Personal and Practice Assessments

Why two different assessments?  One would think that since this article is written for the Journal of Contemporary Dental Practice, the Practice Success Assessment would be most appropriate.  However, as a professional practice coach, I have discovered about 80% of the decisions my clients make with regards to their practice are determined by what they want in their personal life.  The direction of the practice is based on their personal lifestyle and financial needs.  Therefore, to develop an accurate picture of where you are professionally and personally both assessments should be completed.

The Personal and Practice Assessments are divided into three sections enabling us to measure total success.  What is total success?  Total success is achieving success in three areas or cornerstones of your life.

	Financial Health – Create and accumulate sufficient financial resources to allow you the independence to do the things you really want to do.
	Physical Health – Have the physical ability to create and enjoy your financial resources.
	Emotional Health – Eliminate the things in your personal or practice life that create stress and unhappiness and intensify the things that make you feel great.

To achieve total success all three cornerstones must be satisfied to the extent they are in balance with each other.  Like a table; if all the legs are equal in length and the floor is level, the table is stable.  If one leg is shorter than the others and the floor isn’t level, the table is unstable and wobbles.  The table can look magnificent, made of the most expensive wood, with intricate carvings, but until all the legs are in balance to each other the table is unusable.

The same is true of your personal and professional life.  Until the three cornerstones are in balance with each other you cannot achieve total success.  For example, in your personal life you may have accumulated a great amount of wealth.  However, if your physical health is poor, you are unable to enjoy the activities and objects your wealth provides.  Similarly, your practice can be very lucrative, but if you hate going to work each day because of the stressful environment, then that can affect the emotional health in your personal life.  The essence of achieving total success is your life is in total balance; personally, professionally, and with each other.

Completing the Personal and Practice Assessments enables you to evaluate where you are in your life and what you need to do to improve it.  After completing these assessments, you will have an indication of your present status and in which areas in your life you need to work on to achieve more personal satisfaction, health, and happiness.

There are no right or wrong answers.  Your goal is to rate yourself or your practice with complete honesty.  The assessments will delve into many areas of your personal and professional life but are not all-inclusive.  As you complete the assessments, you may become aware of areas that are not listed.  Feel free to make adjustments to the assessments to fit your needs.

Directions:  Rate each statement on a scale of 1 to 5; 1 being virtually not at all and 5 being absolutely true.  Place your number on the line provided and total your score at the end of each section.  Interpretation of the scores will be discussed at the end of the article.  Remember, the goal of the assessments is to give you a starting point for your journey to success.  Don't be disappointed if you fall short of perfect scores at this point in time.  Your scores will increase as you make progress on your journey to Total Success.

Click here to view the Personal Assessment
Click here to view the Practice Assessment

Click Here To Navigate Within Article >> Abstract Introduction Personal and Practice Assessments Assessment Evaluations Conclusion References About the Author
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Citation Number: Vol. 4, No. 2, Page 082