The growth of your career as a nurse can be consciously self-generated or simply a result of happenstance and a laissez-faire attitude toward professional development. Neither of these options is necessarily bad in and of themselves, but a thoughtfully sculpted career is definitely fodder for a much richer, more satisfying, and rewarding trajectory.
Whereas employment can often feel like a means to an economic end (i.e., survival), there is also the notion that work is an avenue to self-awareness, a sense of personal pride, contribution to the community and society, and a full engagement in life.
Work, Fear, and Struggle
It is true that, at specific points in life, work serves a particular purpose. But, especially at a young age, before professional training or advanced education, work is often a utilitarian exercise. Yet, at the same time, it can also feed our sense of pride and purpose—and, perhaps, aspirations for more.
Many work ethics are out there, and many of us may be familiar with the so-called “Puritan Work Ethic,” which espouses hard work and a frugal lifestyle. But, then, there are also the 21st-century pop culture notions of “The Four-Hour Work Week” and get-rich-quick plans.
Meanwhile, fears and anxieties are frequently experienced by those who grew up during the Great Depression.
Since the economic downturn of 2008, many households have struggled to survive, with breadwinners working multiple jobs in the face of a rising cost of living, frozen wages, and increased difficulty finding health insurance (the Affordable Care Act notwithstanding) or planning for retirement.
Yes, work can feel like something we need to do to survive. But we can also consider how work doesn’t just pay the bills and put food on the table but also how it feeds us on the inside.
The Continuum of Consciousness
Considering these suppositions, where do you fall on the continuum of consciousness vis-à-vis your nursing career? Are you “sculpting” a career that’s truly meant for you to embody? Or, to the contrary, are you gliding along a track that, while more or less acceptable, seems like it was created for you by those who feel they have the right to dictate your professional pathway?
Along these same lines, is your career driven by something akin to the Puritan Work Ethic, or are you driven by fear, whether it be fear of not having enough, fear of losing status, or fear of being without work?
This continuum of consciousness vis-a-vis our nursing career trajectory can frequently change, perhaps even daily. Some days, you may feel completely connected at work, aware of how you make a difference in the lives of others. On other days, work may feel like a total slog, a chore to complete as quickly as possible, with your blinders fully in place so that you go through your day without much sense of connection or purpose.
The larger arc is what we’re after, no matter what happens daily. Even though it’s no fun to survive those problematic workdays that feel like they’ll never end, if the majority of your work life is positive, growthful, and adding meaning to your life, you’re on the right track.
Sculpting A Nursing Career That Fits
When you consciously sculpt your nursing career, you are the driver, and your decisions create the path ahead of you. And if you’re not exactly sure where you’re going, don’t worry; the path can be created with each step of the journey.
Sometimes, we follow our intuition, applying for a job because “something” tells us we should give it a try. At other times, a potential position comes into our awareness, and we “know” that the position is the best step towards a future that we’re creating. Our intuition can guide us, and we can consciously seek out opportunities that we feel are the strongest choices for us at this particular time.
The main question is this: are you consciously creating your career, or is your career just happening to you? While it may be OK to coast along from time to time, a consciously created career is the most potentially satisfying.
Paying Attention to Career Arc
So, dear Reader, pay attention to the arc of your career. Have you made good choices? If not, is there a way to remedy that situation? If your current position has you feeling stuck, what can you do to get unstuck? Who can you turn to for advice or support? What action steps can you take to get back on track?
Paying conscious attention is a powerful way to feel like you’re taking the reins of your career. Others’ opinions don’t need to matter much unless you value their opinions. Do you feel like there’s something you need to do because “they” say you “should”? Well, who are “they,” and why do you need to listen to what they say.
Some people function from that above-mentioned place of fear, and others operate from a place of abundance and grace. Which lens would you prefer to look through?
Take the reins of your career path. Find your place on the continuum of consciousness. Create a career that works for you, and make your nursing career a work of art of which you’re proud.
Water and feed your nursing career with conscious creativity and attention, and it will feed you from the inside out.
Minority Nurse is thrilled to welcome Keith Carlson, “Nurse Keith,” a well-known nurse career coach and podcaster of The Nurse Keith Show as a guest columnist. Check back every other Thursday for Keith’s column.
Professional development is one of the most important items in your nurses’ toolkit. Learning new skills, finding out about new technology and how to use it, and discovering new evidence-based practices will make you a better nurse.
But after a year that has wreaked havoc across the world, do you really need to think about professional development during a pandemic?
Simply put, yes. But depending on your role and your current workload, you can adapt to take realistic steps.
Professional development keeps you at the top of your game. As lifelong learners, nurses are committed to continually improving their skills because their patients depend on it. There’s no way to be the best nurse possible if your thinking remains the same as it did when you first started a nursing practice. But if you’re overwhelmed and your workload just isn’t letting up, your professional development goals might look different from another nurse.
What does professional development look like now?
1. Assess the Past Year
If you’re too tapped to even consider adding professional development to your life, think ahead. The past year has been one long lesson in trial by fire and you have learned a lot, even if you don’t have a certificate for it. Think about what you did that might have sparked a curiosity to learn more. What areas do you think you did well in? What areas could use some additional skills? Did you assume roles or responsibilities you liked or some that didn’t fit so well? All of these indicators can help you think about professional development in the future.
2. Make a List
Your last year probably found you using skills you never thought you’d use on a regular basis. Maybe you assumed a leadership role because you had to or you found the leadership role you were already in morphing into something much different. Leading a unit through a pandemic is nothing like what you did before. What can you do in the next year to build on the skills you sharpened through the pandemic?
3. Take Action
Sometimes getting started is the hardest step. At some point, life will return to some semblance of normal, and you’ll want your career to be in good shape to move forward when that happens. Taking action can be a large or small undertaking, but doing something is the goal. When you think about your actionable goal, be realistic for the current time. If you are able to apply for a degree program or to take a certification, now is the time to get that plan in action. If you can’t commit to something big, remember that small actions are important.
Join a professional organization and attend one event.
Network with a nurse you admire.
Read a book or subscribe to a journal in your specialty to sharpen your expertise.
Take an online course in an area that can build up essential skills including communication, conflict resolution, targeted technology, time management, or goal setting.
Share your knowledge by teaching a class in your organization or in your community. You’ll benefit from the public speaking practice and organization skill building, and your audience will benefit from your advanced understanding of the subject matter.
Professional development is an ongoing task, and when the world of nursing is in such change, it’s even more important. But many nurses are tired and stressed, so professional development is going to look a little different than it might have a year ago. Just keep moving forward and learning, but do it with an intention that will bring your career to a better place.
Millennials are rapidly becoming the most predominant generation in the workplace, and in nursing they are driven to seek leadership roles, higher degrees, and professional development more than their generational counterparts.
The AMN Healthcare Survey of Millennial Nurses: A Dynamic Influence on the Profession, compares the views of Millennial nurses (ages 19-36) to those of Generation X (ages 37-53) and Baby Boomer nurses (ages 54-71) regarding their expectations about their work environment and career futures. The results show that Millennial nurses are bringing a dynamic new perspective on such factors as career, leadership, education, and work environment.
“Millennial nurses are changing the health care workforce in ways that could further improve patient care and help healthcare organizations,” says Marcia Faller, Chief Clinical Officer at AMN Healthcare. “This survey demonstrates the high ambition of this generation of nurses and provides better understanding about how health care leaders can fully engage these high-achieving health care professionals.”
The report shows Millennial nurses are not only interested in further educational attainment, but are actively pursuing higher degrees and professional certification. Nearly 40% of Millennial RNs said they plan to pursue a master’s degree in the next three years, while another 11% said they would seek a PhD. These responses were significantly higher than those of other generations.
As the health care industry faces an aging patient population needed more complex treatment, this push for increased levels of education will help fulfill the goal of a highly educated nursing workforce.
Since the health care industry is impacted by shortages of leaders as well as practitioners, health care organizations stand to benefit from the increased interest in leadership among Millennial nurses. According to the Millennial Nurse Survey, more than one third—36%—of Millennial nurses said they were significantly interested in leadership roles, compared to one fourth of Gen Xers and 10% of Baby Boomers.
Millennial nurses were also more optimistic toward leadership than their older counterparts. When responding to positive statements about their leaders, across categories including how much they trust their leaders and whether leaders care about their career development, Millennial nurses more often answered “agree” or “strongly agree” than did Gen Xers and Baby Boomers.
Professional development has proven to be important to recruiting and retaining Millennials in all professions but may be especially important in health care, where workforce demand is high and the need for quality care and team collaboration is significant. In the survey, the majority of Millennial nurses agreed with the statement “the quality of patient care I provide is positively influenced by professional development opportunities.”
