Most of us make New Year's resolutions. We resolve to lose weight, exercise, eat healthier, get more sleep, and a variety of other things. Most of us start out determined but never actually complete what we resolve to do. A resolution can be defined as a resolve or determination to do something, or the act of determining a course of action.1 It refers to making a firm decision about something.1 Certainly we feel firm about it when we are announcing what we are going to do in the New Year but somehow that firmness wanes as we get caught up in work, family, school, or other business of our lives.
While healthy eating, sleeping, and exercise are laudable goals, how often have you made resolutions about your career path? This year I would challenge you to think about what you can do to enhance your career, and in the process, enhance the profession of nursing. In case you are stuck, here are 10 suggestions for New Year's resolutions.
1. Join a professional association. In less money than you spend on your daily coffee, you can become a member of 1 or more nursing organizations. Support for nursing comes from members, both monetarily and in numbers. There are more than 3 million registered nurses in the United States.2 Imagine the voice we would have if all of us belonged to our associations.
2. If you already belong to an association, become active. Nursing associations cannot function without the valuable work of volunteers. Help your local chapter in planning meetings or conferences. Volunteer for a task force. Be a peer reviewer for the journal. Write an article. You get the idea.
3. Have a conversation with your nurse manager or supervisor. Find out what your opportunities are for growth. Show an interest in becoming more involved. Make suggestions for improvement and carry them out.
4. Find/be a mentor. When you ask leaders what advice they have for new nurses, nearly all of them mention that a mentor was invaluable in helping them get where they are today. Consider what you can do to mentor someone else.
5. Focus on what is important. How much of our days are taken up with the drama that has nothing to do with patient care? If we spent half as much time thinking about how to improve what we are doing as we do on the stories swirling around us, we would get amazing things done.
6. Let go off what we have always done. Just because we have always done something or have done it before, it does not mean we should keep doing it. In the same vein, continuing a potentially harmful practice just because nothing has ever happened is neither logical nor reasonable.
7. Use all of your talents.3 All of us have talents that we may not think have anything to do with nursing. They actually have everything to do with nursing. Are you a good writer, teacher, or artist? Whatever your talents are, they can be put to use in your unit to make things better for your patients and coworkers.
8. Do something you have not done before. This is a time to stretch yourself and make your resume look different than last years. Consider being on a committee, participating in research, teaching a class, or writing an article. All of these are things that need to be done. Who better than you?
9. Be a positive influence. No one wants to be around someone who complains all the time. Think about the last shift you worked? Were people happy or was everyone fussing? What is more fun?
10. Make a plan. Nothing gets done if you do not have a plan. That is why so many resolutions dissolve before spring. You have the whole year before you, so you can take small steps. Just take them every week.
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