Message Boards
Today's Active Topics Today's Active Cases Browse Forum Categories My Recent Activity My Messages Private Groups My Marked Threads My Subscriptions
Today's Active Images Today's Active Polls Most Active Topics Global Townie Map Advanced Message Board Search Message Board Terms of Use

Living by the Golden Dozen by Tom Hopkins

View Comments (0) More by this author (10)


Here's the best way I've ever found to pull top performance out of yourself and others. It's an extremely simple method. Not easy, but simple. First, hang copies of these 12 words where you'll see them at work, in your car and at your home: I must do the most productive thing possible at every given moment.

Now comes the important part: Dedicate yourself to living that declaration. It doesn't help to look at those words once in a while and think, "I like what it says. I can do that." You forget about doing it as soon as the next thought strikes you. If you really want to achieve greatness in your practice, with your staff and in your personal life, start living by those dozen words now.

If you are reading this article when there's something else more productive you could or should be doing, stop reading. Go do it and then come back to this article. However, if now is the time you've dedicated to gathering new perspectives and new knowledge from this issue of Dentaltown because you know it will help you be more proficient and productive, keep reading.

Living from a commitment of productivity requires only four steps. But let's get one thing clear at this point: doing the most productive thing possible means just that - the most productive thing. Not making work. Not looking busy. Not getting by. Not killing time. It means doing the most productive thing possible at every given moment, no matter how distasteful, challenging or worrisome the thing might be.

This often means tying into a knotty problem, facing up to an unpleasant task or heading into a likely rejection. It means shooting for the top when you know you should, but are afraid to. It means preparing when you need to prepare and doing what you need to do. That's why I say it isn't easy, and why so few people follow it. It is simple, though. Anyone can do it - you just have to want to.

Consciously repeat these four steps to yourself until they become second nature:
  1. Tell yourself, "I must do the most productive thing possible at every given moment."
  2. Decide what the most productive thing is.
  3. Do it.
  4. When you've pushed that thing as far forward as you can right now, go back to step one and start over.

Don't be a fanatic. Sometimes the most productive thing you can do at a given moment is to sit down with your favorite person and spend an hour watching the sun go down. Sometimes the most productive thing possible will be exercising, sleeping or taking a well-deserved vacation. And, very often, the most productive thing you can do this minute will be the last thing you want to do right now. The edge between winners and losers cuts sharpest at this precise point.

Winners almost always do what they think is the most productive thing possible at every given moment; losers almost never do. When you look at what winners and losers actually do moment by moment, the difference between these two divisions of the human race really is that small. But the results of those small differences keep adding to each other at every moment until they reach critical mass, then they start multiplying exponentially.

Look at the results obtained by anyone you know who is doing the most productive thing possible with most of his or her moments. Then, look at the results obtained by all the people you know who'll do what's easiest rather than what's most productive every chance they get. The productive people have thriving practices and happy people on their staff. Those who aren't productive have declining numbers of patients and high turnover.

You'll see an enormous difference once you begin analyzing and doing more productive things - no matter what they are. What's accumulated and multiplied by many moments spent productively will be knowledge, skill, health, contacts, opportunities and at least the beginnings of wealth. What's accumulated and multiplied by many moments given to doing the easiest thing possible? Perhaps some debt for pleasures consumed and forgotten, some extra pounds around the middle, and some time moved from one's future to one's past, some missed opportunities - little or nothing of value will be retained.

We live moment by moment, not year by year. Do the most productive thing you can think of with each and every moment as you live it and your future is assured. Do that all day every working day and your progress will soon astound everyone who knows you. More importantly, you'll be astounded, delighted and justifiably proud of yourself. Your relationships will improve both on the personal front and in business. Your self-esteem will grow. You may even surprise yourself by having more time on your hands because of increasing your productivity.

Within minutes after you dedicate yourself to this plan and put it to work, you'll notice a difference. (If you don't notice a difference right away, there's only one likely explanation: you're not really facing up to what the most productive thing is that you can do with this moment.) Within hours after you make this plan yours and start doing the most productive thing possible with every given moment, you'll project a new aura of confidence and capability. Within days, people near you will sense the difference and start upgrading their opinions about your capabilities and potential to serve their needs well. This goes for both your patients and your staff. Yes, you serve your staff. They are hired to provide you with their talents and skills, but you must serve them well by providing them the environment and tools necessary to perform their duties to the best of their abilities. Within weeks, you'll be reaping substantial rewards from your new willingness to pay the price of success. Within months, you'll be living on a higher level than you now believe you can achieve.

On the road to that happy result, there'll be some painful moments. There'll be times when you'll talk yourself out of doing the most productive thing - times, in other words, when you'll succeed in bringing home a failure when you could just as well have succeeded. There'll be times when you'll curse the day you decided to demand so much of yourself. As you pass through some particularly low points on your road to success (make no mistake about it, you will as we all do) there'll be times when you'll lie to yourself to get out of tackling the most productive challenge facing you. And there'll be times when you won't be able to make yourself do anything even faintly productive.

That's the bad news.

The good news is that none of that matters.

These little backslides don't stop you, they merely put a few extra hours between you and your goals. Shrug these minor incidents off. Resolve to do better. Then get back to being productive.

There's a technique to this. Don't destroy your fragile new confidence in yourself by demanding total dedication. Keep your balance. You need a certain level of recreation to maintain your forward thrust. Accept that fact. Resolve to enjoy a reasonable amount of earned recreation, because it's a highly productive use of your time.

Learn how to reward yourself for jobs well done.

If you've been self-indulgent, if you've made it a rule to do whatever you feel like doing all your life long, don't expect to completely change your performance overnight. Possessing the ability to do the most productive thing possible at most given moments requires a high degree of self-discipline. Such qualities don't become part of your personality merely from a snap decision. If you want to own this stupendous asset of unlimited productivity, there's only one way to acquire it. You must patiently build it moment-by-moment and day-by-day over a period of time. It will merely take more time, patience and determination to keep trying if you haven't exercised your self-disciplinary muscles much in the past.

After a misstep of any kind, don't chew on yourself. Never cut yourself down.

First, tell yourself that what happened will probably be worth it in the long run - that obviously you need more convincing on the importance of doing the most productive thing at every given moment. Then tell yourself, "It's not like me to mess up like that. I'll do better next time."

In the beginning, you may have a challenge believing that. Eliminate this challenge by focusing your mind on the concept that you're talking about the person you're becoming, not the person you are today. Never say, "Someday it won't be like me to mess up that way." The technique that works is to put superior performance in the here and now. You are who you think you are, so begin thinking that you are who you want to be. Start doing that right now, this very instant.

If you'll accept the fact that the main limit on your future is how fully you apply The Golden Dozen, you'll keep coming back to it in spite of occasional backsliding. Go into living the dozen with this foreknowledge: You'll find some gaps in your resolve from time to time, and along the way to large achievements you'll have to accept many small defeats. But you'll also be winning many small victories, and an occasional big one.

As time goes on and you continue to apply this plan with steady determination, you'll discover that it gets easier and easier. While that's happening, you're changing and growing far more than you may realize. As your new habit is becoming part of your personality, you'll find yourself just naturally doing the most productive thing possible during more and more moments, without strain, without driving yourself, because it's what you want to do. It's the new habit you've formed.

Once you've tasted what living by this credo can do for your life, you'll find yourself quickly shaking off every temporary lapse of determination. After every slip, you'll immediately review your reasons for wanting success. You'll re-affirm your dedication to doing what you know you must do to achieve that success. Then you'll put that moment, that hour and the rest of that day to the most productive use possible.

Since it creates a dramatic effect after only a few days, imagine what the total cumulative result will be after you have lived by this credo for several years and encouraged your staff to do the same. I know what will happen. The Golden Dozen can revolutionize your life. It can send your accomplishments, happiness and career soaring. It will do all these things if you'll apply it moment after moment, hour after hour and day after day. How do I know it will? Because that's what The Golden Dozen did - and is doing - for me and my team.

Author's Bio
Tom Hopkins is a world-renowned expert and authority on selling and salesmanship. His simple yet powerful strategies have been proven effective in many industries, including the dental industry, and during all types of economic cycles. The foundation of his training includes both the "people skills" of proper communication and the nuances that impact every situation where trying to persuade others. Tom's style of delivery is practical and entertaining – making the strategies easy to remember and implement. Learn more about how Tom Hopkins can help you increase revenues in your practice at www.tomhopkins.com/blog. To reach Tom, please e-mail him at tomhopkins@tomhopkins.com. Details about Tom's speaking schedule can be found at: www.tomhopkins.com/live_events.shtml.
Dentaltown Magazine
September 2025
Dentaltown Magazine September 2025 Read Current Issue Read Archived Issues
Sponsors
Townie Perks
Townie® Poll
Who or what do you turn to for most financial advice regarding your practice?
  
Site Menu
Message Boards Magazine Continuing Education Podcasts Blogs Classifieds Dental News Events Townie® Poll Ebooks Townie Choice Awards
Company Info
Contact Us Advertise With Us Howard Farran DDS, MBA Policies and Agreements
Site Help
Sally Gross, Member Services Specialist
Phone: +1-480-445-9710
Email: sally@farranmedia.com
©2025 Dentaltown, a division of Farran Media • All Rights Reserved
9633 S. 48th Street Suite 200 • Phoenix, AZ 85044 • Phone:+1-480-598-0001 • Fax:+1-480-598-3450