Just Two Minutes: The December Itch

Bite-sized dental wisdom in under 2 minutes.

When I was practicing, December always gave me this itch.

You know the one.

December is crazy. Everyone wants everything done before the year ends. Insurance is a mess. The schedule is full. The team is tired. You’re tired.

And instead of slowing down… my brain would sprint straight into “January is going to be different.”

I’d start mentally listing everything we were going to fix:

• Collections

• Confirmations

• Scheduling

• Communication

• Systems that “clearly weren’t working”

The list would grow and grow, and honestly, it felt good.
Productive. Hopeful. Like relief was coming.

Here’s the problem.

I hadn’t actually looked at anything yet.

I didn’t audit the systems.
I didn’t check what was working.
I didn’t pull the numbers.

I just assumed everything was broken because I felt overwhelmed.

And that’s the trap.

December makes you want to change everything.

But most of the time, everything isn’t broken.

What’s dangerous is changing a system that’s actually working, just because you didn’t bother to prove it was.

You don’t know a system isn’t working unless you’ve looked.
And you don’t have proof unless you audit it.

Once I finally forced myself to stop and audit instead of overhaul, something shifted.

Some things were fine.
Some things were “meh.”
And a few things were clearly the problem.

Only then did prioritizing make sense.

Not “here are 50 things we’re changing January 1st.”
But:

That’s the move.

Because the last thing your staff wants in January is you rolling into the first meeting with a brand-new vision and a 50-item list.

Audit first.
Prove what’s broken.
Pick the one change with the biggest ripple effect.
Do that.

Everything else can wait.

-Dr. Alex

P.S. How your team feels walking into your January staff meeting.