Episode 167. Your January Dreams Called...They Wonder If You're Coming Back

How many goals were you absolutely convinced you were going to accomplish this year?

Yeah... same.

Back in January, you had the planner, the motivation, the fresh start energy, and a list of things you were finally going to get done.

Then life showed up.

The schedule got crazy. Someone quit. The house needed something. Your family needed something. Work got busy. And somewhere along the way, those goals got shoved into the same mental drawer as all the other things you've been meaning to get around to.

In this episode, we're having a real conversation about why that happens, how to figure out which goals still matter to you, and why being willing to revisit a goal in June might be one of the best signs about your future.

Because maybe you're not behind.

Maybe life is just life.

And maybe the goal isn't dead. It just needs a new plan.

HEY THERE! LET'S CONNECT...I'D LOVE TO GET TO KNOW YOU BETTER!

• Website: https://www.bethheilmancoaching.com
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Transcript

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Hello and welcome back to the Dental Life Podcast. Today, June Beth is having a heart-to-heart conversation with January Beth. Do you remember the January version of you? Remember she had that brand new blank planner full of excitement. She had color-coded goals. She had a water bottle the size of a small appliance. She was absolutely convinced this was the year. But then February showed up. Someone quit at the office, the schedule blew up, one of the kids got strepped, the doctor needed reports, that software just wasn't cooperating. Insurance claims piled up. And somewhere between then and now, those goals, they ended up in a junk drawer of your brain. Today, we're going to talk about why that happened and why that doesn't mean you failed. And more importantly, why it means you don't have to abandon your goals for good. They may just need a little CBR. So let's get started. Welcome to the Dental Life Podcast, where we explore how you can have both a successful career and a meaningful personal life in and outside of your practices without sacrificing one for the other. I'm your host, Beth Highland, former dental office manager, Turned Certified Life and Health Coach, and I'm here to help you navigate the challenges and opportunities that come from being a dental professional. Let's get started. I think most people think successful people stay motivated all year, but they don't. They build systems because motivation, it shows up late, it leaves early, takes a random vacation, never tells you where it's going. Your practice doesn't run on motivation, it runs on habits and systems. I've said it many times before. Motivation usually finds my booty working. I mean, nobody wakes up excited to confirm appointments or submit claims every single day, deal with patient complaints, deal with software updates. No, it gets done though because there's a structure holding it up. There are systems. All of that kind of falls into the busy but boring category. Still needs to get done. It's just not exciting. Yet we expect our personal goals to survive on motivation alone. Your personal goals, they deserve the same thing, not willpower, but a system. We set goals in January, like motivation is some kind of renewable energy. It's not. It is a spark, but it's the systems that are the fuel. And look, the problem has never been that you lack discipline. The problem is usually your January plan assumed nothing unexpected would happen. Which is kind of funny because if you work at a dental practice, you know how many moving parts there are. And no matter how much you plan, there's so much unpredictability. Something unexpected happens every single day. There's team turnover, coverage chaos, being asked to do three people's jobs all at one time, schedule changes, the doctor might tell you on a Monday afternoon, 445. Like, how dare they take time off? And by favorite, you get this new family, a mom, a dad, kids, maybe kind of in that 11 to 16-year-old range. There's double coverage, maybe a step parent with yet another coverage thrown in there, ortho referrals, oral surgery referrals, mom and dad with periodreatment and restorative. They all went on the schedule at the same time, like total chaos. Then there's the personal stuff. You have sick parents, your own kids, and their stuff, emergency vet visit because the dog ate that squeaky toy again. And the things you don't even say out loud, hook, that's not evidence that anything has gone wrong. That's evidence that you are alive and you are a human. Life getting complicated, that's not the problem. Not having a plan that can survive it, that's the thing we're talking about today. But before we talk about resetting your goals, let's make sure they're worth restarting in the first place. When you look at your goals, which ones still light you up? Were there goals on your list back in January that really weren't yours? Maybe they were borrowed or imposed on you by someone else. Before we talk about getting back on track, let's make sure you're on the track you really want to be on. So ask a real question. Was the income goal you had, was that yours? Or did you see that on Instagram? No, people say, oh, six figure this, seven figure that. Is that what you really want? Was the promotion your dream? Or was it your doctor's plan for you? Was that perfect body, was that really a goal of yours? Or was it some comparison dressed up as a goal? Here's a question you can filter those goals through. If nobody knew you were pursuing this goal, would you still want it? The goals we think we should want are usually the easiest to abandon. The goals that matter to us are much harder to walk away from because they aren't just goals. They're connected to a future version of ourselves that we're trying to create. They're personal. And when a goal is connected to something meaningful, maybe it's a healthier marriage, more energy, financial freedom, peace of mind, a life that feels like yours. It has a way of pulling you forward even when life gets messy. So which one of those 2026 goals still genuinely excites you? And which ones were someone else's definition of success, but maybe just wearing your name badge? Look, like I said, June is the perfect time to do a mid-year reset. Instead of evaluating success, whether you've achieved that goal or not, let's spend some time this month making sure you still want that destination. What we're talking about in the report card, it's a check-in. There's no grade. Before you throw out your goals and declare 2026 a dumpster fire, here are three questions to help you reset, to help you refocus, and then figure out your next steps. So here's question number one. Does this goal still matter to me? Not to your doctor, not to your family, not to the internet, to you. Question number two, why did I stop? Now this thing to beat yourself up just to understand what got in the way. And then question number three, what system would support me and help me keep going even when life gets busy again? Maybe you need a better system to plan. I'll let you know on June 30th, I'm hosting a webinar to help you with that planning. Find me on Instagram. There's a link to join. There's a link in the show notes. I would love for you to join me and create that plan. But the goal isn't a perfect plan. It's a plan that can survive the reality of your day-to-day life. And I know a lot of you are carrying shame right now about not following through on that goal. You're thinking I should be further along. I've wasted six months. I failed again. I need you to hear this. A goal you come back to in June is not evidence of failure. It's proof of commitment. You haven't abandoned yourself. You're still here. You're still thinking about it. You still care. The people who really fail are the people who stopped believing that change is possible, that give up. And that's not you. Can I tell you something? My dental life membership, it launched this week, and it was not supposed to take this long. It was supposed to launch at the beginning of the year, not June. But I have known for years that I wanted to help dental team members just like you have success to have the life they wanted outside the walls of their practices and inside. And I knew there are dental professionals everywhere who felt just like I used to, exhausted, overwhelmed, successful on paper, but wondering why they felt so miserable. I had the vision, I could see it. I had it all mapped out. Problem is, I also had a full life. There have been deaths in the family, the flu, again, projects that took longer than expected. And then that energy of trying to keep all these plates spinning in the air without one crashing to the ground, that tried to creep back in. And every time I would make progress on the membership, seems like something would happen. And my brain tried its old tricks on me. It tried to say, well, maybe now isn't the time. Maybe 2027 is a better time. Maybe the universe is trying to tell you something. All kinds of craziness. I'm under that little crazy brain of mine. I can't tell you how many times it would have been easy to question whether I should even just let the dream go. Not because I didn't want it, but because it felt easier to convince myself it wasn't that important anyway. Please tell me I'm not the only one that feels like that. But here's what I've learned: those roadblocks, those detours, those delays, they're not the problem. That's real life. Failure wouldn't have been that it took longer than expected. Failure would have been deciding my dream no longer deserved a seat at the table. And thank goodness I did not do that. Because every person I have met in real life and virtually through the Dental Life membership, every email, every message, every conversation, every podcast listener, none of that would exist if I had mistaken a delay for a dead end. Sometimes we think we're behind. Might have just collected a little dust. The dust is not the same thing as dead. Sometimes all the dream needs is a little CPR and for you to pick it back up. So I want you to do something this week. I want you to pull out those goals that you wrote down in January. Don't judge them, don't beat yourself up. Just look at them. Circle the ones that still light you up. Cross out the ones that belong to someone else and pick one. Not seven, not twelve, pick one and ask yourself, what is the smallest action I can take this week that proves I haven't quit on myself? One tiny thing you can do to get back on the track and make some forward progress. Maybe it's walking into the grocery store with an actual plan instead of wandering the aisles wondering what you're going to make for dinner and tossing random things into the cart. Maybe it's putting your phone in a drawer on Friday night, pulling out a deck of cards or a board game, ordering a pizza, and actually hanging out with your family instead of everybody sitting on the same couch staring at different screens. Maybe it's setting your alarm 30 minutes early on Saturday and taking a walk before the day gets away from you. You know those ones, suddenly it's 3 p.m. and you're still in your pajamas, wondering where the morning went. Maybe it's dusting off that journal that's been sitting in your nightstand for months. And ask yourself, what do I really want right now? Spend some time and some energy answering that question instead of spending all your energy taking care of everyone else. Maybe it's finally time for you to sign up for that CE course that you've been talking about for two years. Maybe it's time to open that retirement account, meet with your financial advisor, or look through the numbers you've been avoiding because, you know, sometimes they can make you feel uncomfortable. Maybe it's doing exactly what I did with the membership. Pull out your original timeline line, look at what's realistic, open up Chat GPT and say, okay, life is happening. This was the original plan. Help me reorganize this and create a path to get it done maybe by December. Not because the original timeline was wrong, not because you failed, because life is out there lifing. And sometimes the next step isn't about creating a brand new dream. Sometimes it's simply updating the map and continuing the trip. And if you're ready for support on this reset, I want you to come find me inside my Beyond Dental Burnout Facebook group. I'm hosting a mid-year reset in that group, and I will support you along the way, help you get reignited with that goal. I hope to see you over there. So go pull out those goals and let's continue in that exciting journey toward making them a reality in 2026. Have a fabulous week. I'll see you in the Facebook group and on next week's episode. Hey, have you had a chance to download your free copy of my mental hygiene checklist yet? Visit Beth HeilmanCoing.com to get your copy. It teaches you the practical skills you need to achieve the same level of excellent mental hygiene as your dental hygiene. Don't miss out on this valuable resource for both your personal and professional growth.