The Savvy Dentist

554. Finding a Work Life Balance for Dental Practice Owners


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In this episode, Dr Jesse Green sits down with psychologist turned entrepreneur Ali Hill, co-founder of Pragmatic Thinking and host of the Stand Out Life podcast. Ali unpacks the difference between the obligations that come with your position as a business owner and the ones you have simply inherited from social programming or people pleasing, and why untangling the two is the real key to protecting your time. She also shares how she and her husband have engineered their own business around school terms and family priorities, and the honest conversations it takes to hold a boundary once you have set it.

The conversation moves through grit, resilience and the point of diminishing returns, before landing on practical, minimum viable ways to protect wellbeing without adding another task to an already full day. If you are a dental practice owner trying to work out where your practice ends and your life begins, you won't want to miss this episode.

In This Episode:

  • 01:20 Ali explains the origin of her "head mechanic" analogy and the psychology patterns she sees again and again in business owners
  • 16:02 Separating your position from your person: where genuine obligation ends and inherited expectation begins
  • 21:03 Why work and home have always bled into each other, and being kind to yourself about that overlap
  • 23:56 How Ali and her husband engineer their business around school holidays, and the honest conversations it takes to protect that boundary
  • 27:00 Building a culture of wellbeing in your team by role modelling it yourself, and why numbing so easily gets mistaken for rest

Resources and Links:

  • Join the free Savvy Dentist Facebook Group
  • Connect with Dr Jesse Green on LinkedIn

Ali Hill's:

  • Books, Stand Out, Dealing with the Tough Stuff, and Work from Anywhere
  • Podcast, Stand Out Life
  • Business, Pragmatic Thinking

Mentioned in this episode:

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The Savvy DentistBy Dr Jesse Green

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