The Power of You: Unlocking Purpose Within Your Career

Editor’s note: This text-based course is an edited transcript of the webinar, The Power of You: Unlocking Purpose Within Your Career, presented by Linda Nozart, MPH, BSRT, RRT, AE-C. 

It is recommended that you download the course handout to supplement this text format.

Learning Outcomes

• Recognize their current position while learning to grow professionally
• Determine opportunities for professional growth
• Identify their emotional intelligence skills

Do You Love What You Do?

We will talk about finding your purpose within your career, being in love with what we do, and how we provide services. Let me tell you, guys, something. SpongeBob SquarePants is my TV cartoon mentor. Yes, you can have mentors from all types of different spaces and all types of people. He is my cartoon version. The reason why is that SpongeBob loves what he does so much that he counts the sesame seeds on the buns. He pays Mr. Krabs to come to work and does not want ever to take his vacations. I always loved this character when he first came out. I always wanted to know, can we have this type of love and passion for what we do? Is it real? Can it be real? I am always trying to go after this level of happiness.

Career Development  Experiences

There are many decisions to make in our careers. I love this because it is about you and the decisions that you make. What you become making these decisions. As presenters, our experiences and our perspectives come from our past experiences, histories, and other factors that we are exposed to, both outside of our careers. For example, I started working at the young age of 14. My parents approved for me to have working papers. My first job was at the local annual carnival, and I was the promoter for the game booth called Prize Every Time. 

The Power of You

I am going to circle back to why how this relates to this presentation, but what I want you to know with all these different experiences is that within 14 years as a respiratory therapist and eight years within the public health field, I have learned, I have gained the skills of knowing making decisions that put me on a journey of finding my passion of what I do. I have a lot of experience in dealing with work relationships going along this journey. That is what we are going to talk about today. Stop thinking you will be happier when you get the promotion, get more money, get to the day shift, or become the director. Know that you can become. You own your happiness, and there are ways to embrace your position from where you are now. 

Keys to Embracing Your Current Position

• Adopt an attitude of gratitude 
• Create milestones for yourself celebrate when you reach them
• Have pride in the RT profession
• Start shift on a positive note always look on the bright side
• Reflect on how much you have grown in the position  
• Look forward to learning new things

Adopt an attitude of gratitude. I know a lot of gurus say this, people sometimes think this stuff is hocus pocus, but there is a lot of fact to it. There is evidence that shows when people have an attitude of gratitude, and it makes their day. It makes life easier to get up in the morning. Meaning being grateful so you can put a roof over your family's head so that you are able to help grandma and grandpa with their housing. For example, my grandma is in Haiti. She is living her best life because I am able to help my parents, but they still help financially take care of her. She is glowing at 100 years old. Do you understand what I am saying? That makes us happy. We are grateful for that. This field has been able to help my family. Create milestones for yourself and celebrate when you reach them. What do I mean by that?

A lot of times, people wait for supervisors to create competencies for them. What you can do is you do not have to wait for them to do that. You can create your competencies and your milestones. For example, I was terrible at intubations, terrible. I created for myself when I first started in my level one trauma center position. I said, "If I could get five successful intubations, this will be such an improvement. I would celebrate that." I kept track of that, and it really helped me to feel happy where I was. I encourage people to do this for themselves, keep track of this stuff keep creating milestones throughout their careers.

Have pride in the RT profession. I hear many times people say, Oh, I feel like I am pushing a vent. If you feel like you are pushing a vent, then you are pushing a vent. Everything starts from the mind. I do not feel like I am pushing a vent. I feel like I am the life support. Not the vent. I am the life support because, at the end of the day, if something happens to the vent, I know what to do, and I am confident in what I have learned. This is the attitude that we should have as respiratory therapists. Trust and belief that people think if they can manage their iPhone, they think they know how to manage a vent because they think we are pushing buttons. Know that you know what a peak pressure is, then you know why the tidal volume is what it is. You know when to suction a patient by looking at the vent looking at the patient. Please have pride in what you do. Carry yourself solely, and it will really help you embrace the position that you have.

Start your shift on a positive note. Always look on the brighter side because it really does set the tone at the start of the shift. Whether day shift or night shift, start on a positive note. Listen to good music, listen to positive podcasts and self-improvement stuff. Keep everything on a positive note because, as we all know, respiratory is not glamorous, it is not a glamorous job, we deal with so much. Know that you can create your sense of being in a positive bubble and start the tone for yourself.

Reflect on how much you have grown in the position. Once again, this goes in line with the milestones. Progress equals happiness. When we see ourselves from a baseline, then we see how far we have gotten, it is like, "Wow, I cannot believe how far I have come in this amount of time. When we do not often see this, this is when we start to feel we are in a rut. Understand where that can start to fester come from. Reflect on how you have grown. During my intubations, I was not able to intubate not one person successfully on my own. Then I ended up with 20 intubations, 50 hundred, then so on.

Keep reflecting, and look forward to learning new things. This has helped me a lot because respiratory is one of those things that we have to continue to learn. When you leave school, that is not it. We still have to continue. Here is the point of the CEUs making sure we are staying on top of that. Find ways to enjoy learning what you do and learning new information. I create this silly thing called "Linhale." Linhale because I am Linda. Linhale is for me. I say, "Linda, you are about to learn something new. We are going to Linhale." Meaning I am going to inhale something new? I come up with silly songs or silly acronyms to help me remember things. This helps me to look forward to learning new things, which I enjoy. Then piggyback off that, once you learn new things, you have to apply them.

PDSA – Plan, Do, Study, Act Cycle

Figure 1. PDSA cycle.

I have a younger brother who had the Super Nintendo. I was a big fan. If you played Super Mario Brothers, remember when he would get the power star, he would be invincible for 10 seconds. He could knock everything and do all that he wanted to do. My point is that when we are motivated, we learn something new. When you are motivated, know that it lasts only for a couple of days. It does not last long. You have to apply it. Here is a good way. I actually call this a life hack, the PDSA cycle in Figure 1. The PDSA is a quality improvement technique, a method. Basically, I make a lot of quality improvements. This is where we are because we want to do better, but what do we need to do? Those are the things that we are looking at. The PDSA is to plan, do, study, and act. We are actively focused on trial and error. That is all it is. You are tailoring it as you go. Plan, do, study, act. I really use this for almost everything in life. It is amazing.

Body Mind Set 

• Be adoptable welcome change 
• Help co-workers with out expecting anything in return – “Helpers High”
• Practice great self-care – Listen to your body (get quality sleep eat well)

Adapt, be adaptable, and welcome change. When I took a management position, this was something that even I struggled with in the beginning. I did not know how quickly things changed when it comes to management. You trickle down information from the higher-ups, and you have to quickly be able to find a way to deliver that to your team. This was something that I had to learn to unlock even my own power within my career, and be an adaptable welcome change. Change is always coming, and nothing stays the same forever. Do you understand what I am saying? We have to find ways to be adaptable and welcome the changes. Look what happened with COVID. That is a prime example of change coming and having to roll with it. 

Helpers High 

• Concept arose in the 1980s 
• It consists of positive emotions following selfless service to others
• Greater health increased longevity are associated with this psychological state
• Generosity, selflessness, an extended sense of self-favor are our ability to tackle successfully the environmental challenges we face on our planet

Helpers High is a genuine concept that therapists have come up with. To describe it many of us take public transportation in New York City. I take the train. When you are on the train during rush hour, frequently you will not get a seat. You will be standing, and a lot of the time, you may be facing the door. Now, when you are facing the door, you will see somebody hear a message that says, stand clear for closing doors.

Furthermore, the door is about to close. Now you may see someone running for their dear life trying to get on this train. They might be holding children in a stroller with suitcases. Now, you decide to put your foot, body parts, or whatever out. New Yorkers get creative in helping to wave them in or watch see if they make it. When you put your foot out to help them come in, they may or may not say thank you, this is New York City.

Nevertheless, the point is this is about you. That tingly feeling that you gained from doing that is a real thing. You do not know if you helped them get to that job interview on time or get the flight on time, you do not know. All it is that you took a split second or minute to decide to help them for absolutely no reason. 

Figure 2. Adapted from self-care wheel.

Once again, we have to listen to our bodies. You cannot find your purpose or unlock your purpose if you do not feel good; your body tells you that you need rest, so take the time to take care of those things identified in Figure 2. Self-care is another place where I struggle. I am being proactive in real-time. There is plenty of evidence to show that this increases happiness and longevity. People live longer when they are in this state of mind.

An example is when you are helping that mom bring her stroller up the stairs, or you are helping elders cross the street, not expecting anything. Helping people at work, this does create a sense of happiness. You will find ways to flourish where you are by even doing this alone. Once again, when we talk about the body and the mind, we know many different factors regarding self-care.

Know that you can be doing good in one aspect, not good in another, and still not understand why you do not feel happy. The aspects are different. Sometimes, we must focus more on some than others. Health is wealth, as we may know. It can mess up your money, relationships, and everything else if you do not feel good. Make time for a timeout or to process all your emotions. Know it is to go backward forward. I have had to do it. If you take more responsibility or a higher position and feels like you cannot do it, know that it is to step back. You succeeded. You did not fail. It is a shift. You can always recover from that.

Working with Strong Personalities 

• Find a few things even if small that you appreciate about that person 
• Give genuine compliments, don’t expect anything back
• Don’t test other team members' or co-workers' egos 
• Forgive the co-worker that hurt you

Yes, working with strong personalities does exist. We all know we do not get to choose whom we work with. My advice, which has helped me, is to find things you can appreciate about that person. Even if they are small, everyone has something to offer. I am telling you, there are people you know or others who are like, Oh my gosh, this person is the worst. When you see them on the shift, try to find something you admire or appreciate about them.

For example, it could be something that their notes are well written. "I read your notes the other day. It was very well written." You are not looking for feedback. It is a genuine compliment, the person may or may not respond to you, but you want to keep finding those things. Somebody is super neat, or their penmanship is fantastic. Keep finding those things because it will cushion working with such a personality. You can continue to bring down the wall. Do not test other teammates' or coworkers' egos. In healthcare, we all have our stories of what got us into this role in this type of profession.

Suppose we do not know how hard it was for the person to get where they got, how easy, or what challenges or barriers. Know that we all got here in some shape or form and have a story. Testing other team members' coworkers' egos is not worth it. It might feel good in the short term, but it brings negativity. The negativity lasts longer than the short-lived feeling of good after you tear that person to shreds. That is the advice that I give. Forgive the coworker that hurt you. Forgiveness was hard for me because I have been hurt at work a few times. I am somebody. When I am hurt, my guard goes up. I wall up and will give you surface stuff only. When I start to let my guard down, then someone does something, and the wall goes right back up. Do your best to forgive and move on when dealing with strong personalities with people that hurt you.

I am trying to remember the quote from Steve Harvey. Steve Harvey said something, I do not remember where he got it from, but he said that "Holding resentment, grudges not forgiving people is like drinking poison expecting the person to die." It is true because they are not thinking about you anymore. You carry that to the next shift, to the next month, and the whole year. It is enough. Let it go. Say to yourself out loud that you forgive X for Z. Look in the mirror. You can turn on your selfie camera, and press the record button say. I forgive X for Z. It will make your life much better, then move on. That is it. 

Negative Feelings Towards Co-workers

Which stair step are you on as far as forgiving? The arrow moves to build from the bottom of the stairs to the top: I will not do it, cannot do it, want to do it, how do I do it, I will try to do it, I can do it, I will do it, lastly, yes, I did it. I always love the how do I do it because that means you know this is the direction that you are supposed to be on.

How do I do it? Know that holding these feelings can lead to. We all have seen some shape or form of passive-aggressive behavior disruption in quality patient care. Please find the way. Look at the guy from the bottom. Think about the bottom of the stairs. That person saying "I will no do it," is not going anywhere. Then to the top of the stairs, "Yes, I did it." Imagine how happy that person is. It is the way to go when it comes to success.

Success is an Iceberg

Figure 3. Adapted from success in an Iceberg.

When someone sees somebody who is successful or looks like they are shining, many people do not realize how much work that person has accomplished. They may think it came out of nowhere. Oh, that person is lucky. It must be whom they know or whatever. Not knowing how much work they did, being persistent while people's heads are on the pillow, that person is the one doing the presentations, that person is the one studying, that person is the one doing self-education. That one is the person that heard the no's before the big yes. Understand that a lot is going on underneath that success. 

I always love showing the iceberg analogy because people think they got it, but no, they do not. They usually put in the work, have been through a lot, and eventually become the iceberg.

As respiratory therapists, we all know we are the Batman and the Batgirl of the hospital saving the day. We know this. We get the call, come in with our gadgets, take care of things, and return to where we came from. Know that we are cardiopulmonary specialists, and we are subject matter experts. Moreover, this is a superpower. Understand that this is a superpower. I have learned to control my superpower and take what I have learned from the hospital and apply it in different settings. Now I am in the communities. Now I am in the patient's home.

I am in the inpatient unit, in the ER, and in all these different settings, and I am also a communicator. I took my superpower, and I applied it in other places. I value the respiratory care field because there are few professions where you can be in many settings, creating multiple relationships, being this person, and figuring out where you can go next. 

Subject Matter Expert 

Figure 4. Adapted diagram of foundational growth.

Foundational growth is seen in Figure 4. Respiratory therapy is the foundation when you want to move to the next level. You already have the foundation. Invest in your skills. You are here now. You paid for your CEUs. You are investing in yourself. Self-education is scary because when someone does self-education, nothing can knock them. Trust and believe I know what I am talking about in being proactive and building confidence. I started by volunteering. People do not want to hear that stuff. Volunteering helps people see you doing and saying even when you have yet to gain the experience. It is a starting place for finding mentorship, and we want to continue to grow and learn. Then you could create your opportunities. Look at someone like me. I am in the communication phase. I am communicating and educating other people. I am creating content. I am confident. The folks at Continued Respiratory Therapy know why they picked me as a speaker.

Being an Asthma Champion 

Here I am, the crabby patty formula to improving yourself, leveling up to being an asthma champion—my version of controlling, unlocking my purpose. Still, as a respiratory therapist, I learned how to control the superpower to cater specifically to the communities and the hospital. As an asthma educator, no one nominated, promoted, or picked me to do this. I decided to do this. I nominated myself. After one night in 2010, I was in a level one trauma center, in one of my shifts, I was on the night shift. I was covering pediatric ER when I received a five-year-old African-American boy who went into cardiac arrest thrice because of status asthmaticus.

The story is that the grandma was in the kitchen cooking, and he was in the living room playing. She had no idea he had a full-blown asthma attack. When she realized what was going on, he was completely blue. As I am putting him on the vent, the mom is screaming, give him his prednisone, give him his prednisone. Mom knew the routine. Then when I caught eye contact with the grandma, she was utterly silent because she did not know the routine. I strongly felt he would not make it through the shift because he was in such bad shape, and he did not. 

I cried after work. My husband asked me, "Linda, why are you crying? You have seen children die before. What is this case special?" I said, "Strangely enough is not for the boy. It is for the grandmother. For the rest of that lady's life, she has to live with the fact that her grandson died in her care. That broke my heart. I never want that to happen to another family again." It was a decision I made. Nobody made that decision but me. Now, when I am doing what I am doing, I do it from my heart with passion. It is my why.

Know that in any vehicle I choose, I am educating you on asthma awareness. I shine in this capacity as an asthma champion, educator, and respiratory therapist because I do it from my heart. I want to show you guys to find this thing in your career that fuels a fire in you where you serve people this way. I hope that is the vibe you are getting when you hear my voice and see these slides. Ultimately, my why led me to obtain my master's degree in public health. I wanted to understand why some communities are sicker than others. 

Figure 5. Adapted from Theory at a Glance.

I learned about many evidence-based theories that help predict health behaviors and why people make life decisions. One of them is PAPM in Figure 5, which is the Precautionary Adaptive Process Model. All this is, is a journey of going from being unaware to being aware of making a decision. We are going from I did not know to I do know. Then what are you doing with that information? Here is an example of what it would look like in the real world what it would look like for someone with, let's say, diabetes or wanting to lose weight. 

Eating veggies is healthy. You would be surprised what people have yet to learn. I think everybody knows that, but you would be surprised when you talk to patients in different communities in different settings about what they know. When they are aware of something like health promotion, or when they find out, where do they go from there? What are they exposed to after? Did they receive a pamphlet or see a friend eating healthy? What do they base that off of? Will they change their habit, or will it be like, "Yeah, I know, but it is what it is." That is where we are going with the PAPM.

Figure 6. Professional Growth chart.

See this example in Figure 6, where it says, decide to act on how to become an asthma educator. I always encourage you guys in your career to be curious. There is nothing wrong with that. You are on different floors. You are meeting different people. Ask people questions. Do you like what you do? If you feel curious, volunteer. This is what this is about. You can take the asthma exam using this example, volunteer at a health fair, and go from there. Then you see where the green arrow is. You are creating an opportunity for yourself where you moved a step, got another certificate, and now you can work part-time in this specialty. You are creating opportunities for yourself. You see how a manager or a supervisor does not have to tell you any of those things. If they are good, many of them will encourage you to do this. However, you have to do this for yourself.

Opportunities for Growth  

• Networking Skills
• Communication skills
• Emotional intelligence
• Unification skills
• Time management
• Mentorship
• Leadership skills
• Change management
• Budget management
• Conflict resolution
• Case management
• Project management
• Chronic disease management

You want to be the manager. There are plenty of opportunities to prepare yourself in advance. You would be surprised by folks that need to learn how to do this. It might hurt some people's feelings, but it is the reality. Just because you have been working somewhere for 30 years, or you have been the most senior respiratory therapist at the institution, the hospital, or whatever, does not mean you deserve to be the supervisor, the director, or the lead therapist, because it takes a whole rack of skills to be in a position of leadership to be able to be successful in this role.

Some people who want these positions do not know how to resolve conflict. You cannot be in the middle of every conflict and then expect to be in a leadership position. You have to be able to know how to resolve conflict and how manage a budget. I took a management position at my job. I had a million dollars to manage on my first day of work. I am good with budgets, I had thought. In change management, can you guide people through change? Change always comes. Change is in death, getting older, or giving birth to something new. Can you coach people through that? Mentorship, can you coach someone to be the best version of themselves? Unification skills, can you unite people for a cause? Emotional intelligence, can you read the room? Communication skills, how do you communicate? Can you communicate effectively? Chronic disease management, can you coach patients to take care of themselves with these chronic diseases that are with them for life? These are many growth areas, and folks will say, "Well, I did not get the position." If you go for these types of positions, assess yourself. Once again, you do not have to wait for a supervisor to do that. See what you are good at. I am strong here, and I need more over there. "Oh, I definitely need to work on that and hit the ground running." Take these classes, and start watching videos and podcasts. There is so much free information out here now.

Another thing, if you are on social media, use it positively. Find ways to learn from it. Do not spend three hours on social media if you are not learning or you should be making money. That is my opinion. It boggles my mind because people will tell you they do not have time to volunteer or to learn to study all these things, yet they are on social media for three hours a day. I understand escapism, but when you need to level up we have to make these decisions. 

Gain Allies at Work

Have a piece of humble pie. Everyone does not have to be your friend. At work, this is a harsh reality. There will be people that will not like you because you are who you are. It is great to have friends, but you need allies. Allies are somebody with whom we are working together for a common cause. That is it. We are working together. Know egos are shackles on the feet. I am going to give you my piece of humble pie story.

When I started my first job, I was their fifth wheel. It was a team of four that needed the extra body. They were an amazing team. They worked very well together. I was not that warm in the beginning, I do not know, but they did not precisely take me in. They would say, "Oh, the four of us are working together." I would say, "Well, shoot, I am here too," and things like that. They would eat lunch together, and they were a good team. I would call them all types of things like the super troopers, the fantastic four, or the dream team, but knowing it was coming from a place where I did not feel accepted.

What I started to do was, " Okay, you guys do not need me. I do not need you guys, either." I began to roll by myself. What ultimately that did was, cut me off. I was not learning and instead plateaued. I needed help understanding. As I said, I was struggling with intubations. They were good at that type of stuff. I was unhappy. I returned to my mentor, which is why I mentioned mentorship is crucial. I went back to a mentor, my old school professor, and told her everything that was happening. She listened, did not say a word, she let me finish. She said, "Linda, you need a piece of humble pie." I said, "Oh, I like dessert, but humble pie is not one of them that I think I would enjoy." I said, "Humble pie, mam, please. They are the ones who was treating me like that, etc." I told her everything. I told her I wanted to quit. She said, "Linda, you need the humble pie. You are the one that are new. You are the one that has to show your value." I did not want to hear it. I was like, mam, please. I fought it. She said, "Well then quit." She turned around and went to her computer. I thought, No, I am not a quitter. I do not want to let you down.

My mentor was the one that accepted me into the respiratory program. We have a solid mentor-mentee relationship. Ultimately, I did not want to let her down. I took her advice and returned to work with this new thought that I would have a piece of a humble pie. I started to go to every trauma team, and for every rapid response, I was there. As I said, they were a fantastic team. They did not need me, but I went anyway. Do you need help? They would say, "Nope." Then I would hand them the scissors, the ET tube, and the pulse ox. I would do little things like that. They would snatch things out of my hands. They gave me that humble pie dry. They did not make it easy for me. Eventually, they started to open up to me. They would be like, "Linda, come here." They would have the endotracheal scope pulled up, and they would say, "Linda, pass me to ET tube, push the ET tube the through here, you see the vocal cords?" I would push it through, and it was everything. It helped me so much. Now I was starting to learn.

They opened up to me. They invited me to lunch. I will not lie; it was awkwardly uncomfortable at first. I was not invited to their birthday parties, or their kid's parties, or anything like that, but they were starting to open up to me. Ultimately, when I decided to go back to school to get my Master's degree in public health. I had to leave them. The lead of that group said to me, "Linda, at the end of the day, you were always there." I said, "Yes." He said, "We will miss you." He hugged me. I could not believe it. But at the end of the day, it is a fact. They could not deny it. I was always there. Understand this is my humble pie story.

Have Compassion for Those That Seem to Not Get Along With Others

• Be an active listener
• Respectfully admit when you don’t know something
• When wrong, apologize sincerely
• Don’t take yourself serious
• Past Give credit to those that give you "aha!" moments
• Value everyone and show appreciation for their time

It is how to get people to open up to you and how you can learn from all types of people. This is how you grow. You can learn from people who do not like you. You can learn from people who are not necessarily like you. You can absorb the good things from people. You do not have to absorb everything from people. For example, sometimes people have difficulty learning from people who make different lifestyle decisions but know they can still learn from that person. You should not let those things distract you. That is the advice that I give to many people.

Absorb the good. You can pick and choose what you can absorb from people. Here is my advice: Have compassion for those who seem to not get along with others. When you see these types of personalities, think about what happened to that person that made them like that. Why is that wall up like that? Why are they combative or mean? Know that trauma comes through people in different ways. It is easier said than done, but sometimes we have to start looking through their lens, and it will make your life easier to maneuver through people. Then you could learn from those types of people too.

They will start to open up to you if you are compassionate. They will say, "Hey Susie, you, you need help? You need something?" "No, I am good." Eventually, the wall will go down, and you can learn from them if they are good at things. Be an active listener. Be good at listening. Know that when people are teaching you something, if you keep, "yeah, yeahing," saying, "Oh yeah, I know how to do that. Yeah, yeah, I know how to do that." Well, then, what am I wasting my time with you for?

Do you know what I am saying? Now get cut off. I do not have to teach you anything. Then what happens? You plateau. You are not growing. This is about the decisions you make if you want to grow. Respectfully admit when you do not know something. What I mean by that is to say that you do not know how to do that. There is a certain way of how to say something. "That is not my area of expertise, but I would love to learn it." Know the vibe you give and how you say things. Do not be scared to admit that you do not know something. "I have been exposed to it, but I need a refresher." Learn different ways to say it because this is how you grow. People will show you. You would be surprised what people want to share and show you. They will give you all seven spices if you open yourself in a way that allows them to teach you. When wrong, apologize sincerely. "Hey, I messed up. I am sorry. Period." Not "Oh, if you felt that way. It is like whatever." The person felt something. "I am sorry, I am wrong." Be sincere about it. Do not take yourself seriously. What do I mean by that? Respiratory is very serious. We are dealing with life and death, but when learning from others, you want people to feel comfortable teaching you things.

What has worked for me is that I always joke about myself. It makes you harmless when you do this. People say, "Oh, that is Linda, come on, come here, learn this thing." I am making fun of myself, and it allows people to open up to me. That is an extra tip that I give people. Do not take yourself that seriously. You know your stuff, but when you want to learn, you want to let the person give you all you are looking for. Give credit to those that give you "aha!" moments. I always like to do that. When you learn something new, say it came from X, Y, or Z. You did not get that from yourself. Make sure you are giving people credit. Value everyone and show appreciation for their time.

Emotional Intelligence

• Emotional intelligence is the ability to monitor one's own and other people's emotions

Emotional intelligence can get you further than actually being book-smart. Emotional intelligence is the ability to monitor one's own and other people's emotions, classify the different emotions and label them appropriately. I have these feelings, you have these feelings, and what are we going to do about these feelings? That is what it is. Be able to read a room, to read when someone is feeling you or not, to know how far you can get with a patient, how far you can get with a coworker, or how far you can sell something in health promotion. Emotional intelligence is a skill that folks should invest in. It is not something that you are born with. You can continue to work on this.

Take Control of Your Career  

Take control of your career. I am dating myself. The Truman Show and The Matrix are movies I enjoyed regarding taking control. In both movies, the leading actor is unaware they are being controlled. In The Truman Show, Jim Carrey is the main character you have yet to watch the movie. He does not know that he is in a reality show. He was born for this reality show. Even though everything looked perfect, he knew something was off.

Know what intuition is when your spirit tells you something is awful, you should be doing more, or you should be somewhere else. I know these things are in us, and these movies show that. They put all these characters in his life to make the show interesting and to keep him under control. To make this long story short, he was afraid of water. They put the fear of water in him by having this large body of water at the end of the production set. They said he could in no shape, or form get on that water.

Every time he went on the water, he would always wonder what was on the other side of that. They would do something to stop him. One day, he gets out on the sailboat and says, "I want to see what is on the other end of that." The production team panics and turns on the weather storm to stop him. He did not turn back. They put on the weather storm harder, and he almost dies. Now the show's creator says, "Wait, wait, wait a minute, wait a minute. The value... He is the whole show. We cannot kill him." Now they know the value.

The creator starts to speak through the sun, saying, "Truman, this show is about you. This is all about you. You do not need to go see what is out there." Eventually, Jim Carrey notices that in the water, there is nothing behind that. He finds out everything. Look what happens after he gets over the fear of the water. The creator of the show gives him a choice. He says, "Listen, there is nothing out there for you. You belong here. You are this." Truman has a choice to make. He created options for himself. 

He fades to black, and he leaves the production set. Look at that. What I love about that movie, we do not know what happens to him when he leaves the set. We do not know if he came right back in, we do not know if he got a job, we do not know. However, what he did was he got over his fear. By doing that, he created options for himself. He had choices to make the decision. "The Matrix." If you do not know this movie, Neo was the one who did not know. He knew, but he did not know he was the one. He took control of what was going on. 

Make a Decision

• You won’t always be right, but at least you know it was your choice…..You are the boss of you.

You make the decisions about your career, the red or the blue pill. You will not always be correct, but at least you know it was your choice. Like Truman, he made a choice, and it was his. Are you the boss of you? 

Add Value from Any Position on the Team

• When you learn something new or a more efficient way to do a task teach others – Sharing is Caring
• Be resourceful – If you don’t know something, but know someone that does, be the link or coordinator 
• Be an extra hand or just be present to brainstorm ideas
• Become good at closed loop communication – help make sure everyone on the team got the memo

Key takeaways, value your reputation. It is everything. Guard that with your life. Know your standards and be passionate about them. I am all things asthma, awareness, and education. I do not play with it. I use every vehicle to promote it. I am fighting asthma disparities, period. People know that regarding this, they come to the asthma lady. That is why they call me that.

RTs or subject matter experts, period. It is our superpower. Carry yourself accordingly. Start by volunteering your talent. I already told you guys that this lets you be seen. When you do volunteer, do you volunteer like you are getting paid? You do it as if you are getting paid because they will think of you when it is time to get paid, whether it is one month, one year, or five years from now. Remember that lady or that man who volunteered that time? He was amazing. There you go. You are creating options for yourself. Look for a mentor and form a tight mentor-mentee relationship. I told you what happened between me and my mentor, Ellen Becca.

I am still cool with her to this day. When she calls, "Linda, I am coming to New York." You do not have to say anything else. "Where can I meet you? I am available." If she wants to have the lobster, I will pay because her relationship has guided me much. It is priceless. I recommend you find that—master emotional intelligence because it gets you far. Start from where you are and assess for areas where you can improve. Do it on your own. You do not have to wait for somebody else to do that. Do not be discouraged while waiting for new opportunities; prepare for them in advance. Remember, I showed you areas for improvement. There is a whole list of them we went over that. It is ok if you do not get the position you went for. Prepare for them in advance. People say, "Oh, you are lucky." No, you are not lucky. You prepared for that opportunity in advance. Understand how this works. Challenge yourself. Be comfortable being uncomfortable. This is something that I constantly do—public speaking. I would not say I liked public speaking when I first started. I could not do it. I challenge myself one day to look at where I am today.

I cannot believe who I am today. I became comfortable being uncomfortable I actively engaged in meetings. I will tell you guys in many meetings, I am often the youngest, the brownest, the only woman. I had to learn how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. In the beginning, I was uncomfortable with that. However, here I am, and I get invited. They are inviting me. I know my value. It helps with confidence levels. Keep doing little by little, trying new things, and stepping outside your comfort zone. You will be surprised how far you get.

Doing things will make you afraid because, ultimately, dying is the worst thing that can happen. Once you do not die, it is like, "Oh, that was not that bad." I tell you guys, try that path. Invest in yourself. We have been talking about this the whole. If you want to truly unlock the power of you within your career, invest in yourself. Continue to learn to pick a subspecialty in the RT field, and you will shine. I found where I shine because it comes from a purpose. It is coming from passion. People know it is coming from my heart to come to me for this thing.

While initially, I did not want to be a one-trick pony because I knew I was good at other things too. Where I shine in this niche, or this area of purpose is what attracts people to me. Once people enter the store, you can sell whatever you want, right? When you go to the store, everything is on. The sale sticker is on the window because they know that once you come in for the interest on what is on sale, they can sell you whatever they want inside the store. The same thing applies here. Asthma education with passion is me; I am in the patient's home, the ED, and the inpatient unit.

I have been in senior centers and daycares. Any vehicle I can use to provide asthma education and asthma awareness to underserved communities, I will do it. I have done back-to-school zoomba parties. I am in high schools. I have worked alongside the teen pregnancy prevention program. After sex education, I have come in with asthma education. We have done health fairs. Name it, and I have done it. Understand that asthma education is provided with passion. I am not handing you a pamphlet. I am saving your life. I do not play with that. Understand your shine. Once you know your intentions, you do not have to do anything.
You get to do it. You choose to do it. Choose now to do it with your heart. As a respiratory therapist, you will save lives and unlock purpose within your career. 

Questions Answers

What value do you think continuing education, advanced degrees, and licenses bring for us to enhance ourselves in this profession?

Oh wow. It is one of the golden tickets for me, actually. Because you have to keep investing in yourself. I am not saying you always have to spend money on big courses, and it is that you want to continue to grow. When people see you, yes, we know all the letters behind your name and whatnot, but you want to make sure that you can apply the information. That you are getting behind all those letters. You want to continue adding value wherever you go. Once again, that is a part of the prize every time. That means that you know your stuff, you keep investing in yourself, and your value continues to increase. You can offer more in your service in servicing others.

If I am PRN because I have got five kids, what advice do you have for advancing myself even if I do not have a lot of time?

What I do because now I have a one-year-old. What I do is if I am on transportation, if I am driving, I surround myself with educational stuff. Like podcasts or any type of series like YouTube. People will tell me things like they do not have time to read books. The author will read the book to you. I mean, where they are reading you the main key points. Information is available in many different channels now. That is what I would tell you. If you have downtime or when they are not with you, try to plug in a little time for information, then start to apply them. Make the time.

References

Glanz K, Rimer BK, Viswanath K, editors. Health behavior and health education: theory, research, and practice. John Wiley & Sons; 2008 Aug 28.

Kelly PJ. Health Program Planning and Evaluation: A practical, systematic approach for community health. Family & Community Health 2006;29(1):72-3.

US Department of Health and Human Services. Theory at a glance: A guide for health promotion practice. Lulu. com; 2018 Nov 22.