Then, what you have to offer will be accepted with open arms.

For example, you could extend payments out an extra few months, or offer CareCredit to allow them to make payments for an extended period of time. You could also add value by offering additional services like teeth whitening at no charge when they begin treatment in your office.

Let them know you are willing to work with them. Communicate that you do not want finances to stand in the way of getting the care they need for their family. Spend more time educating your patients about the benefits and lifetime value of a healthy and beautiful smile.

4. Focus on New Opportunities

Oftentimes things that you had taken for granted have disappeared. For example, a schedule full of new patients is now the exception. Or perhaps, patients who agree to treatment the same day and pay you in full are now a rarity.

Instead, look around for new ways of doing things. Dig deep to find new opportunities that you never knew existed. For example, you might want to add a new service to your practice and need to attend a CE course to learn the required skills.

Think of new ways to enhance your patients' experience in your office or new ways to reward your staff for exceptional service to your patients or for going beyond the call of duty.

Another idea would be to change your schedule to be more consumer-oriented. With patients fearful of losing a job, or unable to leave work early, you have the opportunity to provide extended evening and weekend hours. Having the flexibility and being open to a new schedule could give your practice a unique opportunity in your community.

5. Focus on Today

Spend more time on today, rather than worrying about tomorrow. Benjamin Franklin said, "Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight." I love that quote, because it reminds me every day to focus on what is happening that day. While you need to plan and have a strategy for your practice and life, worrying about the future can take the joy away from today.

For example, instead of stressing out about your schedule, which is only 70 percent full, take time to study, or research opportunities to market your practice more effectively. Maybe it is time to join the local chamber of commerce, rotary club or networking group to build new relationships.

Another idea would be to take a marketing class. These can be found online or even in audio format for your car. There are many ways to get information that could help you achieve your goals.

Personally, I have found that focusing on the positive each day and what you ultimately want your practice to look like, works better than focusing on what is going wrong. Ask yourself, "What can I do today?" The answer might surprise you!

6. Give Yourself Credit for Your Successes

Most of us in the dental profession are such perfectionists that we fail to give ourselves a deserved pat on the back. We look at all the things that are going wrong, or decisions we made that were less than ideal. While we should learn from our mistakes, beating ourselves up about all that is going wrong will just add more anxiety and fear to your mental state. When you start to feel this way, write down your successes and read them over and over again. It works!

I remember one time I was feeling down and was sitting in my office after everyone had gone home for the day. My assistant had left the "testimonial" binder in my office at my request. We were getting ready to add some new content to our website and I wanted to add a few new testimonials.

As I began to read them, I realized how much we had influenced and helped so many people over the years, through their orthodontic treatment. The testimonials helped me focus on the overwhelming successes in my practice, versus focusing on what was not going right at that moment.

You likely have these testimonials as well from your patients and parents. Read them, focus on all your successes, and give yourself and your team a deserved pat on the back.

7. Work on Yourself

You cannot change the people around you. You can only work on yourself. How many times have we attempted to change those around us because, they had the "problem" that was causing stress at home or in the practice? Take time to look inward and see where you might need to work on your personal and leadership skills. Take that course or read that book on leadership and see what happens to you and ultimately your practice and life.

8. Refuse to Live in Fear

There is nothing simple about fear. It can paralyze us and prevent our progress. It is important to control what you read, watch and think. Watch the nightly news and the only thing they seem to talk about is all the horrible things that happened that day. Did not one single great thing happen? Is there really no good news at all?

When you feed yourself a constant diet of bad news, fear will set in and bury deep inside your soul. Do not let it happen. Feed yourself positive news, read uplifting books and turn off the TV!

9. Practice Perseverance and Persistence

Babies learn to walk by taking one step at a time and they fall down. This process takes place over and over again until they finally learn to walk. If they were to quit because they got discouraged or bruised, they would never walk again.

We may get discouraged as well, but do we give up or try again? Realize that small "baby" steps can lead to bigger and better things for your practice and life.

As dental professionals, we have been through years of education, thousands of hours in continuing education and many years of practice. We are, by nature, determined and persistent in our efforts to succeed both professionally and personally. A temporary setback may be needed to reorganize and plan a new strategy for success. Look at those set backs as an opportunity for growth.

10. Focus on Gratitude

When times are less than ideal, you can choose to whine, complain and blame. I suggest you take an attitude of gratitude. Complaining only attracts negative thoughts and negative people. Gratitude, on the other hand, will give you a sense that the problems you think you have are actually quite small compared to all your blessings.

Try this exercise every morning: Before you leave the house, either say out loud or write down at least 10 things you are grateful for. You can do this with your kids, too. I started to do this while driving them to school in the morning. They hated it at first, because they thought it was another of "mom's motivational strategies." After a slow start, they could not stop at 10 things and would compete with each other to have the most things to be grateful for!

Try this at your next staff meeting and watch happens to the morale in your office. We actually did this and had staff members also share why they were grateful for their co-workers. It was an amazing exercise.

You can take the mindset that you have no control over what happens to you, your practice or your personal life, but this mindset will bring you anxiety, stress and fear about your future. By implementing the strategies above on a regular basis, watch anxiety and fear disappear and more joy and peace enter your life.

Author's Bio
Dr. Donna Galante was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is now living in Northern California with her husband and two teenaged children. Dr. Galante is a 1984 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine and a 1986 graduate of the Department of Orthodontics at the same university.

After graduation from the Orthodontic Specialty Certification Program, she continued on for the next eight years as a part-time clinical instructor while starting her first practice in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

In 1993, she sold her practice and moved to California to marry her husband, Dr. Paul Cater, also an orthodontist and her partner in their current practices in Northern California. In 1992 she became a diplomat of the American Board of Orthodontics.

Besides practicing with her husband for the last 18 years, she is a speaker, author, seminar leader and coach. You can find out about her orthodontic practice at www.luvmysmile.com and her coaching, speaking and seminars at www.drdonnagalante.com.
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