Huge fan of the KISS principle over here. Most times in life, we simply overcomplicate. Who knows why? I blame our parents. Clearly, it’s on them…
That said, whatcha say we take a break from complex and keep it simple? At the end of the day, you have three missions to accomplish as a dental student:
No. 1 is obvious. Graduate!
Your social networking success relies on taking home that DDS/DMD. Is graduating easy? More than you’d think. You got into dental school because you deserve to be there, AND because everyone in admissions knew you would CRUSH it.
So how do you make graduation an automatic? Repeat after me: “I do what I ought to do, when I ought to do it, like it or not, no debate.”
To put it another way, some days, dental school stinks. Some days, you don’t want to put in the time. One solution is to focus on friends. You’re not alone. Get with your peeps, put in your time and power through. You’ve got this!
No. 2 is not what they’ll tell you. Make time for you!
Between studying and burning enamel (or typodont teeth, depending on what year you are), I’m guessing you fee like your free time is past time. Overwhelmed is an easy place to live in dental school. #stillhavenightmares
Do what dental school forces you to do well. Schedule your personal time. Recharging is critical to your success and your sanity. Ask me how I know 🙂 Just like you focus on friends to power through, focus on fun in between and your social notworking will shift to working very, very well.
No. 3 is THE winner winner chicken dinner…Build YOUR personal brand!
Some say that it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. We at DE and igniteDDS say that it’s not who you know, it’s who knows you. If the ultimate mission accomplished in dental school is crossing the stage with diploma in hand. The ultimate mission as a young dentist is CRUSHing your career. And when dentists like me look to bring you into our practices, your energy and your personal brand precede you!
Tips I wish I knew:
- Do well enough in school to nail a solid residency.
Debt is the preverbal elephant in the living room. I get that. However, ugly as it is, it’ll be gone in 10 years if you want it to. If you take home one thing from this, do a residency. The old mindset of “I wont hire any new dentist without five years experience” goes away with just one year of your time.
- Show me your passion.
Get involved with clubs, ASDA or whatever fuels your passion. Don’t do it because it looks good. I’m way more interested in seeing consistency in your actions and your eyes light up with excitement when you talk about what you’ve done.
- Start NOW.
Don’t worry about not knowing exactly who you want to be when you grow up. I didn’t either. Work with what you know. Seek out a few outstanding mentors who willingly give you their time. Get live in their practice. Skype or Facebook video chat when you can’t go live. Build your social network now. Social notworking … it’s just not working.
Connect with me at igniteDDS. I am always happy to help. And always remember #TogetherWeRise
Dr. David Rice graduated cum laude in 1994 from The State University of New York at Buffalo’s School of Dental Medicine. In 1995, he completed his general practice residency from the Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. With a strong belief in continuing education and mentorship, Dr. Rice went on to complete continuums at the Pankey Institute, The Dawson Center and The Spear Center all while building the Restorative Practice of his dreams and maintaining an associate clinical professorship at the SUNYab School of Dental Medicine. Seven short months ago, Dr. Rice combined his passions for teaching, mentoring and making a difference and igniteDDS was born. Today he continues to maintain his private practice and travels the country inspiring dentistry’s future to live their dream, have great success and to make that same difference that has brought him so much joy.