Reflection: How excited are you and your colleagues about your career and your work? And what fuels that sense of engagement?

These are the questions I’ve been asking LPNs (Licensed Practical Nurses) as I prepare to speak at their upcoming provincial conference.

• Here are some of the practices they described:
• Paying attention to the good they are doing
• Actively mentoring new nurses – in both the technical skills and the ins and outs of professionalism
• Taking advantage of symposiums and upgrading events to keep up with new practices
• Arranging to work alongside knowledgeable colleagues who are skilled at sharing what they know
• Volunteering for assignments that stretch their skills
• Taking on admin and leadership tasks to test their abilities in new areas
• Thinking beyond the status quo and proposing changes that would improve service to patients and clients
• Saying yes to opportunities to serve the professional association

In short, these individuals are finding ways to stretch and learn and keep on growing, even though they already have years of experience behind them.

Action: There’s a message in this for all of us.

Think about your own situation. How much of last week or last month or last year was invested in ‘same as same as’?

Where could you stretch and test your capabilities? Sign on to learn something new? Reach out to mentor others?

Quotes Of The Week:

No doubt you’ve aged, but have you grown? M. Marsh

Sometimes all that’s needed is a sense of possibility. – Rachel Remen

Resource Of The Week:

Here’s a brand new article posted on my site. It focuses on how to be a positive support and influence in the lives of others when they’re feeling stuck. I hope you enjoy reading and sharing: Rekindling Their Spark – Can You Be A Guide On The Side?

Readers Write:

In response to the recent Pause message, Is Busy The New Rich and Famous, reader KI writes: I am glad to see your comments on this topic. For decades I have been telling colleagues to beware of winning the heaviest briefcase award. I tell them that it seems so heavy because it is filled with lost moments and opportunities to have happy and meaningful moments both at home and at work. There is little reward for self-imposed exhaustion except anger, bitterness and regret.