5 things I wish I knew as a teenager

How often do we say or hear, "If I only knew then what I know now," or "I wish I knew this years ago"? After 30 years of working with tens of thousands of doctors struggling to make their practices successful, I've heard it a lot. I mean, an awful lot.

Last week, I held an event on case acceptance for 2,000 doctors and their teams in Atlanta. In addition to the educational two-day agenda, we held an event for our doctors' teenage children. As a father of teenagers, I personally know the challenges they face with social media, academic success, and the pressures of fitting in and being accepted. I wanted to provide them with tools to make better decisions that would lead to greater success as adults.

Jay Geier is the president and founder of the Scheduling Institute.

As I presented to the room of about 200 teens, I recognized that the advice I was giving them was equally applicable to independent practice owners. After all, you're never too old to learn new things, and sometimes we just need a refresher course. Here are five things I wish I knew as a teenager that have helped me become successful today.

1. The formula to get rich

The formula is to always do more than you get paid for -- meaning that you should overdeliver every time. If you get paid $10 for a job, do $20 worth of effort. For teens, this intentional habit prepares them to be valuable employees in the future. When you deliver great value to your patients, you are going to be paid at a higher level. Your patients will be more willing to comply with a treatment plan if they know they are regularly getting more than their money's worth, and they'll be sure to tell others.

2. Capitalize on specialized knowledge

General knowledge is what we learn in school. Specialized knowledge is what we pay for outside of school. The most successful person in his or her field is the one who has paid the most for specialized knowledge (posteducational training, coaching, and so on). I encourage teens to take advantage of the music lessons, tutoring, or private sports training (specialized knowledge their parents are paying for) to better their chances of success in those areas.

You want to be the best business owner? You should be investing in learning how to manage your practice from someone who knows how and has success doing it. The same goes for investing in specialized knowledge for your team. This gives them an extra advantage to be the best at their particular job.

3. Take lessons from failures

It seems obvious and you've been hearing it for years, but how often do you find yourself in a cycle of disappointing results? Everyone -- teens and adults alike -- needs to find appreciation in failures. It is OK to fail, as long as you learn from it and make the necessary adjustments to fix it. In fact, have a blast with your failures. An epic fail is an opportunity for a correction and an epic win in the future.

4. You get what you deserve

Train your lips to never make excuses. There is nothing uglier than pride. Humble yourself and admit your errors or shortcomings. "You get what you deserve" is one of my mottos; it basically means that if your practice is struggling, there is a reason for it, and you need to take a good look inward. It's not the economy or your staff: it's you. I told the teens to take responsibility for their wins and their losses. If they are sitting on the bench, there's probably a good reason for it, and it's not because the coach "doesn't like" them.

5. Appoint yourself

If you want to be good at something, say it: "I am the best dentist in town," for example. If you keep saying that, you will begin to transform into what you want. You will begin to do things with that specific intention. I can assure you that the great majority of high school valedictorians tell themselves they will be at the top spot even before they begin high school. In other words, don't just wait and see what happens; decide what you want to do and emulate the behavior of the person you want to be.

I encouraged the teens (as I do my clients) to desire more than being average. Success requires hard work, intention, and help from those who know more than you. You can't be a business owner and expect to coast to success. If you want to have the practice of your dreams, you need to buckle down, get the right help, and make an investment in continual learning and development. Now that you know, it's time to do something about it.

Jay Geier is the president and founder of the Scheduling Institute.

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