When was the last day you worked so hard you were exhausted AND fulfilled?
Shortly after his retirement from the Marine Corps, our son Jake took his motocross bike out one Saturday and was involved in a terrible crash. Thankfully, a nurse who was at the rural North Carolina track with her son quickly assessed the situation and determined that he needed to be flown via LifeFlight to Duke, the closest Level 1 trauma center. A team of doctors and nurses worked swiftly to evaluate his injuries and rushed him into surgery. He had broken his back, ribs, and more. He missed a jump, which caused the handlebars of the bike to come up underneath his helmet. The resulting impact shattered his jaw and damaged nearly half of his teeth.
My husband received a phone call, and within minutes, he was booking a flight from Columbus to Raleigh. I planned to drive down the next day. Our daughter-in-law, Sydney, was eight and a half months pregnant with their first child.
This incident occurred in August 2020, so Sydney was the only one allowed to visit Jake in the hospital. While she stayed with him, Jim and I went to their house in a rural community in North Carolina, about two hours away.
There was a TON of work to do.
Jake and Sydney had purchased, as their first home, a 100+-year-old “plantation” house and had acquired in just a few months over 35 chickens, 16 guinea hens, six ducks, four pigs, three dogs, and two turkeys, and a partridge in a pear tree. There were animals to feed, pens to clean, eggs to collect, and more.
The garden was overgrown, the lawn needed cutting, the house was messy, and a storm had just knocked down a huge branch in the front yard—you get the idea. Neither my husband nor I had grown up on a farm, and this rural property lacked internet access, so we couldn’t Google “What do you feed pigs?” (The answer is basically anything.) However, we both learned the value of hard work while growing up, so we rolled up our sleeves and got to it.
From sun up to sun down, in the heat and humidity of an August in North Carolina, we worked HARD. Thankfully, our son was receiving great care from the team at Duke and his wife was probably in the best place she could be too (just in case she went into labor). After nearly a week, we were sitting out on the porch watching the beautiful sunset below and I said to my husband…
“I finally figured out how so many generations of couples before us stayed together. They were too tired to fight.”
I think he was too tired to laugh 🙂
We were indeed exhausted and fulfilled.
A few months ago, we found ourselves in our backyard again, this time with chainsaws and tools, cutting up a huge tree limb that had fallen on our property. I was reminded of that week in North Carolina. Thankfully, our son has healed, and our grandson Knox was born. He’s now 4 ½ and has a baby sister, our newest granddaughter.
One timeless principle hasn’t changed: when you and your team put in a hard day’s work focusing on the right things, you will end up exhausted AND fulfilled. When you’re focused on the right things – you are not scrolling on social media looking for comparisons, you aren’t chasing the latest podcast episode, and you aren’t agonizing over your Dental Intel dashboard. The good work isn’t found doom scrolling in comparison. Good work with patients and team members, the work that matters is HARD. Good news, You can do hard things.
I often work with dentists and their teams, who are incredibly busy yet do not always focus their efforts where they have control. During that week in North Carolina, we couldn’t help Jake; we lacked the necessary skills to be able to control his care. But we could make a difference on the farm.
In your practice, there are many things you can control—and many you cannot. Focus your energy on what you can control. Put in a good day’s work, pouring yourself into the things that truly matter. At the end of the day, I hope you find yourself both exhausted AND fulfilled, knowing you’ve given it your all and made a meaningful impact.
“Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory.“
– Pat Riley
The best 60-seconds I heard this week.
Arthur Brooks on Rich Roll Podcast Episode #891:
“Never waste your suffering. I ask my students to keep a list of failures and disappointments. Each time something happens that feels like a loss or failure, write it down. Then, draw two lines under it.
A month later, revisit the first line and write down, ‘What did you learn?’ Three months later, come back again and ask yourself, ‘What’s a good thing that happened because of that loss?”
Previous World Record: 403.8 miles (2009)
New World Record: 414.71 miles
The human body and mind is a powerful thing!
“I attempted this feat 4 years ago coming short by 50 miles. I learned a lot through that first attempt which brought me to the starting line once more this weekend to attempt to break the world record for the most miles ridden on a handcycle is 24 hours.I came in with a new pacing plan, improved strategy and better fitness which led me to break the world record with 2.5 hours to spare.It meant everything to have my mom there as my pit crew, who without her help, this effort would not have been possible! Also, it was extremely encouraging to have friends travel in from hours away to cheer me on throughout the night! It takes a village!”
