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Graduation is a whirlwind. It’s like being caught in a tornado of laughter, parties, paper work, and fear. We all survive and are left breathless on the footstep of June. The sweet 4 weeks of bliss that we have before we start our residency!
My first recommendation to use this time wisely is: travel. Go out and see the world, live without a schedule, and experience a life that is slow paced.
My next piece of advice is: set goals. I traveled through Europe after my graduation and spent hours on planes, trains and automobiles just thinking. Use this time to jot goals down on your iPad or phone. It’s easy to get caught up in day-to-day life or emails and forget where you want to be in 20 years. It’s also easy to be so overwhelmed with dentistry your first few years that you can’t even think about long term goals.
But trust me, your long-term goals make short-term decisions easier.
That includes your budget, the jobs you seek, where you live, where you travel, and what you do outside of dentistry. Just take an hour here or an hour there to fill this in. Then every quarter look back on your goals and see if you are going in the right direction!
1-Year Goals
- Dental education: Pankey, Dawson, Spears? Do you want to become Invisalign certified? Do you want to take courses in occlusion? Do you want to join a study club?
- Dental practice: Where do you want to practice in the future? Are you an associate in that area? Have you done your due diligence?
- Organized dentistry: Join your local chapter- see what they can offer you as a new dentist. Sometimes it’s just guidance, support and a listening ear!
- Personal: Marriage, house – you name it put it here.
- Travel
5-Year Goals
- Dental education
- Dental practice
- Organized dentistry
- Personal
- Travel
10-Year Goals
- Dental education
- Dental practice
- Organized dentistry
- Personal
- Travel
20-Year Goals
- Dental education
- Dental practice
- Organized dentistry
- Personal
- Travel
For example in 5 years, if you want to own your own practice you might want to think about location now, and look for an associateship there.
If you want to have positions in organized dentistry you might want to get involved at the lower levels during your first few years out of school so that you can work your way up.
Lets say you want to start a dental missions organization or work in public health, you may want to get an MPH or do a public health residency.
The beautiful thing about dentistry is that getting your dental degree gets you in the right profession. From there, what you do with dentistry is up to you, and believe me, the sky is the limit.
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