Showing Up As Your Best Self

Let’s talk about showing up as your best self.

You can tell when someone is having a bad day by how their disposition moves from sunny and bright to bleak and dark. Instinctively, you know that it may not be a good time to ask for a favor or to introduce a challenge that you may be facing.

We've all been there, but it's very important to understand our triggers because, despite how we feel, it's not okay to be snappy at teammates or uncaring towards our patients. So what hinders us from being our best selves?

There are some very practical things that can throw us off. Here are a few.

1. Lack of sleep:  Sleep deprivation can make you irritable and impatient. It prevents you from thinking clearly or processing your thoughts properly because when your brain is tired, it's just not clicking. Therefore, getting adequate rest is important to be efficient in what you do. 
2. Hunger: If you are hungry, in addition to getting a headache, feeling bloated, or just having the pangs that you feel in your stomach, you may also be irritable, impatient, and just waiting for the moment where you can step away to have something to eat.
3. Pain is a great distractor as well. That pain could be the pain from a headache, or it could be from wearing tight shoes. It doesn't matter; discomfort and pain are distracting. As humans, we may be able to tolerate a certain level of discomfort or pain, but it can throw us off when it’s just too much. Picture a simple diagram: a blank piece of paper with a horizontal line dividing it in half. Anything below the line is tolerable, but once you are above the line, your tolerance begins to wane.
4. Past experiences: They very much affect what's happening at the moment and how you respond to it.
5. Biases: Some we know about, some we don't even realize that we have, which may be gender, culture, or racial biases.
6. Time: A lack of time may make us far less patient than if we had more time.
7. How about whether you like or dislike someone?  We tend to have more tolerance for those we like.
8. Temperature can also be a factor. If you're feeling too hot, and you just need to get out of that environment, you may be less patient than if it was an air-conditioned environment and you were comfortable.
9. How you react to the actions of others: You’re feeling very tense. Why? Because every time Rhonda uses that piece of equipment, she doesn't put it back, and when you go to use it, you have to be searching the whole place.  So how can you adjust this? Well, you could speak to Ronda instead of seething in silence every time she does that. Perhaps saying, “Hey, Ron, you know what, every time you don't put this thing back, I have to go searching for it. Do you mind just putting it back here please?” That might simply solve the problem.

So there are several things that can change our level of tolerance in a day, depending on who we're interacting with, depending on how we're feeling.

Our tolerance level can shift from moment to moment, just depending on what's going on.

So you have to make the habit of doing a self-check a few times a day. This way, you can tune in to what's happening with your body. Being self-aware is one of the key tools that we can use to lead ourselves.

Remember, we said in episode one, the hardest person to lead is yourself. If you are in the habit of being self-aware, you'll also instinctively be aware of what's happening with your patience, your teammates, or even your patients.

As a dental assistant, helping to pull that level of tolerance up by showing up and being caring makes a big difference. If you can walk through a difficult situation with someone, they will befriend you, and always look out for you because you went through a tough thing with them.

And you made them feel supported all the way to the end. We cannot always guarantee that things will be easy, but your support regardless of their behavior can make a big difference.

Patients begin to respect you as a professional because you don't get pulled into what they're going through because their response may not be what it should be.

A quote from Sonia Techler: She said, “Self-reflection is a humbling process. It's essential to find out why you think, say, and do certain things, then better yourself.”

As an irreplaceable dental assistant, it is important to show up as the best version of yourself every day. Because people are depending on you. Your dentist is depending on you. Your teammates are depending on you.

And most importantly, your patients are depending on you to have great patience with them. By so doing, we can make a difference in our working environment. As I always say, we're better together.

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This is Episode 3 of my Irreplaceable Dental Assistant podcast.

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