#908: Book Club: Prioritize A Higher Level of Fun (!!!)

Dental A Team Podcast

Kiera and Dana download the latest Dental A-Team book, The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again by Catherine Price. Specifically, the two discuss why it’s so important to strive for playfulness, connection, and fun even in the workplace, as well as a new DAT project — coming March 2025!

Find the full book club rundown here!

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Transcript:

Kiera Dent (00:01.026)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera and I am so pumped. I got the one and only Dana with me, usually Tiff and Dana podcast. And today Dana and I are gonna podcast. How are you, Dana?

Dana (00:11.532)

I'm good. I'm excited to be here. I know it's been too long and it's a fun space, so I'm glad I'm here.

Kiera Dent (00:17.514)

I agree. told Shelbi, I was like, record. Can we start getting the consultants on with me too? Like I enjoy solo casting, but it'd be fun to hang. So I'm super glad. And today you guys, Dana and I are bringing you a special treat. We are going to book club podcast. Dana, Britt and I are probably the ones who actually book club in our company. So we're the constant three that do it. And I, as Dana this morning, I was like, did you by chance read that book? Because if so, I'd love a podcast guest with me on it.

Thank you, Dana, for coming to the rescue with me. But I think it's gonna be great. Our podcast, our book club for this month is The Power of Fun, How to Feel Alive Again by Katherine Price. And honestly, Dana, I think you might know this, but maybe you don't. The reason I chose this podcast or this book was because the confetti was on the front. Like, that was why I chose it. On the book cover, there was confetti. Ryan Isaac and I were talking about it, because I think I sent him the book of like, Probably Die with Zero or

profit first, like some like hard book and he's like, why don't we have more fun books, Kiera? So that's actually where it came from. But I'm super curious. Kind of let's dive into this book. If you guys didn't read it, totally fine. If you did, I think it's a slower read. I think Dana felt the same, but I think that there was a lot of good nuggets for now. And I'm all about how we can create more fun because I think adults forget how to have fun. That's I think my biggest takeaway is like, we've forgotten how to have fun. And she gave some good tips on how to have more fun in our lives.

What about you, Dana? What do you think?

Dana (01:46.936)

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there was a lot for me to take away. I don't think I've ever like, categorized my fun, or like, thought about creating space for fun. Like I think I'm a person that has a lot of fun, and I laugh a lot and there's a lot of joy in my life. But I did definitely like reframe my like, okay, well, what level of fun am I having and prioritizing that higher level of fun or what she calls true fun in my life.

Kiera Dent (02:14.752)

Yeah, absolutely. And she kind of talked about like, well, I loved a lot that she talks about is how much of our society has actually shifted us to not have as much fun. And I think one of my favorite takeaways in the book was when she talked about how like, our cell phones were actually designed to be like slot machines. And so like slot machines are intent, like, so much study has gone into keeping people like in the slot machine mode. And yet if we're doing that with our phones, gosh, like our world is crazy to think about. And so

helping us find ways to minimize distractions. And something she said is like, when you're not fully present, you're not happy. And so how can we be like in the moment having fun and like we're spending so much time consuming, but she said like, phones are actually causing constant stress and higher cortisol levels. And so playfulness, connection and fun are the things that we should be going for. And that's like laughing, being in nature, being purposeful and being present. And like times when we feel most alive are when we're actually playing. And I just thought it was such an interesting mindset of like,

great, my phone's a freaking slot machine, which we all know. It's a heavily addictive, we're constantly wanting to go to it. And yet that's actually what's causing us to not have as much fun, which I don't know, like to be debated, like is it true? Is it not true? And this is where Dana and I love to book club. This is how we actually book club is we talk about like, well, what do you think? How do you feel about that? What are like your thoughts? So Dana, tell me your thoughts. Let's have a real book club, Denali team style today.

Dana (03:34.574)

Yeah, I mean, I do think that like, I can admit my phone can be a distraction and I can think that I'm enjoying something but if I put it away and I do something else, like, I can definitely see that I enjoy that other thing more, right? And so I think we tend to hold on to the phone or do the phone thing because in the moment it's like, yeah, scrolling, tick tock, I'm laughing, right? Or looking and catching up with family on Instagram, like that's fun.

Kiera Dent (03:56.097)

Mm-hmm.

Dana (03:59.982)

But when I put the phone away and I focus on connecting with the people around me and being really playful and engaging, I feel like that is definitely a different level of fun. And so I think that it it's prioritizing those moments and understanding that like what your phone really lacks is that connection.

Kiera Dent (04:21.944)

Right, for sure. And I think some people might argue like is connection really fun? And like, do I actually need that? And do I want that? And I just think like, again, the books are here for conversation. They're here to challenge our beliefs and to question and to see like, what are we doing? And what really is that way? But what I thought was interesting is, so over the summer, I had some things that came up for me and I was very disconnected from my phone. And I'm not gonna lie to you.

for like the first three days. And that happens every time I go on vacation. I don't know about you, Dana, but literally every time I go on vacation, I have like withdrawal. So Jason and I will intentionally go to places where I to like shut my phone off. I don't have service. I will purposely not buy service when I go places. And it's like a withdrawal. And I feel angry for usually like my first two-ish days, sometimes even up to three, which I don't know if that's a good thing or not. But I thought about it and over the summer when I didn't have my phone, it was crazy how like,

I want to say carefree, I became, but I went through the withdrawal period first of feeling angry, mad, annoyed, like, just give me my freaking phone. It was weird. And I'm like, gosh, am I like a, like literally having withdrawals, leaving this addiction? I don't know. Or was it like chicken and the egg, or was it like cause and effect? I don't know. So I don't know, Dane, if you've got thoughts on that, but those are the things that I've been thinking of. like, is it really true or is it not?

Dana (05:43.374)

Yeah, I definitely go through like, I would say more like anxious, like am I going to miss something that's important or am I going to so like the anxiousness at first, I will say that I do have like when we go on family vacations or we go camping or we do those things, like I will put my phone in a drawer even if I don't have service. But then the flip side of that is I get really upset that I didn't snap photos because I'm like, I want to be in the moment. I want to remember the moment like with my eyes and be super present. But then I get home and I'm like, I didn't take any pictures.

Kiera Dent (06:03.658)

I agree.

Kiera Dent (06:12.33)

I know, because like, but that's all we have, right? Are the memories and the photos and photos can like, Jarrett, it's even crazy because like Apple vision right now has a quote unquote live. And I was at this thing in an Apple vision, like guru came to our little conference. Like we got all these Apple vision pros and they said, like, what we're doing is like, we're creating time travel. Like I kid you not, this was part of their pitch for Apple vision pro, because what they said is like, if you do the video in live, you can put the Apple vision pro on and it is

Simulated as if you are really back in that moment So like taking the videos which I think is like perpetuating us having our video so we can relive the moment rather than living in the moment is Contrary to I think how you have fun and so I think that there's like I think that's why she categorizes the fun within the book I think that's why she has you look at it because I don't think it's an all-or-nothing But there is a company I was talking with Jason Tonori shout out to him when I was up at his practice and we were talking about and there's this company called Brick

like a brick wall and the purpose of the brick is what you do is you actually like tap your phone and you brick your phone so we basically put our phones back into brick mode like remember when we used to have brick phones and all they did was like call and kind of text like that's actually the purpose and what this company is about because so often and it's crazy because when you brick your phone you literally have nothing on there and it's wild how much you like it's almost like phantom hands go to the scroll or phantom hands go to

Siri or phantom hands go to Safari, like all these things that I don't think we realize how dependent and reliant we are on it when it's like, no, I want to go on a hike and just use my phone for this. But then on the hike, it's like, well, let's check where we're going to go for lunch. Well, I don't have that. And I've got to go back to survival skills of like, all right, I guess we like drive to the town and figure that. So it is this like interesting concept, but I'm curious if we had like less phones, would we be happier?

Or is there like this or like have more fun or is there maybe a middle ground Dana and this is something we're obviously just rifting on right now and we don't have answers to it. We're just talking, talking shop here. What do think?

Dana (08:13.028)

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think with anything, right? Like anything is great for you in small doses. And then, you know, when it can be large doses, maybe it's not so good for you. you know, my hope is that there is a middle ground on this and that we can use technology and advance in technology and use our phone. But also, I think big takeaway from this book is making space for more fun.

Kiera Dent (08:39.668)

And Dana, what are some of the things like, how do you make space for Murphun? Like, what did you take away from the book or what are you applying in your own life? I'm putting you on the spot. Maybe you, I don't know.

Dana (08:45.218)

Yeah. No, that's okay. No, I like that she kind of like went through like one big thing I'll use myself as an example, right? As a mama for like, something that she suggested is just making time as far as like looking at the things that you have to do and making sure like with your partner in my instance, like my husband, like that those things are distributed evenly, right? So that like, I'm not the one that's making all the doctor's appointments and coordinating all of the kids schedules and doing those things helps to create space when those

roles are divided evenly, there's more space for both of us to be able to prioritize fun. She talked about like organizing your physical and mental space. So using a planner and making sure that you plan for things and you've got deep, you know, deep work and focus time. And then outside of that, when you get lots of things done in your deep work time, it frees you up time to have more fun. Physical space, you know, she talked about just like organizing your physical space so that

when those things are organized, you don't have to constantly be cleaning up clutter or doing those things. It frees you up more. So I thought she had a lot of great suggestions that I think most of us can apply something to to buy a little bit of time.

Kiera Dent (09:57.034)

Right. And I'm, I am obsessed about this. So this summer I went and attended a bunch of conferences with Tony Robbins about, he calls it his RPM, Rapid Planning Method. And like I learned about it and I hated it. And then for some reason it clicked this year. And I'm actually super freaking pumped because like non-shameless plug here, our new, like we're rolling out a little bit different of our consulting program and we are bringing people in person.

and I'm super jazzed if you're interested and you want to come like mastermind with doctor to our brilliant and it's a leadership. it's you and your OM and then we actually help take it back to your team for you. So like still doing all the pieces. We focus in on your business for a nice retreat time. And then we're also going to work with you quarterly. Plus you still have your customized calls. Like it's like 99 % Dental A Team. We're just now bringing you guys in person to mastermind together and with us. And like the fun, exciting part of it is

I actually am so excited because I am so passionate about life and dentistry. Like I realized life is my passion, dentistry is my platform. And so how can I help more dentists and more people have more time in their lives, but do it in the way that is fun? And so part of Tony's thing that we're actually going to incorporate like styles of Tony, but made Kiera's way and then tied into dentistry for your practice is Tony had us go through and actually map out like the categories of our life. And I'm so pumped because I'm going to help dentists do this again.

like taking from Tony Robbins and then adapted to Kiera's way of how I want to do it. But it was so magical because Dana, I actually built a category of fun because I realized I never did fun and I didn't actually like schedule fun. And so every week when I'm looking at my week, I look for like, where am I connected to Jason? What am I doing for the business? What am I doing for like, and I call our house like our Oasis, there's also power and language. So like, it's not just Jason, it's like my forever love story with Jason and then

fun. Like I wrote like life is meant to be fun and playful and like have the sprinkles and the confettis. And so every week as I've been doing this for the last couple of months, prepping and preparing and like fine tuning how I want to do it with our doctors. So don't worry, like it will be so much business. But if you don't have the life that's fun and fulfilling for you, we missed the mark in my opinion, which is why I'm so excited. And if you're interested and you want to be a part of our inaugural like beta group with us, like please join us. It's gonna be freaking magic. But like

Kiera Dent (12:19.512)

It's been awesome Dana because I feel my life is more balanced and I hate the word balanced because work and fun are not equal. Like they're not, but they feel balanced. And I feel like every week I look forward to like, what is my fun? And if it's not in my calendar, I'm like, well shoot, I need to have more fun. And it is the same thing of like, can I delegate these things to Jason or someone else? So that way we can have more time. You can look for like different apps or using people are like, hey, we're doing all these tasks. Could we?

Could we hire a nanny for this or could we hire like this summer I hired a lawn care company and I thought it was so dumb, but Jason did so many projects that he's never done because we didn't have to mow the lawn. And it's just like a little test that I tried to do. We've since gotten rid of them and he's back to mowing the lawn. But the idea is like we're building our lives and having that fun element in there, not just doing our work and like the drudgery day in day out. So to me, it felt like much more intentional with our time.

than just being on autopilot, which is what I'm so excited about. Like, yes, of course, it's 90 % business, but if I miss the mark of your life being what you want it to be, I feel like we've failed. So that's actually what I'm so excited about. And if that jazzes you reach out, hello at thedeadlyteam.com. I can't tell you how excited I am. This has been a project in the making for years and it's coming to life March, 2025. So get ready, reach out. And even if it's fine, like it's too late, we have multiples throughout the year. So like, don't even panic. You'll be able to be a part of it, but

And it's still everything Dental A Team is offered with team integration and doctor integration and practice. But like, how can I help people have more fun and have a life that's more purposeful and meaningful is what just lights my fire Dana. And I think that that's the whole premise of this book.

Dana (13:56.172)

Yeah. Yeah. And, and I think it's just like, understanding what building in fun gets you because like, when I have fun, I am definitely more creative. I am definitely able to focus, right? Because I had an output of energy somewhere else. And I can definitely focus. It does help fight burnout, right? Which we always fear for teams is are they going to get burnt out? And I think that when there's fun built in, it helps fight those things off. It helps fight off stress. When you build those things in and, and

Yeah, I think that that's, you're right. Work and fun never are necessarily balanced, but they definitely, fun can help work not feel so overwhelming.

Kiera Dent (14:38.145)

couldn't agree with you more. And I love that you brought up the point about burnout because like, everybody's looking for the master like bullet of how do we avoid burnout? And I'm like, I think it's just having more fun in life. Like, can we allow ourselves those simple pleasures in life? Think of how much time as children we spent playing and creative and shutting our minds off. And now it's like nose to the grindstone like robots. And it's been interesting because as I've, I've changed my schedule up, like I said, I'm testing on myself as the lab rat here to the not like

let's keep it more like PR. I'm testing on myself as the beta test here, and then we're gonna take it to other people. But what I found is, if I have this shut off time, and I have this time where I can be more creative and more fun, my ideas for the business come so much faster and easier, rather than trying to like plow through. And I realized there's like a different mode of creative and like operative. And there's, it's two different parts of our brain. And so it's like,

Dana (15:10.754)

video.

Kiera Dent (15:34.456)

to me, it kind of took away the guilt of like, go have fun because I actually, like simultaneously, I'm actually working on the business. Like whatever I'm doing here is actually there. So if I'm organizing my house, I'm organizing my business. If I'm having fun, I'm having fun in the business. Like they go energetically across the boards and like my best ideas have literally come when I'm hiking or when I'm on the water and I'm like, my gosh, that's a great idea. Or I'm on vacation because everything else is shut off. And I think that's the whole point is like giving our brains like through this fun, a time of shut off where it's just

and everything almost goes into like rest mode, even though we're actively having fun doing something and being playful and laughing.

So with that, I think for all of you, have more fun. How can your practices have more fun? How can your life have more fun? I think that it's just, if you don't enjoy the book, that's okay. I felt like it was a bit of a slower read, but I think the principle of how can we have more fun and how can we build more fun into our life. And if you need help like I did, be sure to join us. Platinum is coming your way and it's gonna be freaking fun. If you're like, I need systems and I need one-on-one help, great, we've got that for you too.

Obviously we do systems and whatnot within Platinum, but it's really about how can we create your life and have your practices there. It's just gonna be magic. So reach out, join us. Hello at thedeadlineteam.com. Dana, thanks for podcasting on having some more fun with me.

Dana (16:52.324)

Yeah, absolutely, anytime.

Kiera Dent (16:54.696)

I loved it. And for those of you who are on our book club with us, next month we are going to have Deep Who Not How, The Formula To Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork by Dan Sullivan. I'm obsessed with Dan Sullivan. Like I love Dan Sullivan so much. I literally met Dan Sullivan at a conference and I like geeked out and was just like, my gosh, I need to talk to you. Like literally has changed my life and...

Now you guys can have who, not how, which I think is a really awesome one, especially with hiring and all the different pieces, like who do we need, not how do we always do this and rely on ourselves. So get ready for that. Dana, thanks for being on the pod with me today. Of course, and for all of you listening, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

Dana (17:32.578)

Yeah, thanks for having me.