Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Consciously Creating Your Nursing Career

Would you like to create your nursing career with conscious intention and the greatest possible clarity? In Episode 4 of the Nurse Keith Show, I discuss various ways to go about consciously creating a career to be proud of. 

Conscious intention means that you make your own choices regarding the direction of your career. By consciously creating your career, you can choose to listen to the advice of others, take it with a grain of salt, and decide for yourself what direction is best for you.

In the nursing profession, we often find ourselves dictated to by others. We’re told what jobs are hot, what certifications we should get, and why we need to follow some predetermined track, just because popular opinion says that we should.

In the conscious creation of your nursing career, be willing to set your intention, and be willing to reach out for support when and if you need it. Be open to gaining clarity of your vision, and do your due diligence so that you head into a new career direction with eyes wide open and a full understanding of what pursuing that direction will entail. You must also assess your desire for career-related risk-taking, finding your personal comfort zone for risk.

Meanwhile, conscious career creation may also demand the ability to admit that you don't know what the best route may be, allowing yourself to sit in a place of less clarity for a period of time.

In many ways, 21st century nursing is nothing like the nursing profession of the 20th century. We have fully autonomous DNPs and APRNs, nurse entrepreneurs, nurse healers, nurse writers and artists, and other nursing groundbreakers and thought-provoking, inspiring nurse entrepreneurs.

The field of nursing is wide open in 2015, and the choices have never been more varied. But when we listen to too many outside voices, we can get confused and discouraged. Looking deep inside for direction and clarity can sometimes be the most powerful tool available to us as we explore where we'll go next.

No comments: