Nate Schott is a dentist, and he became a dentist because he was motivated to create a life for himself and his family, the type of life he didn’t have growing up.

Motivation is simply defined as seeing an idea through to its logical conclusion. So for a while, merely being a dentist allowed Nate to begin building that better life. But for a number of years, trading time for money as a dentist wasn’t enough. Then one day he asked himself if he was being who he wanted to be so he could live the life he wanted to live. You know, was he really going his own way? Nate decided to let an idea take hold of him and take him to a place that some might not consider possible. Nate became inspired.

In 1996, Nate formed a new kind of dental practice, a practice that positioned itself around the idea that the needs of the patient were more important than the needs of the practice. He got out of the chair and began building dental practices. He studied how and why dental practices became profitable or failed. He developed a series of best practices and he put those best practices into action.

Nate began building dental practices — and he was inspired to do other things, too. He started a dental-coaching program and a line of natural dental products called…Motivation and Inspiration.

Nate utilized both and decided to go his own way.

So who wins when you make this decision? Everyone. Nate now looks as work as a distribution channel for what he loves. Nate now gets to be the best at what matters most to him and the industry. Nate gets lives a different lifestyle and he has more freedom.

Nate also gets to spend more time with his family, which is what motivated him from the outset.

And that’s the point. People who decide to go their own way understand motivation and use it. But they also understand inspiration and use it to create new levels of failure, opportunity and success that, among many of us, didn’t seem possible.

Excel. Go your own way.