Myo Life
Myo Life is a podcast for bored, burned out dental hygienists (and myofunctional therapists) who are ready to work less, earn more, have total control of their calendar, enjoy geographic freedom and most of all - make a bigger impact for their patients - while ditching the long hours, constant aches and dreaded Monday's. You will learn simple and effective strategies and tools to start and grow your profitable myofunctional therapy practice. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss a thing!
Myo Life
#15 From Stuck to Started: The Fastest Way to Move Past Overwhelm
In this episode of the Myo Life podcast, Carmen dives into the real reason why so many aspiring myofunctional therapists feel stuck and overwhelmed. She shares a powerful three-step formula to simplify decision-making and take action, even when self-doubt creeps in. Learn how to recognize the difference between massive action and passive action, why planning your priorities is crucial, and how to build daily momentum that drives results. Whether you're in the early stages of your business or need a boost to stay on track, this episode is packed with practical strategies to help you move forward with confidence.
Hey, I'm Carmen and welcome to Mayo Life. That's short for my Outrageous Life, which is exactly the kind of life I get to live since I found the courage to ditch dental hygiene and build a life I'm bonkers about as a myofunctional therapist and entrepreneur. Here you will find all the things myo business and how to build a life that you, too, are bonkers about. I'm very happy you're here. Shall we dive in. Well, hey there, my friend, and welcome back to the MyoLife podcast.
Speaker 1:If you are feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or like you have so many things to do and you just don't even know where to start, this episode is for you. Let's be real Overwhelm isn't a sign to stop. It's a sign that you need to simplify and take action. The longer you sit in indecision, the harder it is to move forward. But guess what? You don't have to stay stuck. Today, I'm giving you the fastest way to move past overwhelm and actually start making progress. Something I say to my students you've probably heard me say it before is that I can't help them steer a parked car. They have to get it in drive and take the foot off the brake before they can make any meaningful adjustments, and the same is going to go for you.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about why overwhelm happens. So overwhelm happens when we're overcomplicating things. Okay, our brains love to spin in circles, come up with all the reasons that we're not ready to do whatever it is. We tell ourselves we need more training, we need more research, we need a better website, we need a perfect social media plan, when really we just need to do the damn thing. Okay. So overwhelm equals too many inputs. Okay, too many inputs and not enough output, not enough action. It's a sneaky form of self-sabotage. It's your reptile brain keeping you safe by keeping you in your comfort zone. So does this sound familiar? I will start my business when I have the perfect business plan or a favorite one of my students. I'll start having conversations with people when I know more, when I ABC, so insert your reason. Okay, um, I will cut back on hygiene when I feel a hundred percent ready. You're never going to be a hundred percent ready. I will start posting online after I take another course or something. So, on that note, I have had students who literally are not even done with their training with me and they're already thinking that they need to take another course to get ready. Okay, that's not because my course is incomplete or lacking. That is them making excuses so that they don't have to do the uncomfortable work.
Speaker 1:Okay, you don't need more stuff. You need a simple plan and you need the guts to take messy action. And I'm your gal, because the taking messy action is one of the principles that I teach in all of my courses. So let's dive into what I like to call a three-step formula to move past overwhelm. So this is where things are going to change. For you, I have three simple steps to get you out of your own head and get you into action mode. Are you ready? Step one power block. You've heard me talk about this. So a power block is a two hour block on your calendar every day so that you have time set aside to make progress during these. During this two hour block, you're going to be working on tasks that move your business forward.
Speaker 1:So inside the Ditch Hygiene Academy, I teach you the difference between massive action and passive action. Massive action produces revenue for your business. So this is a revenue generating activity. Okay, it's something that can be measured. It might be something like writing content for your website or for your marketing materials. It might be sending emails to your email list, or creating lead magnets to build that email list, or it could be making offers to people and telling them that you can help them. Okay, I can help you.
Speaker 1:Massive action is basically anything that your reptile brain is going to resist doing because it's uncomfortable, because it's scary, because if you don't do it, then you don't have to be disappointed and you don't have to feel bad about yourself and you don't have to be embarrassed and you don't have to feel shame like all of those things. So that is your reptile brain trying to keep you safe, like we don't want you to feel those bad things, so we're going to just have you not do it. So that's massive action. Anything that you're resisting is probably massive action. Now, passive action feels really good, okay, and it tricks your brain into thinking that you were moving the needle, but nothing is being produced, so it doesn't make you any money. You can't evaluate it.
Speaker 1:Passive action is like doing research, okay, which is really just procrastination, right? Uh, it's getting ready, to get ready, it's taking another course, or reading more books or podcasts, or job shadowing, all of those things, more learning, all of those things you need to be doing massive action, and then you can do passive action as a reward. So, going back to your two hour power block, you're going to be focused on massive action things. Okay. Now, inside the, the Ditch Hygiene Academy, I help you learn how to plan your essential priorities, um, but, and then you're always working on those, but it's essentially it's going to come down to marketing, selling and delivering, not organizing your office. Okay, my personal, my personal problem is when I don't want to do something, I find myself rearranging my office. No bueno, okay. So that's the first step. Have your power blocks. You do this every single day, day in and day out, okay, while you're building your business. Now, uh, I don't do it on the weekends, but I am past starting my business, okay.
Speaker 1:Step two is going to be built, uh, to set a stupidly small first step. So I want you to grab a notebook or open your phone and get the notes app out, and you're going to brain dump everything that is swirling around in your head about all the things that you need to do. Okay. Next, I want you to ask, like, what really moves the needle? You're going to be ruthless here. Remember the massive action tasks? Okay, and then you're going to circle one. This is where you're going to start. So your two hour block that's where you're going to start. Remember, your brain wants to keep things big and vague because it's easier to avoid. Instead, I want you to break it down to the smallest possible action.
Speaker 1:So if you listen to episode 14, where I laid out the 90 day survival plan for new myofunctional therapists, you might be choosing one of the steps from building your network or getting visible. You might be defining your easy peasy, dreamy customer and learning everything about them. You might be researching referral partners. That's an important thing that's going to bring you money in your business Not directly, but that's going to be an important part of the process of delivering your therapy to clients. Maybe you are finalizing your offer and starting to have conversations these are needle movers, right and or maybe you're setting a goal for your consults how many you want to book and you're really working towards those. So the important thing that I want you to remember here is that tiny wins create momentum, and momentum creates confidence, and then the last step is rinse and repeat.
Speaker 1:So, until you've earned some money in your business, you need to keep getting better at what you're doing, having conversations and telling people you can help them booking consults, booking exams this is where your cashflow comes from and then making contact with referral partners so that you can deliver to your clients by sending them to the best professionals, especially ones that know and understand OMT. Okay, also, that's going to help your business. So if you are send, if you have really excellent professionals where you're referring your clients to and they so take for example, it's somebody who does phrenectomies and they are shocked about how good your clients, how well your clients, are prepared for a phrenectomy. They're going to remember and they're going to refer to you. So I have several providers around the United States alone that just keep me very busy because they love how my clients are prepared.
Speaker 1:Okay, nothing makes me happier than when I have a client who has a phrenectomy done and the doctor brings in the staff and says now, this is what preparedness looks like. I love it. It makes me feel like, oh, I'm actually, I'm doing my job. Okay, I'm making a difference. So that's step three. So you're going to rinse and repeat. Okay, now you have to ditch the excuses.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about these, since I know that they're going to be coming, I don't have time. So that's a big one when I tell people they got to get their power hour on um on the calendar that is. So that's two hours. So if you're working a full-time job, you might have to be getting up at five o'clock in the morning, or you might have to have husband, you know, get the kiddos in bed so you can, you know, work from seven to nine or whatever. You have to make it happen. You will make time for what you prioritize, and that's a big thing. So I'm I'm having a lot of coaching conversations around this with students because they're just, it's like an afterthought. Well, if I have spare time, I'm gonna, I'll work on my business. They don't want out of hygiene as bad as I wanted out of hygiene, because I knew I had to get out of hygiene, and that's very evident, I think, by the fact that I set a five-year goal and I did it in 13 months because I needed it, like it was killing me. Okay, so I don't have time, that's an excuse. No bueno, I don't know enough.
Speaker 1:My friend, you learn by doing, not by waiting. You also learn by staying in the material. So quit stopping and starting your business quest, because you lose ground every time you do so. So this is why you have a power block every day, because you're going to stay fresh. So if you start today's power block, you're just picking up on what you worked on yesterday. It's top of mind to you. Versus like this is always hard for me. When I go on vacation and I don't work, I come back after you know seven to 10 days of doing nothing and I got to get my momentum going again. I have to get my car and drive. So that's what that power block is for so that you're continually fresh.
Speaker 1:Now I constantly am telling my students there is no right or wrong with the pace in which you go through the hundred plus hours of material inside the Ditch Hygiene Academy. What I do think is important is that you stay in the material so you are constantly learning, you're constantly thinking about it, you're constantly getting excited, you're constantly having conversations, you're not stopping and starting. So just staying in the material, I think, is very important. And then the last excuse is what if I fail? Well, what if you do? You learn and you pivot. So every successful person has failed first.
Speaker 1:Okay, there is so many things that I have done in my business that I could look at them as a failure, but I instead look at them as like Ooh, I learned from that. Because how else are you going to learn? Okay, there is no, my own magic book that says if you do, you know these steps, you're never going to have a fail. No, and it also depends on how you define fail. Okay, um, overwhelm is just fear dressed up as logic. Don't fall for it, my friend.
Speaker 1:So here's your challenge. I want you to identify one thing that you've been stuck on pick the smallest action that you can take and do it right away. Like, if you can do it before this episode ends, even better, but you better hurry because it's almost over. Um, no, overthinking. No, waiting until Monday, just start.
Speaker 1:Um, this is really common for people trying to build a website. You know, it's like this huge thing I have to do, but one small action. So that might be getting your business name or getting your domain, that kind of stuff. So little pieces, little baby steps, okay. So I want to hear about it. I want to be able to cheer you on. So find me on social media and tell me what was the little thing that you did. Um, that is a wrap, my friend, if you found this helpful. If this got you fired up, share it with a friend who needs a kick in the butt too, and also make sure that you are following so that you never miss an episode. And until I talk to you next time, go out there, make some massive moves, work on building a life that you are bonkers about. I will be back soon with some more myofunctional therapy. Goodness, until then. Bye-bye.