Author: Chris Barrow

Chris Barrow has been active as a consultant, trainer and coach to the UK dental profession for over 20 years. As a writer, his blog enjoys a strong following and he is a regular contributor to the dental press. Naturally direct, assertive and determined, he has the ability to reach conclusions quickly, as well as the sharp reflexes and lightness of touch to innovate, change tack and push boundaries. In 2014 he appeared as a “castaway” in the first season of the popular reality TV show “The Island with Bear Grylls”. His main professional focus is as Coach Barrow, providing coaching and mentorship to independent dentistry.

Monday morning – it’s blowing a violent gale outside but I’m trying to re-create health and fitness as a priority in my life and go for a run before the day starts. I’ve been a runner for over 25 years and every now and then leave it alone for a while. The latest “while” has
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Once a month I spend the day in 15-minute phone calls with my clients. They book in via an on-line appointment scheduler and I call them at the appointed time. Once the clients have been working with me for a while they “get it” that there is value in sending an email a day or
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Saturday morning and, unusually, I’m sat at the back of the room watching somebody else present to my clients. Dr. Asif Syed is spending the day with a pilot group of 7 clients, discussing and presenting on the use of Key Performance Indicators to keep your “finger on the pulse” of the dental practice. Not
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Because I’m sat in the lounge at Exeter International Airport – with hundreds of stranded travellers – waiting for a host of delayed flights, including mine to Belfast, where I’m presenting with Isoplan this evening. After a week of no emails, no phone calls, no paperwork – in fact not even a conversation about business,
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I think it’s Friday anyway, having reached the stage that when the alarm clock sounds I wake in the dark and cannot remember which hotel room I’m staying in. It’s rather ironic to be staggering out of my room to present a workshop on time management and “work/life balance”! Suppose I have a good excuse,
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It’s been a hectic few days. Sunday I drove from Cornwall to Manchester and spent Monday morning discussing funeral arrangements and calling at my Mum’s home to feed the cat and take a first look at the “stuff” my Mum has left behind. Quite an experience – she lived alone as a widow for the
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Just a quickie to inform you that my Mum passed away peacefully in her sleep last night at the age of 77. Her ambition was to avoid managed care and live out her final days in her own home — apart from the last 3 weeks in hospital, she managed that and will fulfil her
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Just back from a quick 2 days of workshops in Bristol and Bracknell – and I’ve been hearing some horror stories about NHS dental practice that I’ll share in next week’s newsletter – there’s going to be blood on the streets in April. On a more positive note, I keep on saying that I work
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Just back from a quick 2 days of workshops in Bristol and Bracknell – and I’ve been hearing some horror stories about NHS dental practice that I’ll share in next week’s newsletter – there’s going to be blood on the streets in April.On a more positive note, I keep on saying that I work for
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Happiness is on the horizon. Or so it would seem from the numerous self-help manuals that I see when browsing. But a “horizon” is a mental construct that is always the same distance in the future. “I’ll be successful in another 3 years – when I’ve achieved the goals I set myself.” Why keep trying
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