The Clear Perspective Podcast with Dr. Karen Tindall and Dr. Laura Schwindt

Had so much fun talking about their lifestyle and the work-life synergy concept with Dr. Karen Tindall and Dr. Laura Schwindt.

Get in touch with Dr. Lauren Schwindt
Instagram : @drlauraschwindt
Website : https://lauraschwindt.com/
Email : [email protected]

Get in touch with Dr. Karen Tindall
Instagram : @drkarenbalanceddoctor
Website : www.balanceddoctor.com
Email : [email protected]

Allison: Happy Thursday, everyone. It is Allison here from the clear perspective, and we're doing something totally different today and having two incredible ladies on the clear perspective, and I'm interviewing them both at the same time. So I'm going to introduce them, but I just want to first say hi, welcome to the clear perspective.

Laura: Thank you. Thanks for having us.

Allison: It's this absolute pleasure,

Karen: This is exciting. I love like conversations and when the more people you put in, the more fun it gets.

Allison: Exactly. And you guys specifically talk about things that I'm very passionate about. So I'm really excited for this conversation today, and I'm also really excited because you just told me moments before we got on to the Clear perspective that we.

Some exciting news to drop today. So stay tuned for that. But first let me do the honors of introducing you guys. So Dr. Schwindt is the founder of reclaim your balance and optimize life coach and a retired dentist. So she encourages women dentists at risk of burnout, which we know is a very easy industry.

To burn out in, um, to be able to create a stellar work-life balance, harmony, optimize their whole life success and prioritize their own wellbeing. So she had the firsthand importance of understanding what regular self-care looked like when she faced burnout as a dentist. Um, she was a busy practice owner, a mom and busy dentist.

So. I love that you have that background experience to be able to help women not go through the same thing that you went through. And I see it all the time. I know Dr. Tindall, you see it all the time, such a huge, huge topic in the industry. So these two ladies are working together to build something incredible, which I'm going to let you.

Um, but then let me introduce Dr. Tindall so Dr. Tindall and I got to meet through a good friend that was outside of dentistry, which was kind of cool. And she is the founder of balanced doctor where she supports busy women and physicians who juggle demanding careers and full family lives, um, so that she can help them.

By her accreditation as a life coach. So She andI took the same course, um, amazing, amazing certification that we both took. So she knows firsthand what it's like to be in the position of being a dentist, a mom, um, and also experienced the challenging demands of that. I'm going to let you guys kind of explain like what you guys are working on together, and then we're gonna dig into some questions and really excited to kind of dig more deeper into how you help women that does any industry.

Laura: Awesome. Thank you so much. It's just an honor to be here. And I just like to thank you for all you do for the industry and all of the good information you put out to keep everybody healthy. That's so important. So it's good to see that. Thank you.

Karen: Yeah. Thank you, Allison I think I'll do a little bit of an introduction to this.

Laura. I'll do the teas and then you can do the, a little bit after, but we know what it's like to balance work, home, family dogs, pets, houses, your team at work, your patients. Everything. Yeah, there is so much going on in day-to-day life and both of us having been dentists ourselves, um, we could still call ourselves dentists, but they're practicing dentists live this life.

This was our life every day. And we know firsthand what it's like to juggle all of that. The pressures that it puts on you, the challenges that you face and the difficulties that you come across, let alone to mention. The anxieties that come up, um, the self-talk that's in your head and a big part of this is that all of this goes on without having the ability or maybe the desire, or maybe the freedom that you feel to be able to share this with other people.

So Laura and I have come up with something super special. I'll give it over to you now and you can share that up.

Laura: Awesome. Thank you. Yes. Um, when you, when you just said all that, I mean, my heart just went right back to that time and I can feel the anxiety and the stress and, um, and this came through. A conversation that Karen and I had about how we just, when we were in the thick of it, we would have loved to have a group of women where we could have real conversations about what we were really feeling.

That we were scared or anxious or not feeling good enough or feeling like an imposter or not perfect enough, not as a dentist, a mom, a person and losing sight of who we were. And so. When we had this conversation and realized that we were, we experienced some of the same emotions and feelings, we knew that other people did too.

And we have talked to, you know, many other women, dentists and clients that have the same feelings and we thought, why not create a special place just for women dentists to come and collaborate? To talk, have real conversations to talk about the scary stuff, the stuff that makes them uneasy, but also to come with their wins and to problem-solve and maybe even just have a little fun, but.

Really focusing on the whole body, mind, body spirit, and bringing it all together in one special place. So without further ado, we are working on a private membership club for women dentists, and it is called the mint door. It is going to be dropping soon, officially. Um, we do have a website, so if you want to check it out and see it's under construction right now, but there is a bit of information.

So, um, it's themintdoor.net and we'd love to see you there. And so that's what we're working on together.

Allison: I am so excited for that. It is so important. And I just want to honor both of you guys for, you know, there are so many people that just stay in that cycle of anxiety, of stress and burnout, and they really don't do anything about it and they can't get out of it.

But you guys do. And now you guys are helping other dentists, um, you know, be able to do this better and be able to live better, be happier and something that I love, what this is a ripple effect that you create when you change one person's life, like it will change their family, their team, their patients, it will affect everyone.

So you guys, aren't just making massive, massive ripples in the industry. And I'm just so grateful for you guys. And I'm excited to dig into this a little bit more because you know, something that's interesting that happened. Um, for me this past year is I launched an academy called the digital dental academy.

We had all women show up for it, and we were teaching on technology. We were teaching on innovation, Instagram, marketing, all these things. But the funny thing was when we interviewed the ladies at the end of the course, the thing that really, really resonated with them was how it was an all female community.

And they got to show up every Tuesday night and just have a conversation with people that they felt they were in a safe space. And we were there to talk about like ClinChecks and about like team management, but like really the questions that we got most of all were like, how do I handle my stress. Hmm, how do I stop feeling like an imposter?

You know, how do I stop feeling like I'm not good enough? And I was just like, wow, like I get goosebumps when I think about this, because it's so it's just so crazy how we live through this and that we don't have a place to go. So I'm so glad that. Especially with female dentists in our industry, you're going to have a place to go.

So I'd love to know Laura, like what was because, like we said, um, people never get off this train sometimes and their, their health declines, and typically it's kind of like, they hit a wall and then they changed. So what was the tipping point for you that got you to kind of re-examine your lifestyle, um, and really begin kind of like your healing journey.

Oh,

Laura: yeah. You know, it it's, it's insidious because it's gradual. And so you start to think that this is just normal. Um, how you feel, you know, both physically, mentally, emotionally, you just think it's part of the job. Part of getting older part of being a mom, your hormones. Right. And I think the tipping point for me was a, um, A conversation with my husband that turned into a little bit more than a conversation.

And he kind of just said, something's got to change. And that just hit me in my heart. And when I really dug into that, that sentence, I realized that I had gone so far away from my core values. Trying to be busy, trying to be successful, trying to grow a practice. And I had gotten away from the core values of making sure that I had enough to give, not just my patients and my team, but my children and my family and myself.

And I was completely out of whack. I was way out of balance. And so that, that really was the tipping point. And, um, just having a discussion about when I first started, what were those core values? And can I get back to them? And the answer is yes.

Allison: That's amazing. It's hard to sometimes like slow down enough to actually remember those things, but I'm glad that you were able to like, take that time and really be like, okay, I need to make a change today.

And then actually make that change. That takes a lot of strength. So Karen with you, like you work, um, you have a concept called work life synergy. So tell me a little bit more about how you use that with your busy dental clients.

Karen: So work life balance is a term that's just used so much. It's, you know, it has its own hashtag with like millions of like hits on work-life balance.

Um, but work life balance implies that things need to be 50, 50. We've got half work, half life, and that's how it should be. And so many people struggle day to day and think that they're failing because they cannot create 50 50. So the work-life synergy concept that I created has come from the fact.

Instead of having two separate parts of our lives, which we try to balance because that's impossible. We take the various different aspects of our lives, all facets from being the dentist, being probably as a dentist as well. You're also the plumber. He sorts out all the all the pipes and when it doesn't go wrong, get a technician.

You're the computer person. And even at work, there's so many roles. And then add on top of that parent dog dog mom a house manager, taxi driver for children on an evening, all these things and bring these parts of your life together. And when you can see yourself as a whole. It's allowing all these parts to work together and that's where the synergy comes from.

And it's much more, once you are able to take on this concept and put it into place and there is, there is a system for it, but then you're able to kind of feel that you're thriving in all aspects of your life, rather than feeling that you're not doing a good job in either.

Allison: Yeah. Oh my gosh. I feel like that's something that I hear all the time.

Like I'm doing so many things, but I don't feel like I'm doing a good job in any of them. No, that makes total sense. And I love that concept. And so Laura, like how it kind of like, in terms of like that concept and like your own concept, like how do you manage to stay personally balanced now?

Laura: Well, you know, it's, it's an interesting concept because I think that the word balance is, um, we need to remember that we are constantly balancing.

You don't become balanced. And so we are constantly walking that tight rope and adjusting our, our, um, stick so that we can stay balanced. And so that's, that's really what it is. It's an oscillation and looking like Karen said, All of those facets of our life. There's an oscillation oscillation. One day I may have more energy placed into family than work, but the next day, maybe it oscillates the other way.

And so having some grace with yourself and, and knowing that you can't do it all every day, all the time, you can do parts of. On a daily basis and looking at the whole and saying, okay, you know, like doing an end of the week, uh, check and saying, how did you this week? What do I need to course? Correct. Next week, I'm doing that at the end of the month, doing it at the end of the year, all of those things.

And then taking that as a whole, and then just really. Important too, is to remember to shut down. We are on all the time and we are in high focus mode. So we need to give our brain and our body and our spirits real rest, not getting on our phones, not playing video games or watching Netflix, but real rest.

So just really consciously thinking about, um, gosh, I had a really intense day. Instead of surfing the net. I'm going to take a walk without my phone

Allison: a hundred percent. And I love that you say that because like, I think something that causes myself more anxiety is thinking that I have to be something, um, or like achieve something the kind of forever.

But the reality is like, it is those small daily decisions every single day. And it's usually like the small moments that we make a decision to put our phone away. And take a walk or focus on our partner, focus on our, um, our child, our children, that like, those are the moments that help us be balanced.

It's not like this like revolution where we need to go to this retreat and, you know, become something it's really just those moments every single day that we get better. And we, we remain. Um, so I feel, I feel like I resonate with that so much. And it's also like, that's the good news of this. The good news is you can start today.

The good news is you can do it right now. And I don't have to wait something that might happen to me recently. She was like, she was like, I was like, I've got a lot of deadlines coming up. This quarter is really busy and she's like, I don't care. What would it take for you to thrive right now? And I was like, interesting, like, cause it is it's those small daily decisions.

Laura: Yeah, they add up there, it's like a compound effect. So yeah,

Allison: I love that. So if you could, like, if somebody was listening and they were like, Ooh, this resonates, like, what would you say kind of, for both of you guys? Like, what would you wish that you would have known sooner? Like what would you wish you would've known, you know, before you hit the wall before, you know, what, what would that.

Laura: Gosh, you know, I think it comes back to just what you said. It's not the big retreat. It's not the getting away to become something. In your grasp every single day, the definition of self care is, is way off. And I think we need to wake up to what is self-care. I mean, self care can be as simple as holding a warm mug of tea and really feeling it in your hands and just breathing and taking that in.

I mean, And then recognizing and celebrating and saying, Hey, I just did a moment of self care. It felt good because that releases those happy chemicals in the brain. And then it encourages you to keep doing things like that. So, you know, I always thought that that self-care meant a trip getting away. Um, and then that was for later when the kids were grown or, you know, now was the time to, to work, work, work.

And so. If I would have just done that little steps in the beginning, I would have been much better off.

Allison: No, and it's so achievable, right? Like it's something we all do right now. How will you, Karen, what would you say? Like you wish you would've known sooner?

Karen: I, I really wish that I have had the opportunity to.

Understand what values are and what my values specifically were. Um, it was only through my training as a coach that I actually. Really came to understand how values and Laura and I keep coming back to this time and time again, values are at the center of everything that you do and whether or not that thing turns out to be a success or it's beneficial to you, or it even feels good.

I mean, it doesn't have to be a success on paper personally. You know what in whichever way, but values are just the blueprint for how we choose to live our lives. Really aren't they. When we uphold them, things tend to turn out how we want, but on a day when something's not going right, because we all have these days, we are human.

We are, you know, this is nature. It's not always going to go. Right. But on a day when something, maybe isn't turning out, like you wanted it or it's not feeling good, or you're just in a phase of your life where something's not right. Very, very often we can take it back to our values. And find that we're not upholding maybe one or a couple of them.

And that's why things are not being successful. So values is just for me at the center of all of this, but it's, it can be daunting when somebody says to you, oh, what are your values? And you think through, and it's maybe not what you thought it was, or you're not even coming up. Like somebody said to me, or what's been an example, what's one of your values.

And somebody said to me, oh, And I was like, okay, we're going to follow this back. Used to read and the answer, I think it was relaxation or something like that. So maybe it was relaxation. Maybe somebody's reason for reading is learning, but that's the value rather than the action, the verb that they're saying.

So having someone to guide you through.

Laura: Yeah,

Allison: that wasn't the first day that we were at AIPAC. Um, our professional coaching certification. That's something, an exercise we did. And I remember it like shifted the course of my life and I feel so grateful for that. And. Now when I'm in my workshops, I always like sneak in, like, I I'm like, we're talking about consults, but like, we're going to talk about life coaching.

I always do this. And so I always have a values assessment at every single one of my workshops, because I think as like, as a professional, as a dental assistant dental hygienist, doctor dentist, it is so important to know what those values are and then know what your practice values are so that you can be aligned with that.

And that's something I always say as well. When you are feeling anxiety, that's typically when one of your values is being neglected or you're doing the opposite of what that value is like. That's when we feel that discomfort in our body. And so it is, it's so important. I absolutely love that. I cannot stress how important values are.

And it's interesting. And I'd love to kind of know your perspective on this from both of you, like in our society, where achievement. Busy-ness success. Um, you know, being everywhere, doing everything is so like celebrated, like we can say like, no, it's not, but it really is like when somebody is, you're crushing it, you're doing so much.

That's amazing when we live in that society, like how do you guys combat that? Or how do you help people overcome that? Um, for themselves, if they're feeling kind of the pressure. You know, being in this world of like the achievement is the thing that we value the most.

Karen: I think for me, I see it that in that same way that we're in a, like a fast flowing river and we're getting, getting swept along with the river and all the time we have to achieve to stay up.

People heads above water. We need someone to sign up, throws a lifeline and say, Hey, you can't step out of this. Maybe you can get on a raft and go along the river, fast on a raft, or maybe I can pull you to the side for a minute. And, but I think it's just that it's putting things back into perspective.

And again, that's when these values come in, like tell me, like, what is really important. What are your beliefs? What are your values? You know? And then when people realize, oh gosh, yeah, like actually, you know, maybe let's take the one that we've spoken about. My family, that, that, that is so important to me.

So therefore me making all these decisions that keep me outside of my family or reduce that time, I'm not going to. Push me in that direction of spending more time where I need to be. I think it's highlighting those values to people. And then reflecting it back on what they're doing. Say what you're doing now is this helping your values and also being kind to ourselves that there are some days, but Laura said, wait, yes, we need to be the person who does.

Because those days happen, but don't beat ourselves up about it because we know that we're at the top of this roller coaster curve, maybe on work and then next week it might not, might not be so bad and we can give that time. So just forgiving to yourself, I think.

Allison: Yeah. I love that. Absolutely love that.

Laura: You know, I think that it's so interesting, but, um, To, to figure out your values takes a little bit of time and introspection. And a lot of times, maybe even somebody outside help to guide you, like Karen said to guide you through the process. And I think when we're so busy achieving crushing, we don't take time for that because we don't feel like that's important.

And yet when we do. All of the achievement that we truly care about, ends up falling into place in a much easier, simpler, less effort way. And so I think that that is just. There's beauty and just some solitude, some deep thinking, some journaling, some getting some help from a life coach or a good friend to just kind of give you some feedback and then really doing those assessments and taking time.

Um, I, it's amazing. I, when, when we operate from those values and we know what those values are, um, there's still hard decisions that need to be. And there's still things that we wrestle with, but usually what happens is we make a decision and we feel good about it, and then everything else kind of falls into

place.

Yeah. And so then what is, you know, what is your definition of. Is your definition of achievement running yourself ragged, and until you can't give anymore, or is it every day showing up as the best version of yourself? Um, and you know, that's a, that's a different definition every day.

Allison: Absolutely. Is. I love that.

And I do think like we're all, we're all life coaches here. Um, and we're also have been working in dental. For however many years we have, but I think that's something that I have realized is like that accountability piece of like having that person in your schedule, like it's an appointment with my life coach, but it's actually an appointment with myself that I it's like.

Non-negotiable like, I like it when my coach. I'm going to charge you if you don't show up to your appointment and I'm like, okay, I'll come. And I always feel better when I go to it. I always am more clear in my mind what the priorities are. I'm always better for it. Every single. But sometimes I resist it because sometimes I'm like, I don't have time for this.

I need to like, get to this deadline. And so having, like, I would say to make this easier for yourself, if you're going to on that track, if you're on that running wheel, find someone else to pull you out of that river. Like Karen said, like get them to send you that lifeline and put it into your calendar because sometimes it'll be like, I'm going to journal on.

You know, do some self-reflection and sometimes when we're on that, like hamster wheel, we literally need somebody else to take us off of it. So that's why I feel that the work that you guys are doing is just so important. Um, and I'm just so thankful for you guys. So let me ask you this. Um, Laura, if you could give somebody three things.

To focus on to make sure that they're living their best life. What would you say if somebody could walk away with just three things that they can focus on to like show up better every single day, what would you say it would be?

Laura: Well, my number one would be. I used to think that I didn't need it, especially when the kids were little three, four hours a night was, you know, the norm.

And, um, I, I, it's amazing how much that affects every aspect of your life. So I would say number one would be sleep. Number two would be making sure that you do have a person, an advocate, whether that be a life coach or a friend or somebody that can, like you said, throw you that. That life, um, best and pull you out of that river.

Because a lot of times we don't see that we're in it. We were just going. So, um, and then number three would be, I would just encourage everybody to take a moment and focus on your wellbeing. All of you and physical, mental, and spiritual and see what resonates with you. What things light you up? And even keep a little list, what lights you up during the week and then make sure you're sprinkling those things into your days all the time.

Because when we do that, it spills over it spills over to the team members. It spills over to the patients. And I think that when, when we show up like that and we're happy and energized, we're sleeping. Good. We've got good support. That shows other people that they can do it too. And it, it just really, like you said, the ripple effect them.

So, and it just, it sets the tone for a healthier Mo more holistically, healthy practice.

Allison: I love that. I do love that. And I, something that I hear, like along those lines, like, no, it's selfish to like, really like. Stop slow down and take care of me, but I'm like, it's selfish not to because of how much it affects everyone else in your life.

When you can show up as your best, you will help other people show up as their best. And so I think that's brilliant. Brilliant. Um, Karen, I'm gonna make it harder for you. I'm gonna give you one thing.

Karen: Okay. I agree with a lot of Laura's, so that's good. Um, okay. My one will be. At a practical tip, um, on what people could do.

So I think it's really important to have a really good overview of your calendar and your week ahead. Um, I think when we look at our calendars, it often. Like I would challenge everybody to do this exercise after they finished go and open up your calendar, look at the week ahead for the next seven days.

How does it make you feel? Probably pretty stressed because we've got that word again. It's busy. The stuff all over the place. There's very, very little spare time. Um, so my suggestion is that to run through your calendar once a week, and to make sure that you schedule in white space. Now white space on the calendar gives you flexibility that if something crops up at the last minute, you can deal with it.

It gives you flexibility that if you need a break, you can take a break. If you want to spend it with your family, you can spend it with your family. If you need to be just focused on you do that. But by having that white space, it can be used at the last. And then if you don't need to use it, you have one, you have one back 45 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever it is, but schedule in white space and make a habit of doing that every week.

Um, I always do this on a Sunday, go through and, uh, put that white space on my card.

Allison: I love that. It gave me goosebumps. When you used to ask that question, like, if you look at your calendar for the next week, how does it make you feel? My like, team? Like, they refuse to be a part of my calendar because they're like, it makes me feel bad.

I'm like, but I love that tip. I'm going to use that this Sunday. I think that's for really. Thank you. That's so practical. Um, it's almost like block scheduling in the calendar, like where we teach teams where like, don't use that space until the last minute, then you can fill it if you need to. But I think that's, so that is just brilliant to, to do that.

So I'm going to finish this up. I honestly could talk to you guys about this topic all day. Like I'm so passionate about it. I know you guys are too. Um, and I'm just, I'm so excited for this message to be. You know, spread far and wide in our industry, it's so needed. Um, even when people don't feel like they need it, I think everybody needs a life coach or a therapist or a friend or somebody that helps them stay in perspective.

So I'm just so thankful for you guys. Um, and my last question, which I ask everyone on the clear perspective is in your zone of genius in what you guys are doing to help the world, like, what is your definition of success?

Karen: I think for me, my definition of success is to be able to live a life where you're in, feel like you're in control of it, and it's not running away with you. And you're not being governed by life. You are governing it. And whether that's understanding your values. Whether that's creating boundaries. Um, but just understanding more about yourself and that process of self-discovery is going to make you successful.

Laura: Yeah. Um, I would say that. When I lay my head down on the pillow, or when you lay your head down on the pillow, you can say today, I spiraled up a little bit. I closed the gap between who I am and who I want to be my future self. One thing, one thing that I spiraled up and. If I had a day where it spiraled down, instead of feeling ashamed, guilty, I look at that closely and say, what do I need to do?

What one little thing can I do tomorrow to set that spiral going back in the upward direction?

Allison: Ah, I love that. I love that because it is, it's like achievable every single day. Like I know our listeners or our Watchers are going to be walking away with a lot of like very tangible, very, you know, useful strategies that they can take on.

And also just a reminder to think about these things too, like really settle into that. Assess, like always just assess, like, how are you? Where are you at? What do you need right now? It's so, so powerful. So I want to honor you guys. I want to acknowledge you guys both, like you inspire me all the time. I love her social media.

It just like makes my heart warm. When I look at your posts, um, I love what you guys are doing in the industry. And so I want to just acknowledge both of you for being a light for being an inspiration and for just helping so many of us in the industry to just live better lives. So thank you so much.

Thank

Laura: you and did all right back to you. Thanks for all the inspiration and the light and beauty you put into the world. And I love the fact that you go into your clients' offices and do a little life coaching every time. That's brilliant. So thank you. Yeah,

Karen: it's been super fun as always to chat with you.

Allison. Yeah, we're looking forward to catching up in Miami next week.

Allison: Yes, exactly. And so if you guys want to learn more about life coaching with either a Dr. Tindall or Dr. Schwindt, please I've put the link to the, both our websites in this conversation and then just stay tuned for the mint door. Um, where can they learn a little bit more about that?

Like when, when can we expect to find out more.

Laura: We are what we have on official website, the mint door.net. So you can find out a little bit, like I said, it's under construction, but it's it's functioning. Um, and we hope by the beginning of the year to be unveiling the details of it.

Allison: Okay, that's amazing.

Check it out. Um, highly encourage you guys to be able to find resources support, um, it will change your year. So thank you again so much for your time today. And I will talk to you guys soon.

Karen:  Thank you.