Setting Goals

I have always been a goal setter and for good reason. I don't have a lot of natural talent in any anything that I have ever done. I am not good at math (to say the least), I can't draw or paint, I'm not musically inclined and I was not a natural athlete. But I am a very hard worker when I put my mind to it. And I discovered when I was very young that if I set a goal for myself that was months or years away, I will probably succeed at any particular task. I could also succeed when someone told me that I would never succeed or attain a particular goal.

In the picture, I have succeeded at every goal that I have ever set which again indicates that drive beats brains any day of the week.

When I ran into my best friend's father a week before the Queens (NY) Cross Country Championship he asked me what I was up to.  I told him that I had been practicing a lot because I wanted to try to win a medal in the Championship the following week. He looked at me wide eyed and said, "Not with those short legs." I won a team medal for being one of the first five runners from one school that took first place.

When I purchased my first camera in 1972, I set a ridiculous goal of winning a contest within one year of owning a camera. Now mind you, I had never even TOUCHED  a camera in my life and knew nothing of the technical aspects of photography but I set the goal.  I won first place in TWO contests within the first year.

Shortly after my horrific car accident in which my right leg was 99% separated from my body but miraculously reattached because of the talent and hard work of Dr. Roger D. Seibel I asked Dr. Seibel if I would run again. He must have thought that I was in a drug induced stupor because he never thought that I would WALK AGAIN. Within 18 months of my accident, Susan and I went out and ran 5 miles.

Despite missing 2+ months of classes in my senior year of dental school because of my accident, Dean Powell reluctantly agreed to let me return to school but told me that I would never graduate with my class because he would not reduce any of the requirements for me. I stood on the stage at graduation to a standing ovation from my classmates who understood that they had witnessed 'the impossible.'

Six  years after taking my first course in Cosmetic Dentistry,  I told my staff that I was going to enter the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry Smile Contest in San Antonio, Tx and I was going to win one of the five first place ribbons. Mind you, in 1999, the AACD contest was THE MOST  prestigious and challenging contest that a dentist could enter. And there were a lot of REALLY  good cosmetically oriented dentists in the country (and world.) I selected the hardest division of the contest so that I would have the least number of dentists competing against me and you already  know how that came out.

I have selected April 1 as the day that I want to return to work and treat patients.  My fracture was the worst shoulder fracture and the Reverse Shoulder Replacement is a challenging surgical procedure. And I will be 67 in a few weeks. I hope that I make my April 1 goal but I won't be crushed if I don't. This won't be easy but if you look at the list that I just presented to you, were any of those goals easy?

It will be good to take care of you again...It is what I have done for almost 4 decades. See you soon.