Transcript – Dentology Podcast with guest Jon Nicholas
Episode release date – Monday 6 February 2023
00:00:00:13 – 00:00:20:08
Andy Acton
Welcome to another episode of the Dentology Podcast where we discuss the business of dentistry. In this podcast series, we’ll be discussing all the non-clinical aspects of dentistry, some goodwill, values, finance, marketing, how to buy and sell a dental practice mindset through to where you can invest your money in team management issues. My name is Andy Acton and I’m joined by my co-host Chris Evans.
00:00:20:09 – 00:00:24:03
Andy Acton
Let’s jump straight into it. Dentistry is full of good people, isn’t it? Yeah.
00:00:24:04 – 00:00:48:10
Chris Strevens
Isa, I’ll tell you what’s lovely is we know John from social events and and some sort of conferences and seminars, but it was great to be able to have a much more in-depth conversation with him. You know, that thing you know about him, how he has changed or evolved or cultivated, I think was the phrase is positivity is is a brilliant lesson for people listening to learn.
00:00:48:18 – 00:01:12:21
Andy Acton
And yeah, and I liked the way that he talked about it as yeah. As a behavior change, you know, it wasn’t that he was born with this extraordinary positivity power and talking about it in the context of social media and that being toxic positivity as opposed to deep true positivity. And some of those techniques that you talk through, I think I think it’s going to really help people and you forget how stressful dentistry can be.
00:01:12:21 – 00:01:24:23
Chris Strevens
It just might be thinking, you know, those people that we’ve all met said, Well, that’s me. Yes, it’s why I am. But the answer is, you know, listening to John, as we all know, you can change and evolve who you are. So, yeah, I thought it was great.
00:01:25:01 – 00:01:36:06
Andy Acton
Really a really caring guy as well, you know, genuine desire to make sure that, you know, he’s his experience and the stuff that he does helps as many people as possible. Yeah, I think people do take a lot from that. Yeah.
00:01:37:08 – 00:01:41:10
Chris Strevens
So here we go again. Another one, another day, another episode.
00:01:41:10 – 00:01:42:16
Andy Acton
Exactly. It’s very.
00:01:42:16 – 00:01:43:07
Chris Strevens
Exciting.
00:01:43:17 – 00:01:55:11
Andy Acton
It is. And today we’re very fortunate. Very fortunate. We have John Nicholas joining us. And John is a dentist, also a lecturer with a small dental academy. Welcome, John. How are you doing? I’m very good, thank you. How are you?
00:01:55:19 – 00:01:58:01
Chris Strevens
Yeah, we are excellent. We are excellent.
00:01:58:01 – 00:02:09:11
Andy Acton
It’s good to see you guys in a in a sober state, because what tends to happen is we see each other at events and, you know, things got out of hand. So here we are. They do. They do.
00:02:09:19 – 00:02:11:10
Chris Strevens
It gets a bit messy.
00:02:12:01 – 00:02:19:23
Andy Acton
I think. I think it’s pretty good. There is a heavy social aspect to dentistry. I like this. You know, we talk a lot about that.
00:02:19:23 – 00:02:20:21
Chris Strevens
Across the ages.
00:02:21:02 – 00:02:24:13
Andy Acton
Yeah, exactly. You know, the younger the middle.
00:02:24:13 – 00:02:29:12
Chris Strevens
Ranking and there’s the old bloke called him an elder. I think I’d classic self as the elder statesman.
00:02:29:23 – 00:02:41:21
Andy Acton
But I have this thing. I think dentistry is like an ecosystem and it’s all joined up and it’s important the, you know, different parts of the profession connect on an ongoing basis because if we all do well, we all do well together.
00:02:42:03 – 00:02:42:18
Chris Strevens
If one bit.
00:02:42:18 – 00:03:02:14
Andy Acton
Falters or fails, potentially it fractures the whole profession. So having that social aspect I think is nice. It brings everyone together, definitely. And the good thing is, I mean, you guys do dentists all day long. We’re we’re quite fun people, right? We spend the whole day practicing and learning how to speak to people. Some are better than others, but you guys are pretty good.
00:03:02:22 – 00:03:13:13
Andy Acton
But you’ll find that because everyone’s so sociable, it just seems to click and we always have a good time. Yeah. No, absolutely. Absolutely we do. So to kick off, let’s get right back to the beginning. You know.
00:03:13:14 – 00:03:14:15
Chris Strevens
What were the things in.
00:03:14:15 – 00:03:21:04
Andy Acton
Your childhood that shaped you into the person you are today? What’s the stuff that we need to know that’s going to be relevant when we talk about your your professional career and.
00:03:21:04 – 00:03:23:05
Chris Strevens
She joins cases in that long ago, actually.
00:03:23:13 – 00:03:24:02
Jon Nicholas
You know.
00:03:24:23 – 00:03:49:09
Andy Acton
People that it’s very hard to say no. You know, it’s quite a deep question to begin with, actually. And childhood wise, I was raised by mum and dad, north London born and London standard Greek boy. I grew up with a bit of an attitude, you know what it’s like. And then and then. Yeah, I just. Just took took to like a duck to water, really, with life.
00:03:49:09 – 00:04:07:20
Andy Acton
I loved it. Mum was very good with me. She was a teacher, Dad was an accountant. So no dentists in the family actually. And actually no one from kind of any health professional background which, which is a bit strange because you tend to find that there’s a little bit of a link you get, you get signposted down that avenue.
00:04:07:20 – 00:04:28:14
Andy Acton
But it was just it was almost by a by law. I just kind of really loved artwork and I really loved science. I was a massive science geek, believe it or not. You might not know. It is obvious I’m really cool, but I was a massive geek and you hide it well. Yeah. Thanks, mate. But yeah. And it was a combination of two.
00:04:28:14 – 00:04:47:19
Andy Acton
Just kind of led me down that field of cosmetic treatment, I guess. Cosmetic. Cosmetic health. And I thought about being a surgeon. And then the thought of telling someone that they were going to die just was not on my agenda. I couldn’t deal with with with death. So I decided what next? I know I should be a dentist.
00:04:47:19 – 00:04:48:19
Andy Acton
So here we are.
00:04:49:09 – 00:04:55:08
Chris Strevens
I’m just I’m just going to cut in here. I’m going to make a very big assumption here, Greek, North London. You are gooner.
00:04:55:23 – 00:05:01:05
Andy Acton
I am a massive, huge, huge games, actually.
00:05:01:05 – 00:05:02:07
Chris Strevens
Interest arsenal.
00:05:02:07 – 00:05:03:13
Jon Nicholas
My Arsenal mug there.
00:05:04:08 – 00:05:24:04
Andy Acton
Is love that, love that. And interestingly enough, I actually went to the first game of the season this season to watch the Arsenal at Crystal Palace. And if you remember the game, my mate who’s who’s just recently had a had a kid and he ended up off the sack. I scored the second goal, the winning goal. He ended up ripping his shirt off.
00:05:24:04 – 00:05:50:00
Andy Acton
He hasn’t been out in about two years, ripping a shell above his head, swinging it around his head. And the Arsenal official photographer caught him as his players are celebrating. He’s dead center of the photograph and it was plastered all over Arsenal’s official and Freddie so his wife found out and then blamed me. So I guess I’m just about everyone right?
00:05:50:00 – 00:05:54:03
Jon Nicholas
Including you. Your fault for taking the shirt off? Yes. Brilliant.
00:05:54:09 – 00:05:57:03
Chris Strevens
Sorry. So I interjected. That was just. Oh, no, no. So no.
00:05:57:03 – 00:06:18:23
Andy Acton
So, so. So what was it? So there’s also. No, no, no history. No family history in dentistry at all. What? So what was it you say those are on the signs, but was there something the that particularly Drew drew you to the profession? Because we’ve had a situation where people with a work experience or had a family member or whatever it was or was it literally you just found it yourself?
00:06:18:23 – 00:06:44:21
Andy Acton
I’ve always been quite a social person. I love interacting with people. It’s just it’s just like a massive thing for me. And the thought of sitting behind a computer and just not interacting with any human beings and just type in a way and it just, it scares the daylights out of me, actually. So the fact that I could implement what I enjoyed and, you know, using my hands and being able to socialize with people, patients, nurses, the team was it was massive for me.
00:06:44:21 – 00:07:04:23
Andy Acton
And it was it was it was it kind of ticked all the boxes, really. I did do some work experience and it was cool. I did go with my dentist. You could say he might have influenced me a little bit by just the idea of socializing is pretty cool, but when you actually think about the job, it is a bit strange in it because someone walks in through the door like, say, a new patient.
00:07:05:10 – 00:07:33:18
Andy Acton
You’ve never met the person before and within 3 minutes your fingers are in their mouths. Like, where in society is that acceptable? It’s just the strangest, the strangest job. And I find that fascinating and I enjoy it so much. It’s a bit weird, but also I think on that point, I think that’s what makes dentistry particularly independent dentistry so powerful because it is a very intimate relationship, you know, with lots of other health care professionals.
00:07:33:18 – 00:07:43:03
Andy Acton
You don’t visit them as frequently, but also the relationship you have isn’t as intimate. Well, is it a perfect? Well, would you be going to a dentist? Way more vaguely than perhaps you might see an optician. Or if you operate.
00:07:43:11 – 00:07:44:16
Chris Strevens
Never excitable by.
00:07:44:16 – 00:07:58:10
Andy Acton
A machine? No. So what consistency you’ve seen, the same clinician actually matters because there aren’t many people that you get that close to in your life. And so you really have to trust and you want to put up with or perhaps there shouldn’t be that many people. You did it pretty close.
00:07:59:02 – 00:08:00:09
Jon Nicholas
In my head. I’ve got this image.
00:08:00:09 – 00:08:02:16
Chris Strevens
Of like you walk in, you meet someone in about 3 minutes.
00:08:04:07 – 00:08:07:21
Jon Nicholas
Give you like a dentist. Oh, maybe that maybe.
00:08:08:04 – 00:08:35:12
Andy Acton
Back in their heyday, but not anymore. Married, settled man. Now that doesn’t. And it bothers me a bit. The young people in school today are under pressure, very young, to make these these kind of career decisions. You know, now you need to be making those decisions when you perhaps, you know, 13, 14, to make sure you choose the right, you know, these options that give you the pathway to do A-levels, to give you the the right grade to get you into dental school.
00:08:35:12 – 00:09:04:17
Andy Acton
And that’s a massive pressure. So for you to have worked out quite early. Okay. You enjoyed science, so you kind of had a bit of a head start that you worked out the elements of the of the profession that were going to suit you. That’s quite I mean, impressive that you got to that point. So, yeah, the one thing that you said that which is very interesting for me is is the pressure, the pressure from a young age, we’re almost conditioned from a young age to to to make decisions, make big life decisions.
00:09:04:17 – 00:09:23:07
Andy Acton
And it’s so much pressure on so much. And there’s this there’s no there’s no kind of guidance really is you almost got to make a choice and kind of hope that you land on your feet. Luckily for me, I did, but not everyone does. So you could say there’s an element of luck involved potentially, but also good guidance from my parents.
00:09:23:07 – 00:09:42:01
Andy Acton
The parents were very supportive in whatever I wanted to do. And actually my dad did say, you know, one thing that always sticks with me, my dad is he said, if you’re going to do something, you need to make sure you enjoy it. And if you enjoy it, like never chase money, basically, if you enjoy it, you’ll be good at it.
00:09:42:01 – 00:10:01:07
Andy Acton
And if you’re good at it, then the money comes. So it was a passion for me. I did at A-level. I got told by my my tutors and my teachers why I do it, not for you. You’re an academic lad. You need to be doing economics, I hope in like numbers. I don’t like numbers so boring. I’m like, Oh, I like painting stuff, you know?
00:10:01:08 – 00:10:13:05
Andy Acton
I like using my hands. And like I said, luckily for me, that was the passion it was. I followed it and it seems to have worked out so far. It’s brilliant. So you don’t have the numbers as you count and you get the truth.
00:10:13:05 – 00:10:14:10
Jon Nicholas
Artist Yeah.
00:10:14:22 – 00:10:40:11
Andy Acton
Let’s say you went to do, you went to dental school in 2008, qualified in 2013, which preschool did you go to? What was that experience like going through dental school? The best one. I went to the best one. So should it. I leave it. I’ll leave at that. And yeah, I went to Barts and the London. Yeah. Yes, I was I was in Iceland actually applied for everywhere but London because being a London lad wanting to get out and experience life.
00:10:40:11 – 00:10:50:05
Andy Acton
So I applied for Leeds, Manchester also for Kings as well because it was a good dental school at the time. Still is. No offense to anyone there and.
00:10:50:18 – 00:10:52:05
Jon Nicholas
Good recovery but you know.
00:10:52:14 – 00:11:09:22
Andy Acton
And I actually got rejected from from everywhere. From everywhere far from Barts. Yeah. So I went all the way to Leeds, however long it was on the train, had about a three minute interview. Guy said Thank you and I left to go, rejected it two days later. So it was, it was, was, it wasn’t a very pleasant experience.
00:11:09:22 – 00:11:32:16
Andy Acton
My, my union activations. But finally, I had a really lovely interview with a lady. I remember Dr. Patel. I don’t know if she’s still there. Probably not, because it was so long ago, but I yeah, it was a great interview. And then, like you say, does it all work out? And it always does work out. The always does work out what you think one day might be a situation which is dire.
00:11:32:22 – 00:11:44:04
Andy Acton
It’s always going to work. It’s so true now. And I think people find their right place and for whatever reason. And whilst Leeds wasn’t the greatest appearance, you going to balance was the right school for you. Did you get what you ended up?
00:11:44:04 – 00:11:46:18
Chris Strevens
Did you stay at home, John or did you go and do?
00:11:46:18 – 00:11:49:20
Andy Acton
Host I had to get out because no one.
00:11:49:24 – 00:11:50:16
Chris Strevens
The experience.
00:11:50:20 – 00:11:58:07
Andy Acton
I’m pretending like I mean know give it a large or it’s mainly my mum kicked me out because she couldn’t stand the 30 boxes off the floor anymore.
00:11:58:08 – 00:12:01:23
Jon Nicholas
So don’t do it. How would your bedroom.
00:12:02:00 – 00:12:03:22
Andy Acton
Be turned into a study or library or.
00:12:03:22 – 00:12:05:08
Jon Nicholas
Something? There was no space for, you.
00:12:06:00 – 00:12:15:00
Andy Acton
Know, as soon as I left, I thought she’d, like, make a shrine for me. But it was nothing like that. It was. Yeah, it was bed gone, wardrobe gone. The incoming own son. Thanks, Mum.
00:12:16:11 – 00:12:17:01
Chris Strevens
And who?
00:12:17:07 – 00:12:18:24
Jon Nicholas
Yeah.
00:12:18:24 – 00:12:43:10
Andy Acton
So what was that like? Like, did you, did you breathe through dental school? Did you did you find it challenging? You made lifelong friends. Did you know I’ve had a bit a bit of all, really. I mean, like everything’s challenging. I think at the time I wasn’t as emotionally aware of of what I wanted in life and and I wouldn’t say emotionally secure, but I think not as a lot as of right now.
00:12:43:10 – 00:12:59:01
Andy Acton
I’m in a position where I can control things a lot more. I’m a lot more spiritual and mindful of what’s going on. And at the time I wasn’t. I just wanted to party up and party up. And just like that was that was that was the kind of the ethos at the time. And I did both of those things.
00:12:59:01 – 00:13:17:05
Andy Acton
I had a great time, amazing friends. I wouldn’t say it was a breeze because I did. I’ve always worked very, very hard. Anything I want to do, I will do it to the best of my ability. Yeah. And I. Yeah, I graduated with a distinction. It didn’t breezed through, but I did very well. And I’m very proud of what I achieved at uni.
00:13:18:05 – 00:13:41:06
Andy Acton
But then it all went tits up when I applied for the VCE. So we get through to the end of university and the way that it works, boss, is you do your your end of year exams at the beginning of the next year. Is this very, very strange. So you don’t have a summer. So thank you very much, Professor Fortune, for that.
00:13:41:11 – 00:14:04:08
Andy Acton
You don’t have a have a summer. You get back in at the beginning of the fifth year was when we had to apply for our VCE of eight positions. And I don’t know if you guys remember, but you had to rank from one to like a million all these different areas that you wanted to work in, you know, the first being somewhere close to home and then the millionth being somewhere in the Highlands in Scotland.
00:14:04:08 – 00:14:24:18
Andy Acton
Some, yeah. And I ranked it all spent ages alongside revising for my interview exams and then lo and behold what I thought I’d sent off everyone, everyone, all my friends come in and say, oh, what did you get? What did you get? You know, what have you have you got a confirmation email? What email? You guys talking about?
00:14:25:04 – 00:14:45:00
Andy Acton
I had ranked it all, but I hadn’t pressed submit. Oh what you think you know so. Right. And I’m just going to go chat to the dean, you know, anything. We, we could POW’s. Sure you know sure someone about can get me back on this I went and saw Professor Fortune at the time, went to our office, our prof you know, I didn’t submit my thing in time.
00:14:45:00 – 00:15:01:02
Andy Acton
Can you just, you know, sort of our face just went white. She was like, John, I said, you’re unemployed for a year. And I was like, sorry. And I was just I was devastated. It was it was it was a shambles, which, again, at the time felt awful ringing my brain, my mum upset mum. I’m coming home.
00:15:02:16 – 00:15:02:23
Jon Nicholas
Back.
00:15:02:23 – 00:15:25:24
Andy Acton
Conversation. But yeah, it was, it was scary, it was scary and it was very uncertain and but you know, it worked out well because I ended up you end up almost going through what we call a clearing. So you go on to the March scheme, which is someone everyone who didn’t pass their vows the first time around, you get you get kind of sidetracked into that scheme six months later.
00:15:25:24 – 00:15:45:09
Andy Acton
So you basically six months behind. Yeah. And it was in that scheme where I met, you know Jane Kish and you know, they’re now lifelong friends of mine and they’re great people to be around. I mean, you guys can appreciate that without without having done that, I would probably never have met.
00:15:45:10 – 00:15:49:23
Chris Strevens
You wouldn’t have done it. It’s amazing, isn’t it, how the stars line up at all.
00:15:49:23 – 00:16:00:20
Andy Acton
Yeah. We’ll go back to the beginning. If they’d offered you a place at Leeds. Yeah. You know, we are products of who we are today from all those or micro things that happened in our past. I mean, let’s just.
00:16:00:20 – 00:16:02:05
Chris Strevens
Do for six months, John and.
00:16:03:15 – 00:16:19:01
Andy Acton
I, for six months, what did I do? I, I did help out a little bit. I did like an honorary position at the, at the hospital just to keep my hand on. But, but not much really. And it was it was unpaid and it was just it it can I swear. Can I swear on this. They use for adults.
00:16:19:03 – 00:16:24:10
Andy Acton
Yeah. It was a bit shit. Yeah. So all of your mates, we could.
00:16:24:10 – 00:16:26:20
Jon Nicholas
See it coming. We could say having a.
00:16:27:10 – 00:16:44:13
Andy Acton
All your mates kind of progress and you kind of, you feel a bit left behind. But that’s what it is. And going back to the point I made before about would you what you said about would I change it? No, I wouldn’t. And there’s a guy that I really love listening to. He’s a guy called my recorder. I don’t know if you guys ever heard him before.
00:16:44:13 – 00:17:06:03
Andy Acton
The Google X guy. Yes. Incredible, incredible man. He actually was I was signposted to him by by Rhona. And it was it was he was great. And he says he has a thing called the eraser test. So the eraser test is if if you think of if you guys think right now something that’s really bad that’s happened to you in the past.
00:17:06:03 – 00:17:28:05
Andy Acton
Right. Sorry to bring the move down a little bit, but it’s an important point to make. If you think of something that’s really bad, this happens. You’re in the past where you felt really stressed from an event. Would you erase that moment in time? Would you if you if you were going to erase that moment in time, everything that surpassed afterwards because of that event would have to be erased as well.
00:17:28:19 – 00:17:49:14
Andy Acton
And if you were to ask loads of you did a study on it and apparently 99% of people would and we’re talking, you know, people who have had the most traumatic things happen to them, they wouldn’t change it because it shapes you to who you are today. It makes you stronger. It strengthens your mind. It’s it’s stuff that, you know, we take for granted at the time.
00:17:49:14 – 00:18:16:01
Andy Acton
At the time, it seems like the worse thing. But actually, like I mentioned before, it always works out. It always watching you, right? Yeah. The easy answer is, of course you devise it. Why would you want the pain? But you know, we talk a lot about resilience and how we have to build resilience. So what resilience? But resilience is only experiencing things that don’t go particularly well and you learn how to cope with it and you move forward and you end up with a a thicker skin or a better armor or whatever is required.
00:18:16:01 – 00:18:17:00
Chris Strevens
And you learn that, oh.
00:18:17:00 – 00:18:35:15
Andy Acton
Yes, if you never go through the crap, you’re never going to build resilience. And, you know, lots of people, particularly kind of, you know, younger parents of today, some of them perhaps, you know, cosset their kids too much and don’t allow them to have these micro fails where they can actually love.
00:18:35:16 – 00:18:36:14
Chris Strevens
Reason for later.
00:18:36:14 – 00:19:00:21
Andy Acton
Resilience. Yeah that there’s too much comfort around around people so when they then become young adults, they don’t quite know how to cope in different situations where you know for you that kind of not submitting your your your VCE places was a massive learning and that will change your accuracy and how you plan and go about things and your attention to detail will be different as a result of that experience.
00:19:00:21 – 00:19:01:04
Andy Acton
Again.
00:19:01:12 – 00:19:02:07
Chris Strevens
Don’t do that again.
00:19:02:07 – 00:19:32:01
Andy Acton
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hundred percent. Like like you say, it’s resilience is massive. Resilience is huge in dentistry. It’s huge in any business. And without being tested, how can you build on it? You can’t. So rather than rather than kind of shy away from these things and try and create a barrier against what we perceive as negative things, we should we should take them on the chin and learn from them apart from them, because that’s the only way we’re ever going to going to evolve our skillset anyway.
00:19:32:11 – 00:19:33:09
Chris Strevens
Yeah, definitely. Yeah.
00:19:33:21 – 00:19:46:17
Andy Acton
So then you’re qualified, you got your feet, which is all good. You then went and did a MSC and we started in 2019. So clearly enjoying your clinical learning, clearly enjoying the esthetic side of things. Yeah, I mean.
00:19:46:17 – 00:19:47:10
Chris Strevens
It’s a commitment.
00:19:49:03 – 00:19:58:15
Andy Acton
For four years, huge commitment financially and also timewise when having kind of just come out, not earning that much cash, trying to pay back and save.
00:19:58:15 – 00:19:59:23
Chris Strevens
Time in sunshine.
00:20:00:04 – 00:20:17:21
Andy Acton
In front of things. But yeah, like they just it was the passion, right? And it’s I want it to be I still want to be the best in my field. I want to I want to be the best person that I can, the best dentist that I can. And the only way you’re really going to do that is through post-graduate training and furthering your skills.
00:20:18:03 – 00:20:34:03
Andy Acton
So that was a big thing for me. When I came out, I was like, Right, what next? What we going to do next? How am I going to improve next? And then the MSI happened and actually I enjoyed it. It was cool. Got a day out of out of clinic every now and again, which was nice. It just it made life a bit more interesting.
00:20:35:01 – 00:20:41:06
Andy Acton
Apart from around exam season. It was a little bit tougher on them, but it is what it is. It was good. Good enough. Yeah. And I am where I am now.
00:20:41:06 – 00:20:42:24
Chris Strevens
So were you married then or.
00:20:43:13 – 00:20:45:19
Andy Acton
No, that’s why I was so happy. That’s why I was happy.
00:20:47:00 – 00:20:48:15
Jon Nicholas
Oh, no.
00:20:48:24 – 00:20:51:03
Andy Acton
Please don’t do that. But hopefully my missus isn’t this.
00:20:51:03 – 00:20:54:03
Chris Strevens
I hope your wife doesn’t listen to this one. Yeah, I want us to edit that.
00:20:54:23 – 00:21:03:23
Andy Acton
No, in. I want to keep her our toes. Note my missus she she knows how much I love her and on point she is to my life. I love you. My, my, my, my darling. Yeah. Good. We have a job.
00:21:05:07 – 00:21:06:00
Jon Nicholas
There’s a theme here.
00:21:06:04 – 00:21:08:10
Andy Acton
It’s like it creates problems. And in addition.
00:21:08:10 – 00:21:10:11
Jon Nicholas
Self back hold you so smooth.
00:21:10:11 – 00:21:11:04
Chris Strevens
As a cashmere.
00:21:11:04 – 00:21:11:16
Jon Nicholas
Company.
00:21:13:11 – 00:21:17:17
Andy Acton
So it seems to be the people that live with me hate me the most. I think she’s a nice one.
00:21:18:23 – 00:21:19:08
Jon Nicholas
Yeah.
00:21:20:01 – 00:21:23:11
Andy Acton
So at the time you. So you. Yeah.
00:21:23:17 – 00:21:27:09
Chris Strevens
So you had that time and money to invest in. Yeah.
00:21:27:16 – 00:21:57:19
Andy Acton
Exactly. Exactly. So you’ve invested heavily in your own skills and as a dentist, your clinical skills and your working as a as an associate. Have you any ambition to be a principal one day? Do you do you also invest in your, your non-clinical skills to the same extent? It’s a good question. It’s one I’ve always thought about. And who knows at the moment, you know, that there’s there’s I’m always thinking of, of different things.
00:21:57:19 – 00:22:18:00
Andy Acton
I get quite bored quite easily is probably the best way to I always one of the things and it’s so far most of my investment of time and money has been in furthering my clinical skills. Right. But getting to the point. That’s what most dentists do. Yeah, exactly. I’m getting to the point now where I feel like maybe there’s there’s a there’s room for some other changes.
00:22:18:00 – 00:22:36:13
Andy Acton
So who knows, maybe on the horizon there might be some stuff kicking off soon. But but I’m excited about the future. I’m excited about what other stuff I can learn. I get a massive buzz off of it. So, so bring it on as well. I say, yeah, wherever, whenever we’ve met and whenever we talk, you’re you’re always hugely positive.
00:22:36:14 – 00:22:49:12
Andy Acton
You know, you just sort of go the, you know, if it’s if it’s poor and everybody everybody’s got an umbrella, you would feel, which would be great for the planet. Isn’t it really good for the plants and the trees? I don’t really count getting wet. Have you always been like that? It was your was your childhood really positive?
00:22:49:12 – 00:23:17:03
Andy Acton
Was your family positive or is it something that you’ve kind of is condition behavior that you cultivate yourself? Yeah. Yeah, it’s it’s definitely something that I’ve cultivated more recently. And there’s a there’s a number of reasons why. I mean, I mean, I told many people this, but but when I was younger within the family that had an issue with, with alcohol and it it kind of split the family up, right?
00:23:17:03 – 00:23:43:23
Andy Acton
So so Dad left mum. So Mum raised us that was around and is a fantastic father. But there was there was things that happened when we were younger that that kind of may have affected me emotionally when I was 13, 14, 15 years old. When you’re really developing an emotion which is yeah, right. That’s the times where you where you can be molded and you know, at the time, you know, divorce within within Greek families, for example, was, you know, unheard of.
00:23:43:23 – 00:24:20:07
Andy Acton
It was strange and it just wasn’t what I was expecting. And it kind of pissed me off, really, as I was. It’s happening to me. And, you know, you catastrophize the situation and you almost become selfish. But that actually inspired me. So as we talk about the eraser test again, would I have a raise that? No, I wouldn’t because that recovered and he’s now been sober for about well, about 19 years now, I think, which is inspirational so and he actually was the key guy in inspired me to become more mindful because he wasn’t he never was and that’s why he had these issues.
00:24:20:17 – 00:24:40:14
Andy Acton
But actually coming from that, he read a book called I don’t know if you guys read this kind of stuff, but he read a book called The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, which is a very spiritual book, and talks about being in the present, present moment. And it was a very inspiring book for me. He gave it to me to read and I was like, Well, Dad, this is awesome.
00:24:40:20 – 00:24:59:15
Andy Acton
And that kind of inspired me to to look into this stuff. And I had a real passion for it. And being the science geek that I am, I find the brain so fast that I could sit here for 4 hours chatting to you guys about neuroscience. You guys wouldn’t appreciate it, nor would the listeners, but it is incredible.
00:24:59:15 – 00:25:25:00
Andy Acton
I know you had Dr. Khadijah on The Mind Ninja, who she probably went through the psychology of stuff. I mean, she’s she’s incredible, so knowledgeable and very inspiring. But the all of this stuff put together just has led me to to looking into things like meditation, looking into things like positive affirmations and just trying to put a spin, a positive spin on life.
00:25:25:00 – 00:25:46:14
Andy Acton
Because when you are in a negative mindset, a negative place, life is just not enjoyable. It is not so. So why focus on that is the only way to remedy it is to become more positive. And there’s some ways that the things that I do that help me get them. From your point of view, the the positivity that comes through is genuine.
00:25:46:14 – 00:26:01:22
Andy Acton
But there’s a lot of social pressure for people to appear like they’re positive and almost like pretend like they’re positive. And I think that’s more damaging than just being the person they are. So. So from your point of view, yeah. I mean, this is how you kind of deliver this on a daily basis.
00:26:01:22 – 00:26:03:09
Chris Strevens
Instagram profiles.
00:26:03:13 – 00:26:04:17
Andy Acton
Exactly. Exactly.
00:26:05:00 – 00:26:05:08
Jon Nicholas
So yeah.
00:26:06:12 – 00:26:27:10
Andy Acton
I mean, look, we’re all we’re all guilty of it. I would I would call it cool. It probably toxic. Toxic positivity. It’s it’s it’s it can be damaging but because you need to be able to accept that that things go wrong sometimes I think acceptance is a key thing. How do I how do I do it on a regular basis?
00:26:27:10 – 00:26:45:12
Andy Acton
It’s through through morning routines for me. So if I if I was to say to you, you lads, you want to you know, you guys look like you train in the gym. You look cute at bulky weight. So you train your body, you go to the gym, you work out, you train your body. But how often do people tell you that they train their minds?
00:26:45:17 – 00:27:12:02
Andy Acton
It’s very rare. It’s very rare. And the brain itself is is so it’s so complex that if we don’t spend time looking after it, it will look after us. Right. So so part of my morning routine, I’ll wake up, freshen up, do my normal thing, brush my teeth, have a shower, and then it’s straight on with meditations. I’ll meditate for about 20 minutes every single morning without fail.
00:27:12:02 – 00:27:37:06
Andy Acton
Meditating is is has changed my life really. It’s it’s a way of of without going into the silence too much it’s a way of of disconnecting yourself. Just chilling chilling yourself out and being able to to manage your mind, manage your thoughts and stopping these thoughts from turning into emotions. So, for example, right, if you are you guys are at work, you’re trying to sell a practice, right?
00:27:37:15 – 00:27:59:04
Andy Acton
And something goes wrong and your instant thought is, Oh no, this has gone wrong. And then you start to create a train of thought. This is going to lead to this, which is a lead to this. It starts to stress you out. The thoughts then lead to an emotion. The emotion being stress and stress then leads to all these mediators getting released into your body.
00:27:59:07 – 00:28:21:24
Andy Acton
Cortisol, your blood pressure goes up. It’s horrible. It’s a horrible feeling, right, that what you could have done initially is stop that at the first thought you had. You could have disconnected from that thought and stop that train of thoughts. And in doing so, you would have prevented yourself from getting to the final thought and then the the stressful situation.
00:28:22:05 – 00:28:46:24
Andy Acton
And that stressful situation would love to see all those that all the stress, the high blood pressure, the courts, all that kind of thing. So meditation really helps me to be present, think things that kick off. I just deal with them so much better now. Life is life is is wonderful. We should be so grateful that we’re that we’re here and we should be we should spend way more time being present.
00:28:47:08 – 00:29:04:18
Andy Acton
I don’t think that we do as a as a as a as a human race. Now, we’ve developed almost into two people that think too much about the past, thinking about things you could have changed and then worrying about what might happen in the future, all because of thought processes and meditation helps me to take control that massively.
00:29:05:22 – 00:29:25:11
Chris Strevens
It’s a bit like yours now. I love it in the fact of my daughter does this thing called the EFT which is tapping and they used to originate you were child soldiers in in Africa and it’s to relieve stress and they teach in schools here to basically stop you getting as you were saying past that point where you start to get yourself all stressed.
00:29:26:04 – 00:29:41:14
Chris Strevens
But I think it’s a brilliant application of of a practical application is that, you know, whether it’s your meditation or whether it’s the tapping that actually says, I’ve got to do something. Yeah. Otherwise it becomes a runaway emotional train. And then you, then you’re in of.
00:29:41:22 – 00:30:00:09
Andy Acton
The emotions of, you know what, whilst with our emotions we’re not humans, but managing emotions is critical because like you say, if, if you’ve not had a good start to the day and something goes wrong, you know, it’s that whole thing of in a particular snow, we have a choice whether we respond or react and the reactions normally in emotional response.
00:30:00:09 – 00:30:22:10
Andy Acton
And if we respond to something, we’ve probably counted to five and we’ve come up with probably a better a better answer as to how we see that kneejerk answer. And it’s easy to say when we just sit in here, we were quite relaxed and we chatty. But when you are in a high pressure situation and those happened quite frequently in dentistry because you know, you’ve got high speed tools going round in, you know, it does vessels and all sorts going.
00:30:22:23 – 00:30:50:04
Andy Acton
You can see how that that tinderbox can go off. Yeah, but we are we conditioned as dentists from, from an early age, from early in our career, we are conditioned to be scared with conditions of practice defensively. We’re conditioned to be scared of the GDC or being struck off. That’s that’s the only the early on that’s that’s everything that’s in the back of your mind all the time.
00:30:50:13 – 00:31:10:24
Andy Acton
And you are essentially every time you go to do treatment, you are conditioned or you are taught, don’t get this wrong because if you get this wrong, you’re in trouble. And how can how can you expect, especially a young person, to perform at the highest level when in the back of their mind? There’s always that negative spin, there’s always, always going to be that.
00:31:11:05 – 00:31:41:06
Andy Acton
And I really feel like we have to change the culture. Yeah, this is a week condition like that. And, and alternatively, you can, you can actually condition yourself to become more positive. But we’re just not taught how to do so. I feel you’re not taught how to do so at school. Young age, that’s starting a little bit now, but it’s nowhere near enough dental school that the closest thing I had to so kind of talking about emotions was maybe communication skills, which was like a, like a one day course.
00:31:42:09 – 00:32:18:03
Andy Acton
No one really taught us how to deal with stress, how to deal with emotion, how to have a positive mindset. It’s a massive part and I think which I felt was necessary. And then we sit there. I wonder why, you know what? Yeah, but. But then we. What? We wonder why tests it. So sorry you were saying. I was I was just saying I think you’re putting yourself in a position to be able to help young identify skills you you lecture heavily in your you’re involved in the small dental academy.
00:32:18:06 – 00:32:29:09
Andy Acton
So I think in terms of changing some of the the narrative of what young dentists learn but how it’s applied gives you a chance to start to influence not just younger but all old dentistry.
00:32:29:09 – 00:32:49:07
Chris Strevens
The Academy I was going to ask actually, just when you’re doing your lecturing, I’m assuming you’re lecturing, you know, on clinical, but do you say bring in your your thoughts about meditation and stuff like that? Is that does that environment enable you to sort of almost combine the two?
00:32:49:07 – 00:33:14:22
Andy Acton
It’s a great point. I do, but I wouldn’t it’s more a private, private kind of in a private way. So naturally, as lecturers and as course directors, we we become mentors for for for the delegates. Right. And they they confide in you, they tell you stuff. And honestly, we wonder why I was going to say before we wonder why the rate of suicide in dentistry is so high.
00:33:14:22 – 00:33:45:17
Andy Acton
It’s because we just don’t have coping mechanisms. And I can say to you, since I started in the academy, I’ve probably had at least three, three delegates who have told me they have been suicidal. And that’s shocking. It’s shocking. It’s actually scary. And that’s just within that’s just within small, dense academy. Think of everyone outside of that. I’ve also had two friends within dentistry who have told me they’ve had suicidal thoughts as well.
00:33:46:02 – 00:34:11:10
Andy Acton
And it’s something that we we really need to open our eyes to because if dentistry can be a very lonely job, it can be a very lonely place to be. If you can’t manage your mindset and your and the psychology and it can you can spiral very quickly. I suppose the reality is for many dentists, the way they earn their money is with their hands.
00:34:11:10 – 00:34:33:12
Andy Acton
So they’re locked away in a surgery one on one with a patient with a nurse in the room. And in that moment, your your attention and concentration is is complete on what you’re doing in that moment. And to add to the the stress in terms of the mental stress, you think of physical stress because you’re not probably sitting in the most natural of positions and you do that for hour after hour, day to day.
00:34:33:12 – 00:34:37:16
Andy Acton
So you can see how that’s not that’s not a perfect environment for human, is.
00:34:37:16 – 00:34:40:19
Chris Strevens
It, with a patient who’s not really that excited to be that.
00:34:41:00 – 00:35:01:05
Andy Acton
Yeah. They’ve got John with his fingers in their mouths within, within 2 seconds. Yeah. It’s, it’s, yeah, it’s, it’s a lonely place in that, you know, natural positions it. Yeah. It can get out of it can get out of it, can get out of control. It can be difficult, especially when things don’t go right, when it’s, when it’s going well, it’s great.
00:35:01:12 – 00:35:19:20
Andy Acton
But I think people need to begin to learn that even when things we perceive things is not going right, they will work themselves out. In the end, they will be fine. I think there’s that there’s certain things we’re perfectionists, right? Because we are because as I mentioned, we are conditioned to be scared or be worried about doing things wrong.
00:35:20:10 – 00:35:43:04
Andy Acton
You feel like you have to be in control of everything and that is a very dangerous position to be. Control is you need to realize there’s certain things you can control. There’s certain things that you cannot control, what you can control is going to work and doing the best that you can and being the best dentist you can, you guys being the best businessman that you can, you can do that.
00:35:43:04 – 00:36:04:08
Andy Acton
What you can’t control is the outcome of your attempt and that as soon as you realize that this was a big eye opener for me, as soon as you realize that sometimes your best may not be enough, it’s okay, that’s fine. You deal with it. But the moment you try to control the outcome, that’s a dangerous place to be that this stuff.
00:36:04:08 – 00:36:33:16
Andy Acton
John, you’ve obviously deeply into it and it’s purpose and interest. But this is not mainstream teaching. This not mainstream learning for people, your peers who are in this situation. So how does that get kind of introduced in in a in a widespread manner? So the people get to think in that context and in those terms because you you’ve you’ve learned early on in your career how does that on a message get get spread widely?
00:36:35:15 – 00:36:56:07
Andy Acton
I think they have to implement at university has to be done from day one because without without the without the infrastructure to to train your mind and get control of your thoughts. You know, it’s it’s it’s it’s not a good place to be. I think that’s that’s really where it should begin. It should actually probably begin earlier than that, maybe in schools.
00:36:56:20 – 00:37:21:10
Andy Acton
I’m aware that, you know, mental health is becoming a bigger thing, but I still think it’s a bit of a tick box exercise, you know, after a mental health days randomly just to tick a box. It’s it’s not it’s not strong enough at the moment for me because like I say, it’s it is huge. And having having had some people tell me that they’re having issues, you know, suicidal thoughts, it’s it’s worryingly out of control, in my opinion, still.
00:37:22:01 – 00:37:27:05
Andy Acton
Mm hmm. Yeah. It’s not it’s not great.
00:37:27:06 – 00:37:29:14
Chris Strevens
And you can’t learn by osmosis, can you?
00:37:29:22 – 00:37:50:19
Andy Acton
No. No. And I think under that banner of just wellbeing, you want people to to truly enjoy the things they’re doing. You know, on ongoing, you know, I know I wasn’t to get into a state of flow where everything’s perfectly all the time, but actually most days should be good. And then we have tough days. But that’s where you build your resilience.
00:37:50:20 – 00:38:10:17
Andy Acton
Yes. Not all bad news. The nation where people are enjoying what they’re doing. Yeah. And also what I would say is without putting too much of a down, I feel like I’ve been very negative. So I’m going to I’m going to spin it because that’s what I do it. There are ways that you can learn. You can learn to become more positive.
00:38:10:24 – 00:38:27:16
Andy Acton
There is there is something called new neuroplasticity, which is where you train your brain. Your brain. They used to think that your brain was once it was formed, that’s it. No matter what you did, that was it. So you’re born genetically. That’s it. You’re a negative person, so you’re going to be negative for the rest of your life.
00:38:27:21 – 00:38:47:16
Andy Acton
It’s not like that at all. There are solutions and you can train yourself. And that’s what the meditation does. That’s what some of the stuff that I do in the morning as well helps me to train myself to, get into it, to become more positive. So for example, right, if you again go back to you guys more relevant to you guys and also dentistry.
00:38:47:16 – 00:39:04:16
Andy Acton
So if you if you’re going to have a you have a a deal coming up, right. And you’re really nervous about the do you really want to make sure you make a good impression so that you’re a negative person? So you think in your head, right. This is going to be a really, really, really bad meeting. It’s going to go really badly.
00:39:05:14 – 00:39:31:21
Andy Acton
And you visualize that in your head and you think this is going to be really bad. Now, the brain, as complex and magnificent as it is, it’s actually very easy to trick it because the brain doesn’t know the difference in terms of forming a memory. It doesn’t know the difference between reality and the thoughts. So if you sit there and ten times a day, you think, Oh, man, this meeting is going to go so badly, it’s going to be terrible.
00:39:31:21 – 00:39:52:18
Andy Acton
It’s going to go so bad. And you think that ten times your brain registers it as you having a bad meeting ten times. And then when you actually have the meeting and it goes well, rather than you being like, Oh, it went well, that’s good. I reckon I’m going to be good at meetings. It doesn’t. It’s ten one, ten times you’ve thought negatively one time the actual time happened is the one.
00:39:53:01 – 00:40:13:08
Andy Acton
So your, your, your brain convinces you that you’re always going to you’re always going to have a you always getting nervous for meetings. It’s always going to go badly. Whereas if you visualize and a tragedy that things go to you and they were just thoughts. They weren’t they weren’t reality. They were just thoughts. Exactly. They’re just thoughts. That’s all they are.
00:40:13:08 – 00:40:36:24
Andy Acton
And that’s what that’s what you need to identify. Thoughts are aren’t reality. So why don’t we use this to our advantage? And this is another thing that I do. It’s visualizations and affirmations, positive affirmations is I will think positive things. I visualize what’s going to happen in the day short term and also long term positive things and. Therefore, you’re tricking your brain.
00:40:36:24 – 00:41:01:13
Andy Acton
It forms a memory in your brain that positive things are going to happen. And suddenly you start to pick up on the positive things that happened during the day rather than negative. But this is this is training. This isn’t something that’s going to happen. You do it once and then, you know, I’m not being delusional here. You know, that’s what toxic positivity is when you do it once and you think it’s going to work and it doesn’t and you pretend it does, it’s not that you need to do this on a daily basis.
00:41:01:13 – 00:41:23:23
Andy Acton
It needs to become habitual. And by doing that, you literally this is true. Is it scientifically proven? You literally rewire your brain. You connect the positive areas of your brain. Again, I’m not going to get into the science because you will bore everyone, but it requires the bits that that fly a positive signals in your brain. So it becomes more unique and it disconnects the negative ones.
00:41:24:05 – 00:41:48:02
Andy Acton
So naturally feel more positive. Things seem seem better and it’s as you said. But we’re never to the light. Yeah. There’s like Carol Dweck, you may have read her book mindset and that fascinating. Yeah. Because it talks about the different, you know, mindsets you can have. And it pretty much is what you are saying about how you think about things and you can change how you think.
00:41:48:03 – 00:41:49:00
Chris Strevens
And that means that.
00:41:49:00 – 00:42:08:06
Andy Acton
You new and a lot of it is just how you perceive situations and you know the outcome. We do have a degree of control over what that outcome is and whether you want a growth mindset or a fixed mindset, you do have the ability to to change how you think about things. But but you also write it’s an ongoing process.
00:42:09:04 – 00:42:16:03
Chris Strevens
They to with your mind, your brain is a muscle as well as that you need to use it and stretch it. And what sort of. Yeah.
00:42:16:16 – 00:42:33:12
Andy Acton
So. Exactly. So if you, if you were to do something, carry on. I think we’ve got a little bit delay because you’re obviously on an island in the Seychelles or something at the moment. I think that’s what it is.
00:42:33:12 – 00:42:36:00
Jon Nicholas
I wish.
00:42:36:00 – 00:42:58:16
Andy Acton
Carry on. I was just saying. So you obviously into this in a big way yourself and you done lots of of work around it, which you are benefiting from. But outside of the teaching you’ve done yourself, who inspires you to be better? Who do people around you and who do you look to for that? That’s that’s a great question, actually.
00:42:59:02 – 00:43:29:18
Andy Acton
You obviously done this before, haven’t you? Who inspires me? My dad definitely. Like incredible luck. His his his recovery. Magnificent. And it’s inspired me massively. I think he was the catalyst for all of this kind of thing moving from him. It’s friends. Most of my friends, we’ve always kind of pushed each other and pushed each other further. I think it’s really important to to make sure your tribe is full of people who want to gain and then push and develop.
00:43:30:06 – 00:43:52:14
Andy Acton
You don’t want to be with stagnant people. No, they’ll drag you down. And that’s why I had such a big affinity for for people like Jen and Kish being around those guys. Yeah, the energy is infectious and they’re just genuinely great guys, very massive, big family men, but at the same time, huge ambitions. And it’s massive, inspiring to me about people like that.
00:43:52:14 – 00:44:14:02
Andy Acton
And I would I would recommend any young dentist. You must surround yourself with people who want to grow because like you said, within an ecosystem, you need to attach yourself to people that want to grow because there’s lots of people around that are like that. And if you can attach yourself to someone like that, honestly, the sky is the limit.
00:44:14:02 – 00:44:23:21
Andy Acton
Mm hmm. Yeah, that’s great. You you strike me as quite a sort of a big thinker, you know, kind of a big ideas sort of guy that you do.
00:44:23:22 – 00:44:25:02
Chris Strevens
Also sweat the small stuff.
00:44:25:08 – 00:44:49:09
Andy Acton
That a small thing is both you as well. You’re quite particular about stuff. I’m I’m I okay. No, not really small. Small stuff. Not really. I would actually say I’m trying to think what am I quite particular with. I mean, my dentistry, I’m a little bit OCD about it. I’m like that. But that’s only because I want to be the best I can be.
00:44:49:15 – 00:45:10:02
Andy Acton
But in general, no, I’m actually very chilled and my missus sometimes she gets a bit pissed off because I am too chilled and you know, she’ll do something that she thinks might annoy me and it just doesn’t annoy me. And she she actually gets annoyed herself that I’m not getting annoyed. And it’s just Yeah. As she ends up pissing myself for, you know, not annoyed, she’s trying to annoy me.
00:45:10:02 – 00:45:10:10
Andy Acton
And yet.
00:45:11:10 – 00:45:13:07
Jon Nicholas
But yeah.
00:45:14:02 – 00:45:36:09
Andy Acton
Why are you not annoyed? No, I’m just very chilled and it takes a lot to rile me up. Maybe also, losing might be one of those things I’m sure you can appreciate, Chris, but yeah, I’m. I’m very, very chilled. It takes a lot to sort of see me. Yeah. You’ve experienced that much this season, have you?
00:45:36:09 – 00:45:49:01
Chris Strevens
No, no, we’re doing alright. Henry. Henry, my son Henry. With an arsenal loss or even even he gets so cross and I say but we’re winning. Yeah, yeah, but I know. Just chill out. Remember, if we.
00:45:49:01 – 00:45:52:13
Andy Acton
Win, it’s very easy to get super passionate about sport. Yeah.
00:45:52:23 – 00:45:53:06
Jon Nicholas
Definitely.
00:45:53:07 – 00:45:57:22
Andy Acton
Yeah. In particular, football brings the worst out in me. Definitely.
00:45:57:22 – 00:46:03:15
Chris Strevens
That’s how you are, Henry. You are my.
00:46:03:15 – 00:46:04:02
Jon Nicholas
Son.
00:46:05:16 – 00:46:06:24
Chris Strevens
And Henry goes nuts.
00:46:07:09 – 00:46:16:16
Andy Acton
And he’s weird. Isn’t it weird how we get. How we get so, so taken in by basketball and football, how it can affect of so much?
00:46:16:24 – 00:46:20:17
Chris Strevens
You don’t have to think about referees. Yeah, I play because my son is always.
00:46:21:00 – 00:46:21:18
Andy Acton
Know the ref.
00:46:21:24 – 00:46:22:16
Chris Strevens
Referees.
00:46:22:22 – 00:46:40:20
Andy Acton
Refs are so I’m always quite respectful Tyrus maybe they maybe before I discovered meditation they probably you know they probably hate me but now you know, they make a wrong decision. It’s fine. I can accept it now. You know, they’re trying their best as I am on the pitch and I one ref once said something to me when I was playing football.
00:46:40:20 – 00:46:48:08
Andy Acton
It was quite funny. He’s like, when you when you make a bad pass, I don’t tell you you’re flat. So don’t tell me I’m fat. When I get the decision, I was like, Fair play.
00:46:48:12 – 00:46:56:03
Jon Nicholas
That’s nice. That’s brilliant. That’s really good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Thanks. Yeah, yeah.
00:46:56:03 – 00:47:13:20
Andy Acton
John, honestly, it’s been it’s it’s been really enjoyable. I think some of those insights about how you truly are positive will be really valuable to people. I think that it’s like, thank you from not just yeah, kind of say I’ll just wake up and be positive, make sure, you know, make other quotes fun. At some point, you know, you’ll catch.
00:47:13:20 – 00:47:15:05
Chris Strevens
Up in a bit, hopefully.
00:47:15:05 – 00:47:24:11
Andy Acton
But beyond that, it’s is truly trying to, you know, develop systems and behaviors that just become repeatable so that it becomes the way you.
00:47:24:18 – 00:47:36:04
Chris Strevens
Boost your robustness doesn’t in a sense, yes. With so much stress is the more you can do. I think life in general is the more you can do to be like really mellow and sort of just let stuff bounce off.
00:47:36:04 – 00:47:56:16
Andy Acton
You just I just hope one day we get to a stage where this gets incorporated into mainstream learning for everybody to guys like you and us who go and seek this stuff out and we benefit from it because the people who need it most, probably the people who wouldn’t have the the mindset or the attitude or the willingness to go and seek it.
00:47:56:16 – 00:48:15:12
Andy Acton
So I’ve seen it pushed on those people in some sort of structured way. And that that in itself is that in itself is a big thing. So people need to need to want to make the change. And sometimes like, like you say, it’s it’s easy to win it when things are, you know, glorious and happy. It’s it’s easy to to think like that.
00:48:15:18 – 00:48:39:16
Andy Acton
But but sometimes, you know, guys, you need to be in the darkest of places to be able to realize you have an issue and you have to work on something. So so yeah, it works. It works both ways. But I think always look out for your mates, always ask if they’re okay, especially dentistry, because there’s, there’s people that I, I would never have expected to tell me stuff and they have.
00:48:39:24 – 00:48:41:23
Andy Acton
So we should always look out for each other.
00:48:42:11 – 00:48:47:05
Chris Strevens
Isn’t that thing you if you ask someone if they’re okay and then you’re supposed to say no, are you really okay?
00:48:47:05 – 00:48:48:09
Andy Acton
Yeah, yeah.
00:48:48:20 – 00:48:50:04
Chris Strevens
Yeah. Because I was. We were. Yeah, it’s.
00:48:50:04 – 00:48:53:18
Andy Acton
Great. Don’t ask me often. Also lost our place, you.
00:48:53:18 – 00:48:57:08
Chris Strevens
Know, so I’m uncommunicative. So it’s funny. Yeah.
00:48:58:11 – 00:49:17:05
Andy Acton
So we always. We always finish up in the same way we are focused, same two questions. And the first one we have for you is if you could be a fly on the wall in a situation, where would that be and who would you be with? What would you like? I thought about this and it’s just, you know, I it’s not really cool.
00:49:17:05 – 00:49:30:12
Andy Acton
It’s not really it’s not really. I feel like I should come in with the groundbreaking thing, but it’s not really like it’s going to be Dallas will change. You know, I do think that right now it’s going to be the one when we won the league got Spurs and we won the league at Spurs and we won the league.
00:49:30:12 – 00:49:48:12
Andy Acton
And man United’s just dropping that in. But it’s not actually that it’s a lot. So I’m really into music. I love music. It’s a massive thing for me. I love actually make create music as well. Now. And I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when when Quincy Jones and MJ were producing that album.
00:49:48:12 – 00:50:01:24
Andy Acton
I would have loved to be in the studio and just watching them vibe off each other. That would have been really, really damn cool. So yeah, that’s probably why I would just see the guy’s a genius, man. He’s just incredible. So that’s probably what I.
00:50:01:24 – 00:50:16:05
Chris Strevens
Wish in my life. I took Quincy Jones. Yeah, there is a certain track I can’t quite remember it, wasn’t it? But if you play on certain speakers, there’s certain bits of it that come out on better speakers that you don’t actually hear or no speakers interest.
00:50:17:07 – 00:50:29:21
Andy Acton
Yeah, no, he will. Yeah, you’re right. He was a he was the godfather of what he created an hour, an hour follow up, as if you could meet somebody, if you could sit down with somebody and have a a cup of coffee or glass of wine.
00:50:29:21 – 00:50:33:07
Chris Strevens
Living or dead? Yeah. Real or fictional. Anyone you fancy, you.
00:50:33:08 – 00:50:40:12
Andy Acton
Don’t spend some time. I’m going to go a bit darker, guys. Oh, yeah. I’m going to say Adolf Hitler.
00:50:41:22 – 00:50:43:05
Jon Nicholas
Wow. Yeah.
00:50:43:17 – 00:51:03:00
Andy Acton
And the reason I mean, look, I might smash the glass over his head potentially, but no, I wouldn’t do that because I’m a chilled out guy. But I would want I would love to just listen to his thought process, what the hell he was thinking at that time. If someone like that, their brains got to be wired differently, man, I would.
00:51:03:00 – 00:51:13:11
Andy Acton
I would. I would just love to hear his justifications for what he did. And I understand him a little bit more as a person. So I’m going to go I’m going to go with Adolf Hitler guys. Well.
00:51:13:20 – 00:51:15:00
Chris Strevens
We haven’t had a lot of Hitler.
00:51:15:10 – 00:51:25:00
Andy Acton
No, I think it will be quite scary to get into the mind of somebody like that, given the things he did and actually understand. You know, I assume he he genuinely felt he had to go.
00:51:25:06 – 00:51:26:06
Chris Strevens
He believed that was the.
00:51:26:06 – 00:51:50:00
Andy Acton
Way that it would just be incredible to to understand why he thought the things he did were okay. Yeah. If you could truly tap into that, that thought process. That’s what I mean. Yeah. To impact future people down the line in terms of. Yeah, could you change the course of the future? Hmm. Yeah, it would be an uncomfortable meeting, but yeah, it’d be really interesting.
00:51:50:01 – 00:51:53:01
Andy Acton
Well, I’d make sure I was maybe. Maybe do a Zoom chat. Maybe.
00:51:53:12 – 00:51:54:01
Jon Nicholas
Yeah.
00:51:54:08 – 00:51:57:02
Andy Acton
Then if I had zoom back, then I don’t think we can we.
00:51:57:02 – 00:51:59:08
Chris Strevens
Can, we can augment. We’ve got a time machine, so.
00:51:59:19 – 00:52:01:21
Jon Nicholas
Okay, bye bye. All right.
00:52:02:09 – 00:52:15:18
Andy Acton
John, it’s been it’s been wonderful. Appreciate your time. I know you’re busy, guy. It’s been good. Really good. Thank you. Up next week at a social event which will be. Yes, yes, hopefully. And hopefully you’re sober. I’m not playing. Not playing any of you guys.
00:52:15:18 – 00:52:18:02
Chris Strevens
No, no, no, no. We will start. We will start.
00:52:18:02 – 00:52:30:11
Andy Acton
We’ll be having a good time, which we felt was sober. It’s always a pleasure to chat to you guys and I’m glad we actually got to chat a bit deeper today. It’s it’s been a real pleasure. So thank you so much for your time and thank you for listening to me. And thank you for having me on.
00:52:30:16 – 00:52:32:02
Chris Strevens
And I hope you for coming on joins me.
00:52:32:07 – 00:52:53:01
Andy Acton
Thank you. And I really hope that if not you guys, if anyone’s listening here, if we can inspire even one person today. What we spoken about, then I think is job done. Absolutely. I appreciate your time today. Thank you. Thanks, Mike. Thank you for listening to this episode of Technology, where we discuss the business of dentistry. If you like what you heard, please do subscribe where you found this episode.
00:52:53:01 – 00:52:55:12
Andy Acton
That would be amazing. And also follow us on Instagram.
