It's a New Year full of fresh potential! Every January, brilliant white snow blanketing the slopes gives me the sense of starting with a clean slate. It's a great time for quiet contemplation, honest self-appraisal, and the development of new resolutions. I like to take stock of what I've accomplished in the past year and then consider the opportunities I want to pursue in the coming year.
Clear personal and professional goals are important. They enable us to navigate our direction in tangible ways and allow us to better recognize chances we shouldn't let pass by. Without goals, it's all too easy to go adrift and lose focus.
For me personally, 2015 brought the successful realization of a long-held nursing career goal: to be inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. That achievement is not an end to itself, but the beginning of new connections and possibilities for professional involvement. Whether it's continuing education, networking, a promotional position, or the development of a new skill or competency, each accomplishment opens doors and builds capability for others.
Nursing as a career is a journey and it's dynamic. It can become even richer when we actively seek challenges that build knowledge, skills, and competencies. These might include educational advancement, specialty certification, active involvement in a professional organization, presentation of a poster or lecture at a conference, or maybe writing for publication. Other opportunities could involve taking a leap into leadership responsibilities for a workplace project, committee, or a community organization.
Though we often feel our proverbial plates are full when we consider all of our work and personal responsibilities, it's always a good strategy to make room on that plate for a few new goals. Of course, with opportunity comes risk-but then you never really know what you're capable of accomplishing until you try!
When we allow our horizons to expand, we open up the potential to discover different ways to engage with our profession, hone new talents, influence key outcomes, generate ideas, and derive higher levels of fulfillment. For 2016, my New Year's wish is for your goals to take flight and your nursing career to soar to new heights!
Until next time,
Linda Laskowski-Jones, MS, APRN, ACNS-BC, CEN, FAWM, FAAN
Editor-in-Chief, Nursing2015 Vice President: Emergency & Trauma Services Christiana Care Health System, Wilmington, Del.