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
#34 The Real Reason You Haven’t Left Hygiene Yet — And What To Do About It
Let's Connect! Text me here or email me myotrainingacademy@gmail.com
In this episode of the Myo Life Podcast, Carmen calls out the real reason most hygienists haven’t left their clinical jobs yet — fear. She unpacks the top three fear-based excuses she hears most often and walks you through how to shift from indecision into powerful, permission-filled momentum. If you’ve been circling the same dream for months (or years), this episode will light a fire under you.
"Is It Time To Ditch Hygiene?" is a self assessment workbook to help you get honest about where you are, see what's actually possible in a career you’ll love and to help you decide what comes next!
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 Mayo functional therapist and entrepreneur. Here you will find all the things Mayo 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, hello, my friend, and welcome back to the Mayo Life Podcast. Once again, I'm very happy that you are here. We have a good topic today. It's going to be a short and sweet guy. I'm kind of just rolling. I have some notes here and more so. I'm just kind of speaking from the heart, because I have been doing a lot of connection calls with dental hygienists and it just breaks my heart because so many of them want out of dental hygiene and they just won't make that decision, so we're going to rip off the band-aid. Okay, you say you want out of hygiene and you say that you want more flexibility and you want less aches and pains and you want more meaning and more income, more freedom, being able to work from anywhere, all those things, and I believe you, but the truth is you haven't made the decision to leave or to transition out. Remember I've talked about that in previous episodes where you don't just say take this job and shove it, I ain't working here, no more. No, you transition out. You trade a little bit of time at a hygiene for a little bit of time in Mayo. But the truth is you haven't done it because you're scared. And instead of calling it fear, you're dressing it up as logic I'm too busy, I need to be more prepared, it's just not the right time. Does this sound familiar? I'm not saying that all of those things aren't real. I'm saying they're not the real reason. The real reason is fear. And listen, it's not the enemy, but letting it drive the bus that's going to keep you stuck, my friend.
Speaker 1:So in this episode, I'm going to quickly unpack three of the most common fear-fueled excuses that I hear from brilliant hygienists who are so meant for something more. They just want something different, and I just feel for them. So let's unpack them. Number one I'm too busy. Yes, yes, this is the classic. You're telling yourself you're drowning in work, family exhaustion, errands and you just don't have time. But, my friend, I just saw you post a picture of your dinner on Instagram. I saw you post a picture of your dinner on Instagram Kind of kidding, but kind of not. Okay.
Speaker 1:What this comes down to is the choices, really, that you make about how you're managing your time. You do not need hours a day. You need a few hours of focused, intentional action per week. You need one step, then two. Okay, if your goal is to create a life you're bonkers about, then you have to make space for that goal. So many of my students, on one hand, get frustrated because they're not as far along as they want to be and, on the other hand, when we get down to the brass tacks about what they're doing, they tell me that they're busy and so this is just a boundaries issue. Okay, if your goal is to create a life you're bonkers about, then you have to have boundaries about around that. Okay, your schedule is never going to open up. You're never going to be less busy.
Speaker 1:People always just think well, when things slow down, it's just not going to happen. You have to improve the time management. You need to improve how you select the tasks that you work on and you need to not waste time on silly things like social media, or binging Netflix, all of those things. One last thought on this. Or binging Netflix, all of those things? One last thought on this it makes so much more sense to have support while you do this and you're busy then doing it alone, okay. So I hope that makes sense. So that is the biggest one. I am too busy and I'm still always shocked when students won't set boundaries around their time. Okay, so you just need, like I said, a few hours of focused time.
Speaker 1:The second fear-based excuse is I'm afraid I'll fail, or I just want to be sure. So this is another thing that happens in these conversations that I'm having with hygienists is, basically, they want a, they want to guarantee that they're going to have success and, as I have said before, the problem with people feeling entitled to success, that's a biggie. Okay, I don't have a glass ball to know that you're going to be successful If you follow what I lay out in the program and you show up consistently and you do the uncomfortable, scary, unsexy things, all of those. It's the things that I teach you are simple. You just have to do them. If you do that, then you're going to be successful, but there is no guarantee that it's going to work for you, or it's the right move for you, or that you won't fail. Okay, certainty is a myth and you do not get clarity and then move. You have to move and that's what gives you clarity. So this is the one of the things that I coach on a lot and it's one of the core tenants of the profitable practice philosophies that I, that I teach is that you have to believe before the income comes in.
Speaker 1:Okay, belief comes before the results. Belief comes before the dollar bills, before the clarity, before the proof. If you're waiting to feel 100% sure before you take the leap, then you're going to be waiting a long time. Okay. When I started my practice, I didn't know if it would work. I didn't know if clients would come. I had no safety net, but what I did have was belief in the vision that I just couldn't shake. It was on my heart for a reason. And if you've got this pull and it's on your heart, then it's there for a reason. Okay. The truth is you don't feel ready and then start. You start and that's what makes you feel ready. So if you are looking for a sign that it's time, consider this, it All right. What's my next one here, I'm afraid I won't find enough clients.
Speaker 1:Again, this goes back to belief. You have to believe that somebody needs your help, okay, you have to believe that somebody needs your help, okay, and if you need help with that, then go to the mall, go to a sporting event. There are people all over that need your help. They just don't know it yet, okay, or they don't know about you, or they don't know about your services. But you, if you follow what I teach you in the program and you don't fight for your limitations and you don't make excuses and you do know how to set boundaries and you do know how to be resourceful and not confused, then you're going to be successful. Okay, you have to be willing to start scrappy. You have to be willing to take that ugly imperfect action, remember messy action wins. You have to trust in the process. All right, I think, gosh. I think that really sums it up.
Speaker 1:Like I said, this was going to be a shorty, a shorty, a shorty. Uh, it's fear, it's okay. A shorty, a shorty, a shorty, it's fear, it's okay. You have to feel the fear and do it anyhow, if this is something that you're really wanting, if you're really wanting out of hygiene. That was my whole story. You guys, I needed out of hygiene. So bad I was having heart palpitations on the way to work. I couldn't do it. In fact, I was truly afraid that it was going to kill me, and I was so young.
Speaker 1:So it is there the step-by-step, follow the yellow brick road. Training is there for you. You just have to take it and get rid of these excuses. So the fear is just your little reptile brain saying if you just don't do it, then you don't have to be uncomfortable. Remember, it is meant to keep you safe. So that is it, my friend. That is just my pep talk, because I have been having these thoughts, because I have been talking to so many women who are just afraid.
Speaker 1:If this dream is pulling at you, it's there for a reason, okay. So don't overthink this. Remember, you're going to build a bridge out of dental hygiene. You are not going to take a cliff jump, so you're only going to transition a little bit out of time as you're comfortable. Little bit out of time as you're comfortable, your life could look radically different six months from now, and that just means you're going to have to trust. You're going to have to trust. You're going to have to get moving. You're going to have to get that car moving and stop waiting for the perfect green light and be your own permission slip.
Speaker 1:Okay, the fear is still going to be there. It's still going to be loud. You're not doing anything wrong. You can't do anything wrong in this process. You just have to keep going, and I don't want you to be circling the same dream that you had last year. I don't want to be having the same conversation with you next year.
Speaker 1:Okay, so it's time to move. It's not going to be perfect, it's not going to be convenient, but today you're the only one who can make that decision. And also, I will tell you this if you want help making that decision, the Ditch Hygiene Academy opens again in September, and I built it exactly for this for women who are still in hygiene and know that that she knows that she can't stay there, but is scared. Also, you know, for the woman who's ready to build a career that she's excited to wake up to, for somebody who's ready to believe in something more. Get the tools, the support strategy, all that stuff to make it happen.
Speaker 1:I can help you make that decision. Wherever you're watching this, you can book a connection call. I will make sure that this makes sense for you, but that is all I have today for my friend, for you, my friend Gosh, I can't even speak. I just hope this little pep talk helps you. Just think really about the real reason why you haven't left hygiene yet. Okay, and until next time, go build a life you're bonkers about, and I'm going to be back soon with some more myofunctional business goodness.