#933: Merry Christmas, Dental A-Team Family!

Dental A Team Podcast

Kiera invites listeners to consider what gift(s) they provide others — whether it’s patients or team members, or in a more personal capacity.

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Transcript:

Kiera Dent (00:01.422)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and Merry Christmas. If you don't celebrate, well, happy December 25th. If you do celebrate, Merry Christmas. I love the holidays. I truly do. And this year, my husband and are celebrating with his family, which is so fun because we got married 13 years ago and I'm the second oldest of seven. And so my siblings were very young. I have one sister and she was born...

when I was 12 and another sister born when I was 15. so I really, when we got married, my husband's the youngest of five and I just really, really, really, really wanted to spend holidays with my siblings because they were so young when I got married. And so for the last 13 years, we have been with my parents and my family except for one year.

which was when my brother got married and we were with Jason's parents. And so super fun to be celebrating with his family today. I just hope you guys are with something, someone doing something fun, whether it's family or it's friends or it's by yourself, but that you are just taking this time to celebrate. I think holidays are especially beautiful. And in Christmas, I think Christmas is just a magical holiday in the sense that I feel like.

We give gifts to each other and we give of ourselves and also Christmas is like right before the end of the year and so you might be headed back to the practice to produce or you might be just completely done, but wherever you are today Merry Christmas, and I hope you have just fallen in love with two things number one is Being in the spirit of giving I think that that's something that's so important and parent mount for us that we are truly

giving. I think I've shared this on the podcast before, so some of you may have heard this. For those of you that are new, welcome. I went to a conference and our group's name was Live to Give. And I remember hearing the thing that the secret to living is giving. And so in this holiday season, I know it can feel bustly, I know it can feel crazy, but I think when we take a step back and we look at what is ultimately the season, it's the time where we all give gifts to people. give holiday parties and we give gifts to our team, we give gifts to each other.

Kiera Dent (02:15.23)

We're looking for those perfect gifts, but the reality is, what is our gift that we're giving of ourselves day in and day out to our team and to our patients and to our communities and also to ourselves? And so maybe today you take some time to think about what is that gift? What is my gift that I bring to this world? And I know that that can feel awkward for some people, but I would really hope that I can encourage you to love yourself a little bit more. And what is something incredible that you bring to your team?

In some teams, what I have them do is I have everybody draw. Don't worry, they can write words if they desire. But I have them draw who they are and what they bring to the team. And then Brittany Stone, she took it a step further with a team where inside I have them draw. I remember one person drew a visionary. So it's an eye with a cast of a vision. Another person drew Gumby because they're very flexible. But whatever it is, you draw that. And then what we had our teams do is actually, Britt did this.

And she had people actually write what that person brings to the team outside of it. So for example, in a circle, you could put what you bring to the table. And then on the outside of the circle, your team tells you like what you bring to the table and how you benefit and like what your gift is to the team. And it's crazy because inside the circle, we often are so hard on ourselves and don't give ourselves credit of what we bring to the table. I understand that we're trying to be humble most of the time and not egotistical. But then when we have teams do this, how much they actually share of

what everybody's bringing to the table. And it's just such a lovely experience because people are able to see themselves in a different light. And I think that that's actually like, as you're reflecting today, you're spending time, you're opening presents, you're doing whatever. What is maybe the gift that you bring to this world or maybe the gift that you want to bring to this world next year? Maybe you want to bring more kindness. Maybe you want to bring more humility. Maybe you want to bring more patience. Maybe you want to bring more vision. Maybe you want to bring more fun.

Maybe you want to bring more energy. Maybe you want to bring more balance. Maybe you want to bring more gentleness. Maybe you want to bring more positivity. Whatever it is, what is your gift that you can bring to this world, to your team, to your family, to yourself? And then also, I would ask if you were writing a letter, Dear Santa, what would be something I would ask for three wishes? One, what is the wish that you would have for your team? Two, what is the wish that you would have for your practice?

Kiera Dent (04:37.494)

and patience? And three, what is the wish that you want for yourself? I did this in our doctor think tank a little while ago. And it was so interesting. I asked him like, what do you want? What like what would you guys want? And the group was actually very quiet. And I realized we've forgotten to dream. We've forgotten how to ask for what we want. We've forgotten how to to be vocal about those things. And so maybe today, just look at that and see what would be my wish for my team.

And really like be intentional with this. What would be the wish for my practice? And then what's the wish that I have for myself? And then what I would think is how can you make those wishes come true? How can you bring and give gifts of yourself for your team? And that doesn't mean you have to do it. It means you can delegate. means you can use other people. But what would be some fun things for you? And maybe this year you want to give yourself the gift of health. So you're going to prioritize your health. Maybe you're going to give yourself the gift of a stronger relationship and you're going to

be done on every Thursday at five o'clock and go on a date with your spouse or your significant other. Maybe you're going to give yourself the gift of fun and you're going to plan one day a week or a month where it's just a fun day for you. Maybe you're going to give yourself the gift of a new hobby and you're going to go get into pickleball or something. But like really think about what would be a gift that you'd give yourself because I think that so often we're obsessed with giving to other people, which I agree with. And that's secret to life is giving.

but also let's not forget to give ourselves a gift as well. I think the greatest thing I did for myself in 2025 was giving myself the gift of health. I have been on a health journey. Some people look at me and you just might think, like we obviously have our super, like our preconceived notions. And I have had immense pain in my knee and my hip from years and years of traveling. I ran a marathon. I went from zero running in October to running a marathon in December. So I trained for about two and a half months.

I've had severe knee pain since then and then top like tackle that on with all the years of flying that I have of just being crunched up in seats. And I have had pretty severe knee and hip pain. And this year I just decided like, I want to be 99 years old and still active in spry and I'm hoping that my last six months of my life are going to be the ones where I phase out and maybe that's when my health deteriorates. But if that's what I want my vision to be, thank you to the book of die with zero, it gave me that perspective.

Kiera Dent (07:01.456)

but I've thought about that so many times of, if that's what I want to do, what do I need to do today to be able to have that vision? And maybe when you're thinking about the gift, you want to give yourself paint the vision of who you are at 99 years old. And what does that life look like? Maybe that will also help you figure out what to give your team, what to give your practice and what to give yourself. Because this year in 2024, I committed and I hired a personal trainer and we went to the gym and it sounds so silly, but for me to be able to squat and not have knee pain.

which I have not been able to do squats, any type of lunges, squats, nothing for seven years. Like literally my quads, my hams, my calves were all atrophying. To be able to this year, me, my coaches, my PT, I have an incredible group of people around me. We were all celebrating at the fact that I can do a squat with no knee pain. And that has been seven years in the making. It was an added benefit because I was able to wake surf a lot better this summer too.

But just to feel strong and to feel like I'm taking care of my body so I can be this 99 year old woman who's not frail and feeble but is strong and has strong muscles. I have to do things daily now to be able to do that. I worked on my macros. I worked on protein intake. I worked on eating healthier. I worked on figuring out what the meals were. That was freaking hard and I hated every second of it. But to see how much healthier I am today versus where I was a year ago.

is a gift that I could never get back. I can't go back in time and live my life differently, but I can move forward and we can give ourselves those gifts now. So maybe even today, think about who do you want to be when you're 99 years old? Going into that hundred, I hope I live to like, I don't know, 103 sounds like a fun time. I love the number three, but just thinking about that, what can you do today? What are the gifts that we could give to other people? What are the gifts that we can give of ourselves? What are the gifts that we could give to ourselves?

as we're spending this time, I really love on Christmas to reflect, reflect on the things that have been amazing, reflect on my amazing, just life that I have to be in this season. It's crazy, but to just see the love that's around me, to see the incredible people around me, to see the family, the friends. And I know sometimes this time of year can be hard. I used to actually hate Christmas. My brother came home and I hated Christmas. I literally would not listen to anything Christmas.

Kiera Dent (09:24.626)

went into it and I would just not participate in anything and my heart was so sad and I just felt cold. I felt closed off and what changed for me was I actually worked for a company called the United Way and we did sub for Santa and I remember seeing the spirit of Christmas come to fruition. I remember seeing so many people give of themselves to make magic happen for other people and I realized

That's what society is. That's what our communities are. We need to be more united rather than divided. We need to see how we can give hand ups, not hand outs. We need to see how we can just love people on a deeper level. And it was such like my heart went from ice cold to soft as putty the year that I was, I called myself Mrs. Claus. And I remember just seeing the magic of humanity. And so how can we within our practices, within our teams, within our communities,

give that magic of humanity to more people, give that spirit of love and service and gratitude because we don't realize our ripple effect. One person was able to serve so many different families and then those families were able to go on and perpetually serve other people. And I just think that the world needs more kindness and more care, that we need to give more kindness and more care to ourselves, that we need to see the beauty around us rather than all the negativity around us, that we can choose.

what pair of sunglasses, AKA filtered we put on to view this life. And I would hope that one, you'd give yourself a gift this year of something that's gonna help you when you're 99 or 100 to have the best life today for those future years. I would also ask you to give a gift to your team of this next year. What are you gonna give your team? And then are you gonna give your practice and your patients? And then also let's look to see how can we have more kindness, more love, more generosity as we go into 2025. You guys, this is such a magical time of year. feels like.

the magical clock, like Father Christmas or whatever it is, the magical clock of 2024 is ticking down. And how can we maximize and optimize these magical moments through the rest of the year? But also how can we prepare to invite and embrace this incredible 2025 that's about to be upon us? How can we learn from our 2024? For some offices, I know this was your hardest year. For Dental A Team it was truly my hardest year. It was the year that I grew the most.

Kiera Dent (11:44.164)

It was the year that I was refined personally and professionally the most. was the year my team grew the most and not by size, but by grit and stamina and determination. so for you, what are the lessons we've learned from 2024? How can we like soak in these magical moments as we roll into 2025? And then how can we maximize and optimize 2025? If I can be a part of that journey with you, I'd love to be there. I'd love to celebrate you and I'd love to give you even more opportunities than you could have ever imagined.

But really, I just hope that today you relish in the joy of your life, of you being here, and then give yourself a magical gift. And let me know if you want to email me. I'd love to hear it as always. [e-mail]. But I hope you enjoy the time with your families. I hope you enjoy this magical season. I hope you remember that the secret to living is giving, and that's giving to others and giving ourselves the most incredible life we can because the ripple effect is magnificent. Like, it's just, it's so magnificent.

of what we as one person can do for this world. And I just challenge you to really, really maximize and optimize that this year. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time. Merry Christmas. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.