She describes her career path as like a jungle gym rather than a ladder until she met with a career coach that really helped her hone in on what she wanted to do, what are her values actually more than what does she want to do. And so she was able to learn from that experience, be a lot more purposeful in her career as a nurse, and really seek positions that would align with her values.
She spent 20 years of her career in California at Kaiser Permanente. She ran their largest ICU and practiced her leadership.
She retired from Kaiser and had a home-based business that was doing surprisingly well, and the writing part just kind of fell in her lap. When her girlfriend asked her if she wanted to try writing for registered nursing.org, she said yes because she knows that as a nurse, she wrote policies, and she finished her Master’s Degree, which was all about writing. So she started writing for them, and they liked it, and she got more and more gigs through them.
To take a risk and to have the courage to branch out to something different is a brave act because she really feels like a nurse, especially since we are conditioned not to fail at all, and so nurses are very sure.
To be looking at other career opportunities was terrifying and also very rewarding. We had the advantage as nurses of being immediately trusted, and so when you’re going into a new venture, and you are starting to build something, when those around you, find out that you’re a nurse, you automatically get another level of respect credibility, and it doesn’t matter how many alphabets you have behind your name, just being a nurse. Nursing is a street card. Use this advantage to think outside the box and try to venture into new things. Your opinion as a nurse, people do want to hear that as long as you’re backing it up with evidence.
First Three Steps in Having the Daily Decision of Courage and Having the Courage to Fail – Explained
1. The Courage to Think Big
You’re good. So, get over yourself and your imposter syndrome. You’re an expert. If you have an idea, you are the expert in that, and you need to use your courage and put on your big personality and push through to make it happen.
2. The courage to make your own rules
Different is better than better. Sometimes the solution is to keep pressing or to go around and that’s a whole other type of thing.
3. The courage to own it.
And then the last one, for now, is the courage to own it. We have to take responsibility for our actions and for what happens.
Like it shouldn’t be happening to you, you need to take control and then own it and be accountable for what is going on in your life, and if it’s not, how do you want it to be? Then you need to change it.
4. The courage to hear the truth.
5. The courage to find a purpose in pain.
6. The courage to say no.
7. The courage to make it happen.