We all have professional goals for ourselves, but not everyone decides to fully chase them. When it comes to making a bold step in our lives, people tend to not commit or delay the fulfillment of their ideas. If you have been holding back on reaching your professional goals or think your dreams are impossible, think again! What better example to show that you can achieve your wildest dreams than the acclaimed keynote speaker, Ben Nemtin, who transformed his life to accomplish the world’s greatest bucket list. From playing basketball with former President Barack Obama to raising $400,000 for charity, Ben hasn’t let anything limit the possibilities of life.
At this year’s Global Oral Health Summit, he will provide attendees with “5 Steps to Make the Impossible, Possible.” Ben’s system for achieving goals will equip attendees with the tools for tackling and fulfilling “impossible” goals on the job and at home.
Ben took the time to share with us a few details about himself and how to begin the process of making the impossible, possible:
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself in less than two sentences?
I’m a believer that the impossible is possible, and every person has the potential to create a large-scale impact on those around them.
Q: What can attendees expect to learn about in your opening session about 5 Steps to Make the Impossible Possible (without giving any secrets away)?
If anything, they’re going to learn how to actually start to make progress towards your biggest dreams. And, they’ll learn the tools to continue that progress outside of the session. So, I’m going to help equip them with those tools to move towards their goals and leave with an understanding of why it’s so important to prioritize personal goals. It’s not selfish; in fact, it’s the opposite. It’s basically important for your own well-being and the well-being of those around you, your career, your organization, and your legacy.
Q: What path did you take to become a subject matter expert on making the impossible, possible?
Trial and error! Being young, dumb, and broke enough to try. I think that there’s a great power in being naïve when you’re young. You just try. You don’t listen to other people. You don’t believe them when they say you can’t do things. You have less to lose, and so we were lucky enough to go after these extremely audacious goals that weren’t logical for us to go after, but we did it because we just wanted to try. And then we found out that everything’s impossible until it’s done. It seems to be impossible until you do it, and we just surprised ourselves. So, I can became an expert just by trial and error. I used a 91 of 100 list items, and a lot of those were pipe dreams that now are crossed off. Continuously surprising myself with what is actually possible has rewired my beliefs and what I’m able to do. So, by consistently surprising myself, I’ve literally re-written the DNA and my core being that now I know that I’m able to do anything. It’s not whether I can, or I can’t; it’s just a matter of whether it’s something I really, truly want to do. And, then by doing it for it the right reasons. Once you understand that you have the ability to do anything, it takes away that conversation in your head and you’re able to just completely focus on one of the things that will bring you the most joy and happiness and fulfillment.
Q: What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
Today is the youngest you will ever be.
Q: Where does your passion to “make the impossible, possible” come from?
Well, it comes from― now it comes from a place of proving that anyone can do anything. My mission is to show people that they have the ability to make their own impossible dreams come to fruition. They’re not as impossible as they think. So, I get a lot of joy out of really seeing people sparked and triggered to start down that path and ultimately change significant aspects of their life by doing that and creating that impact. So, that’s what drives me now. And with these bigger goals and dreams that I go after, these are just things that I’ve always dreamed of doing. Now as I grow, I have new dreams. A lot of them feel impossible, but what drives me is just that they’re my dreams. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do. I don’t go after impossible things just because they “feel” impossible, I go after things that are my true calling. Now, I know nothing’s impossible. It just depends on what you end up focusing your energy on. So, it’s sort of a two-fold answer if that makes sense.
Q: What are some tips you can provide for attendees in advance to help them reach their full potential both personally and professionally?
One: I think it’s important to stop and take time to really think about what’s important to you. I think that we move quickly, and we take less and less quiet time to reflect on the important, simple things in our life that will be important to us when we’re laying on our death bed. The second is to write them down because you’re starting to create more accountability around those personal goals. The third is to talk about them because you just don’t know who can help you if you don’t share your dreams and your goals.
I think these are important, because professionally when you’re doing the things that are important to you personally, outside of work, it fuels you back into the workplace. It gives you more energy and makes you feel more alive. It makes you happier, more for self. And, there’s no work-life balance, it’s work-life harmony, which means that you’re getting energy from work and you’re getting energy from home. To get energy from home to fuel your productivity and performance at work, you need to be fulfilling things that are important to you.
Q: Why do you believe prioritizing goals is critical to your personal and professional wellbeing?
First of all, it contributes to your mental health, happiness, and overall well-being when you’re fulfilling things that are important to you. I think that’s pretty intuitive, but it’s also important for those around you: your clients, your colleagues, your family, your friends. Because you can’t take care of other people if you don’t take care of yourself. And, it’s important for your career, because as I mentioned, there’s no work-life balance anymore–our phones and computers are coming home with us. So, it has to be this idea of a work-life harmony, which really is taking away the line between work and home life, because you as a person don’t turn into another person when you leave home and go to work.
You don’t turn into another person when you leave work and come home. You’re the same person. So, you need to be doing and fulfilling things that fuel you inside and outside of work to fuel your professional life. So, I believe this is the new leadership. By putting yourself first, you put yourself in a position to serve others. It’s not selfish, it’s actually service. It’s also important for an organization as a whole because an organization can only become a better version of itself if the people are becoming better versions of themselves.
Q: What are you excited about most for Nashville? Have you ever been? If so, what do you like about it?
Oh, yeah! I have been. I’m really excited to get to listen to some of the music, go to some of the bars, and feel the energy of one of the fastest growing cities. And, really explore some of the culinary delights that are in the city.
Q: What is the best way can attendees prepare for your session and be in the “performance” state of mind.
I think the best way to prepare is to start to think about taking the time to reflect on some of the things you’ve been putting off. Think about some of the personal goals that you may have been pushing until tomorrow because you’ve been too busy, or because there are other things that are more important that have been popping up. Start to write those things down. Create a running list of the things that if you had all the time in the world and the money in the world, and you have the ability to do anything, what would you do? I think that’s a good seed to plant in people’s minds as they come into the session. And, really understand that this is not a selfish act. I’m giving them permission to think about this because it’s ultimately going to help them excel in their professional lives.
Carestream Dental’s Global Oral Health Summit is the premier education and networking event for dental practice management software users and those considering using our software within their practice. Held each fall, Summit is a collaborative learning experience, uniting oral health professionals across all specialties and skill levels. Summit is a two-and-a-half-day event, where over 1,000 participants (attendees, exhibitors, supporting staff) converge to recharge and enlighten themselves with new ways to tackle everyday challenges, discover the latest industry trends and explore innovations in diagnostic techniques and learn more about their Carestream Dental products and services.