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By Christine Cashen
Have you ever noticed that you could go through your entire day without one human interaction? Not kidding! Amazon 1-click, online banking, kiosks at the post office, Uber Eats, Chewy to my door! With the onslaught of automated services, it’s SO easy to not deal with any human face-to-face. IBM says that by 2020, 85% of all customer interactions will be handled without a human agent. Introverts unite! But wait… GET BLINDED BY SCIENCE Did you know that medical science has been demonstrating for decades: Social interaction is a critically important contributor to good health and longevity? Researchers found that having limited social contact nearly doubles the risk of depression. You probably don’t need evidence-based research to appreciate the value of making and maintaining social connections. Relationships are important. They not only stave off loneliness, but they can also make you happier, healthier, and in some cases – make you money. Yes, money. Whether helping you find that next job, a banker taking off that late fee, or someone helping you out because they KNOW you can make an emotional and financial difference. Sure, you can get a ton of info online, and make everything on your To Do list be simply transactional, but I’m talking about real interactions with real people here, people! Forget social media. Get out and get social in real time. POST OFFICE DELIVERS Let me introduce you to Micah, my post office buddy. He always has a huge smile and goes the extra mile. Recently, a customer walked in with two important-looking letters and told him that they belonged to the person who owned his house — over 3 years ago. He wanted to ‘return to sender’ but they looked important and he knew the forwarding service had expired. Micah looked at the letters and recognized my name, “I know her!” He then found me on Facebook and sent a message. “I have two letters for you that look important. Do you want me to put them in your PO Box or keep them up front?” WHAT?!? They ended up being two client checks. Whew! The post office gets a lot of grief, but how about THIS story? Thanks, Micah! It pays to know people. See what I did there?!? Pays? FACE THE FACTS Here’s what you can do:
Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us today to make your healthcare event a success!
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By Ron Culberson. With a master’s degree in social work, Ron Culberson spent the first part of his career working in a large hospice organization as a clinical social worker, middle manager, and senior leader. As a speaker, humorist, and author of "Do it Well. Make it Fun.The Key to Success in Life, Death, and Almost Everything in Between", he has delivered more than 1,000 presentations to associations, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and corporations. His mission is to change the workplace culture so that organizations are more productive and staff are more content. He was also the 2012-2013 president of the National Speakers Association and is a recognized expert on the benefits of humor and laughter.
I love chopping wood. Throughout the late fall and winter, I participate in our church’s wood ministry by hand splitting logs for a couple of hours on Wednesday mornings. The others on the team refer to me as Paul Bunyan. OK, in all honesty, they do not refer to me as Paul Bunyan. But it’s sure how I feel when I swing that eight-pound maul into a large piece of helpless oak. Now, I just turned fifty-eight a few days ago and often, I come home with aches and pains from chopping wood. In fact, the other day, I was working on a log and fell. I landed squarely on top of the log, banging up my knee and arm. It wasn’t a serious fall but now that I think about it, maybe my new nickname should be Paul Bumblin’. But here’s what I find interesting. The aches and pains I get from chopping wood are not distressing because the end result is for a greater good. In other words, it’s not about chopping wood but about heating houses. According to several online wood-cutting geeks, a few pieces of oak will keep a wood stove hot for two to three hours. If I could split four pieces of oak in a couple of minutes, an hour of consistent splitting would lead to eighty pieces of firewood. That’s twenty to thirty hours of heat for someone who may rely on wood to warm their home. So, whenever I get tired, feel an ache in my lower back, or start to whine about the cold morning temperature, I imagine how it would feel if I didn’t have heat at all. That connection reminds me of the bigger picture—it’s not just what we’re doing but why we’re doing it. And actually, this concept applies to just about anything we do. The classic example that is often used in corporate customer service programs is that when you buy an electric drill, you are really buying a hole. The drill provides the technology but the hole is what you ultimately need. And if you’re like me, you’ll also need spackle to fill the unnecessary holes that were made because you’re not so good at using drills. But that’s another issue. So how does this hole concept apply to our routine jobs and tasks? Let’s say you’re a receptionist and your job is to answer incoming calls and then transfer them to the appropriate person within your organization. On the surface, this may seem like a very mundane job. But in reality, it’s critical to the success of the organization. For instance, when I worked in hospice care, our receptionist was the key to everything. She greeted callers with warmth and compassion. She connected prospective patients to the departments they needed. And she had a smile for every employee when they came in to work each day. In addition to simply answering the phone, she was both a resource and a bright light for everyone she encountered. Suppose you do data entry. You might feel that your time at work is filled with the monotonous typing of numbers and letters. However, information is one of our most important assets. In fact, in healthcare, the coders are responsible for entering the data that leads to insurance payments and effective medical records. If done correctly, healthcare organizations remain viable, insurance companies cover their subscribers, and patients get the necessary care they need. What may seem like just hitting computer keys can actually lead to keeping people healthy. Lastly, let’s imagine that you’re a manager. Your job not only has specific duties, but you are also responsible for supervising other employees. You could feel that all you do each day is put out fires and answer questions. I found that managing people was one of the hardest jobs I ever had. But when I stepped back and realized the importance of my role, it made it easier to handle the challenges. You see, as a manager, your job is to help employees reach their greatest potential. That requires attending to their needs, mentoring them, and in some cases, replacing them when they pursue bigger and better opportunities. You are actually not just managing them, you are developing their potential. And that’s pretty cool. So you see, what we do is often not just about the task but about the bigger picture. When I chop wood, I’m heating a house. When I write an article, I’m helping someone see their world differently. And when I use humor in my presentations, I’m actually making a meaningful point in a fun way. The “why” in what we do is bigger than the “what.”. And when we understand that connection, the little things become the big things. And that makes a difference to us and to others. I may not be Paul Bunyan or even Paul Newman (although the resemblance is uncanny) but when I’m chopping wood, every swing matters. Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to make your healthcare event a success! By Vicki Hess
Have you listened to how folks describe their day-to-day lives at work? Here are some of the words and phrases I regularly hear:
So you may be thinking…”But that’s how I feel, Vicki!” Unfortunately, talking about negative feelings can promote more negative feelings. According to an article in Well+Good, “the words you speak and think can automatically trigger a biological response in your body that increases your edginess exponentially.” The article goes on to say, “It may sound woo woo, but biology backs up the belief that stress ultimately starts when you say that you’re stressed.” Your body responds to thoughts and emotions that are happening in your brain. When you consistently talk about being crazy busy, overwhelmed or in over your head then your body responds by releasing catecholamines (the fight or flight hormone). These hormones start to reinforce the idea that you are in danger. Intentionally choosing your vocabulary positively influences the way you feel and the actions you take. When someone asks about your day, try saying “I’ve always got plenty of work to do to keep me out of trouble” or “This job provides me with a great opportunity to challenge my skills for organization and productivity”. Well+Good shares…“The old “fake it ‘til you make it” tactic definitely applies here: Research shows it really does help to feign happiness and positivity, even if you feel like things are falling apart. One recent study showed that those who were instructed to smile during a stressful task had a lower heart rate and reported more positive emotions than those who didn’t, while another proved optimistic thinkers have lower cortisol levels than pessimists.” Focusing on mindfulness can help too. When feeling the stress, stop and take a few deep breaths before you start to get into a busy contest with colleagues. These breaths makes a huge difference in your body’s response to the stress that you’re experiencing. You may very well be in over your head but that doesn’t mean you have to make it part of your everyday conversations. Start growing your WOW’s by looking at things that you actually have control over and do something about those. Stop lamenting about all the things you don’t have control over. It’s not necessarily an easy fix but it’s one that’s well worth the time and effort for your body and mind. Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to make your healthcare event a success! By Kristin Baird
Employee engagement is at the core of any company’s performance. But in healthcare, where the patient experience drives loyalty, trust, and even reimbursement, engagement is paramount to success. A disengaged employee needs coaching right away. Spotting and addressing disengagement can make the difference between a team’s success and failure. My colleagues and I regularly coach healthcare managers on how to improve engagement. Providing the employee specific, concrete examples of problem behaviors. Short Conversations A few years ago I was coaching a department manager who had two very disengaged staff members. This particular manager wasn’t a good communicator, so we were working on improving his coaching conversations with his team members. He was to have a coaching conversation with one of his most disengaged team members, then call me to discuss how it went. He called on schedule and reported that the discussion went well. “It was short and sweet,” he said. “I just said, ‘Your attitude sucks. Fix it or you’re out.’” Well, he was right about one thing: it was short. What he described was an edict or threat, not the coaching discussion we assigned. In a coaching discussion with a disengaged individual, it is important to clearly state your concerns, but give specific examples of problem behaviors and how they affect others. I’m happy to say that this particular manager made great progress in his coaching conversations with staff over the next year. He learned that if wanted to see change, he needed to clearly state his expectations, identify unacceptable behaviors using specific examples, and explain consequences. Short and sweet isn’t necessarily the best approach. In contrast, specific, actionable steps get you further, faster. Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to make your healthcare event a success! By Kenneth Kaufman
As I speak with healthcare executives around the country, I get many questions about the CVS Health/Aetna and UnitedHealth/Optum business models. The questions have intensified with two recent announcements. UnitedHealth Group CEO David Wichmann said that Optum plans to grow from $16 billion to $100 billion annual revenue by 2028, and will do that without building any hospitals. A few days later, CVS announced that it would expand its three-store HealthHUB pilot into 1,500 locations by 2021. HealthHUB is CVS’s in-store health and primary-care experience. The best way to explain the growth strategies of these two companies—and the implications for hospitals—is by examining what I call the “funnel business model” of the internet economy. This business model asks four basic questions:
The top of the Apple funnel was very broad, with devices from desktop computers to iPods. Apple attracted people into the funnel with products that were so intuitive and elegant that they became status symbols. And inside the funnel, the compatible and interconnected nature of the devices, along with a sizable content library, created multiple opportunities for further transactions. At Amazon, Jeff Bezos has taken the funnel business model to an entirely new place. How many people could be inside the Amazon funnel? Basically anyone. Not only does Amazon offer a mind-boggling number of products, but it also offers a broad array of highly desirable personal and business services, including cloud hosting and fulfillment. In addition, Amazon’s platform that is so technologically advanced that it allows almost an infinite number of people to be in the platform at any given time. Amazon attracts people into the platform with unmatched first-mile and last-mile experiences—the ability to find and select products easily and to get them into the hands of consumers rapidly. Inside the funnel, Amazon’s extraordinary algorithms, Prime subscription service, and cross-marketing offer limitless opportunities for complementary transactions. Almost any click generates additional revenue for Amazon. In short, Bezos’ genius has been to create an extremely broad top of the funnel, to make it extremely attractive to enter the funnel and to offer seemingly infinite opportunities within the funnel. The funnel is the internet business model that both United/Optum and CVS/Aetna are using. For United/Optum, the top of the funnel is very broad: it extends to consumers, employers, and providers throughout the country and overseas, with a focus on developing concentrated services in 75 markets. People are drawn into the funnel via about 50 million UnitedHealth memberships; about 45,000 employed physicians; and Optum services provided to four out of five U.S. hospitals, more than 67,000 pharmacies, and more than 100,000 physicians, practices, and other health care facilities. Inside the funnel, United/Optum offers an incredibly broad collection of interrelated services for individuals, employers, and healthcare providers, including insurance, population health management, ambulatory surgery, primary care, occupational care, urgent care, pharmacy benefit services, and analytics. For United/Optum, hospital services are not seen as something that adds much breadth to the top of the funnel or that draws people into the funnel—certainly not enough to justify Optum taking on the high fixed costs and poor pricing of inpatient care. Rather, hospitals are an additional interaction within the funnel that can be accomplished through partnerships rather than ownership, according to Wichmann. Those partnerships, he says, “will occur in markets where there is maybe fewer assets for us to accumulate and build from." United/Optum is largely focused on adapting the traditional healthcare delivery and insurance system to the funnel business model. CVS/Aetna, on the other hand, is taking a bolder approach. CVS is creating an even broader top of the funnel. The CVS funnel targets practically any consumer—someone wanting to fill a prescription, take a yoga class, or buy a bag of potato chips. The entrance to the CVS funnel combines a massive physical footprint with a growing digital presence. CVS has about 10,000 retail stores. Eighty percent of Americans live within 10 miles of a CVS store. With the expansion of CVS’s HealthHUBs to 1,500 locations, one analysis suggests that 75 percent of Americans would live within 10 miles of a HealthHUB. In addition, CVS/Aetna has access to about 18 million Aetna medical insurance members in all 50 states. On the digital front, CVS has 62 million loyalty program members whose purchasing patterns can be tracked and who can be the target of tailored promotions. Inside the funnel, CVS is aiming to create large collections of products and services pertaining to health and wellness that combine in-person and digital interactions. These include retail products organized around health themes (for example, pregnancy or healthy diets); in-person experiences such as yoga and exercise; digital engagement through education and wellness apps; assistance with insurance navigation; wellness services such as nutrition counseling and sleep assessments; and low-intensity healthcare services including immunizations, physicals, routine primary care, and chronic care. CVS plans to expand its digital care services, particularly through in-home monitoring. United/Optum appears well on the way to making its version of the funnel business model a success. For CVS/Aetna, the jury is still out, but the company’s strategy has been very carefully created and aligns with other successful business models of the internet economy. The funnel business model is a reality for healthcare. For hospitals, the question is not if but how to participate.For some, participation will include building or rethinking their own funnel. For others, participation will mean partnering with other companies. Capital, scale, and technological capabilities clearly will be requirements for hospitals to succeed. More important, however, will be a new way of thinking about several foundational issues. One is intellectual capital. Hospitals will need people who speak the language of the total market served, who are steeped in contemporary means of personal and commercial interaction, and who have a demonstrated ability to draw traffic and create a first-class consumer experience. These individuals need to be given sufficient position and authority to truly influence how a hospital interacts with all the people it touches. Another is a new approach to interaction. Organizations will need to look beyond traditional inpatient and outpatient care when they think about interaction with consumers. They will need to look at all the personal and commercial activities of their consumers, to find ways to become part of those activities, and to ensure that health-related interaction is continuous, not episodic. Finally, hospitals will need to think about their relationship with consumers in a new way. In the internet economy, the traditional paternalistic viewpoint of healthcare providers toward patients will only attract people in times of specific need. To make an organization the destination of choice requires a relationship of mutual respect. It requires a deep understanding of consumers’ experiences within and beyond healthcare. It requires a fierce dedication to the highest level of service. And it requires creativity to design the kind of interactions that will delight and even surprise consumers. Traditionally, hospitals do have a funnel. They touch many people in a community and offer many interrelated services. However, speed and scale are the coin of the realm in the internet economy. So it’s no surprise that new entrants in healthcare are aiming to take the healthcare funnel to a new level—to create a funnel that is exponentially broader, more attractive, and more engaging. For these new entrants, the funnel business model is deeply embedded in organizational culture, capabilities, and strategies. Virtually every major business decision these companies make has the goal of achieving a more active funnel. For hospitals to be a competitive force at the top of the funnel, they will need to have this same strategic orientation and discipline. Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to make your healthcare event a success! By John O'Leary. This was originally posted on JohnOLearyInspires.com. When John O'Leary was 9 years old, he suffered burns over 100% of his body and was expected to die. He is now an inspirational speaker and bestselling author, teaching more than 50,000 people around the world each year how to live inspired. John's first book, ON FIRE: The 7 Choices to Ignite a Radically Inspired Life was published March 15, 2016. John is a contributing writer for Huff Post and Parade.com. John is a proud husband and father of four and resides in St. Louis, MO. Order John’s book today anywhere books are sold.
On December 21st, while wrapping up our final team meeting for the year, I shared with a colleague some items I had to accomplish over the holidays. The list included two articles that had to be created, a couple video messages that had to be recorded, a substantial number of thank you notes that had to be written, and perhaps most exciting and daunting of all, the very first chapter of my next book that had to be produced. Well, after sharing the list of items with Abby, she thoughtfully looked at me and responded by reminding me why we do the work we do in the first place, the gift of being fully present to those we love and the power of returning from a break actually rejuvenated to do the work. She then stood up and offered a final piece of advice: “Leave it all behind.” How to Ensure Our Greatest Joy Good advice. For two weeks, instead of writing articles for publication, I went on walks with my wife, shot baskets with my boys and baked pies with my daughter. Instead of recording videos of me speaking, I recorded videos of my family gatherings, friends at parties and kids opening presents. Instead of writing hundreds of thank you notes to clients, I wrote a few sincere love letters to dear friends. And instead of disappearing into coffee shops and quiet nooks to write a chapter recalling memories from the past, we surprised our kids with a ski trip to create new memories to last a lifetime. My friends, don’t read the above as permission to procrastinate for our entire lives. Don’t ignore important work projects of the day. Don’t burn that to-do list of tasks to accomplish. Don’t stop striving to succeed mightily. Hard work, professional growth and personal progress are important aspects of a meaningful life. But, in the end, what’s the point of accomplishing anything if it’s at the expense of the family, the people, the things and the health that fill us with the greatest joy? Focusing on What and Who Matters Most in 2019 As you sweep up the holiday parties, put away the Christmas decorations and return to the worthy work of your life, remember to occasionally take pause. Although some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength, the truth is that there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go. And then to have the courage to do it. In the mundane periods of each day, the stress of the task, or the disappointments of the season, it’s critically important to return to what matters most, give thanks for all we already have, control the things we can and then leave the rest behind. Because, in the end, that’s where you’ll leave it anyway. Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to make your healthcare event a success! By Courtney Clark
Confession: I’ve Already Broken My Resolution I ate macaroni and cheese last night. Now, I didn’t specifically make a New Year’s Resolution to only eat green things that grow in the ground (after 39 years on this planet, I know myself better than that!) But I’ve been wanting to make up for scarfing all of my Mother-in-Law’s Christmas cookies, so I’ve been trying to “be good” for the past two weeks. Whoops. Like me, you probably know what it feels like to let a resolution slip by the wayside. Or fail at a goal. A huge majority of resolutions fail. But this isn’t going to be one of those articles about how to be in the 8-or-whatever-% of people who keep their resolutions and stay strong. Just google that stuff if that’s what you’re into – there’s plenty out there about that. This is about how to keep moving forward if you’re one of the mere humans, like most of us, who have already gotten off track and wonder what to do next. Like It Never Happened You’ve probably heard, like I have, that when you slip up on a goal or make a mistake, you should forgive yourself and just get back at it the next day. That’s kiiiiiiiinda right. You shouldn’t beat yourself up, but you also shouldn’t make some big deal out of needing to forgive yourself. By putting too much focus on forgiving yourself, you could actually slip into “ruminating” and negative self talk, which is a self-defeating behavior. Instead, Charles Duhigg, the author of The Power of Habit, suggests that you just let it go and pretend it never happened. Just erase that day or that slipup, and proceed forward! Just Stop Sometimes when a resolution is hard to keep, or a goal seems impossible to hit, that means it isn’t the right resolution. Maybe you set an unrealistic goal, or maybe you just don’t have the structure in place to do what you said you wanted to do. I really like this article about “key dependencies” and how they can sometimes get in the way of our goals. And I don’t think dependencies have to be other people, either! For example, do you have a resolution to work out every day, but you are ALSO a person who wants to spend time with his kids? And volunteer in the community? And cook a home cooked meal every night? AND read a book a week? You might have resolutions that naturally conflict with other goals and resolutions. We assume that if we slip on a resolution, it’s a failure in our willpower. But that’s not always true! Sometimes our goals just bump up against the wall of reality. So just stop, and reevaluate if there’s an external obstacle to your goal that you didn’t realize. Resolution 2.0 Repeat after me: you are NOT a loser if you give up on a goal that isn’t working, revise it, and try again later. That’s literally called LIFE! Whether it happens in January or July, we’re all always setting out to accomplish something, gathering information, and adjusting course accordingly. So if you’ve already discovered that you and your resolution can’t be long-term BFFs, then let it go. In fact, the sooner you let it go, the sooner you can brush it off and move on to evaluating and selecting a better goal. Cut your losses now, because the more you beat yourself up, the longer you keep up the “I’m lazy, I have no willpower, I can’t do it…” self-talk, the more you’re doing damage to the part of your thinking called “self-efficacy.” Stop wasting time, and start getting prepared for the 2nd(or 3rd, or 4th… no judgement here!) version of your resolution. I wish I could give up on the idea of resolutions all together, but even when I don’t CALL them that, there’s something about a fresh year that makes me want to set fresh goals. I’ll always have a plan for my new year, but if I don’t cross everything off the list, oh well. It’s still gonna be a great year. Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to make your healthcare event a success! By Roger Crawford. This was originally published on Roger's blog.
Several years ago, I authored a book titled How High Can You Bounce. The book was well received, except when I spoke for a local skydiving association! Apparently, the thought of bouncing made them a bit uneasy. Here is the condensed message of the book: Our ability to bounce back from life’s challenges determines our level of achievement and contentment. Writing this book convinced me that resilience can be learned and is primarily a matter of attitude and self-belief. How we choose to think about ourselves and the world around us forms the foundation on which our resilience is built. A pessimistic, hypercritical view of potential opportunities makes it extremely difficult to navigate life’s inevitable bumps in the road. On the other hand, an optimistic, inspiring attitude can create a launching pad for possibilities and supply the fortitude necessary to overcome adversity. Some folks’ positive thinking habits enable them to function with efficiency and effectiveness, regardless of their circumstances. I believe that perseverance and optimism are what separates successful individuals from ones who fail to reach their full potential. If we want to learn how to become more resilient in 2019, we need to understand what makes some people more optimistic than others. Here are three things that resilient people do well: #1 Maintain a positive self-regard. Resilient people see themselves as valuable human beings who have the ability to accomplish their dreams. When faced with adversity, they believe in their ability to bounce back and realize that every storm eventually passes. Dr. Robert Schuller once said, “Tough times don’t last, but tough people do.” #2 Control the controllable. Resilient individuals differentiate between what can be changed and what must be accepted. They discipline themselves not to spend valuable time and energy trying to change the unchangeable. Resiliency is often less about actual circumstances and more about how people choose to respond. #3 Stay hopeful about the future. Resilient people find what it takes to succeed today by seeing a hopeful tomorrow. They develop the capacity to remain hopeful, even during times of uncertainty. A remarkable study from the University of California, Berkeley, has shown that it is possible to predict the risk of illness by looking at a patient’s answers to two simple questions: Question 1: Do you feel it is impossible for you to achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself? Question 2: Do you get the feeling your future is hopeless and is it difficult to believe that things will get better for you? How we answer these questions not only influences our health but will also be a strong predictor of our future success. Regardless of whatever challenges you face in the new year, you can choose your mindset which provides the courage to bounce forward and achieve your goals for this upcoming year! Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to make your healthcare event a success! By Colette Carlson
There’s no better time than a new year for reflection and renewal. After all, how can you recognize and celebrate your growth if you don’t look back to honor what brought you joy, the challenges you overcame and the connections you claimed? Without contemplation, how can you shed light on what you truly want or what you must shed in order to wake up with energy and passion for your life? If you didn’t make time for mind time, you don’t have to wait to decide what new behaviors to embrace or which ones to renew or release. Instead, take yourself out for coffee or lunch this week and bring a journal to jot down notes. If you’re uncertain how to begin, open up your phone and look through your photos or last year’s calendar to see what thoughts or feelings emerge and what questions or actions they stir. Once you’re clear on the what, address the how to set yourself up for success. If you’ve gone through your own reflect/renewal exercise, I’d love to hear what behaviors you’re bringing forward or leaving behind. To provide inspiration for your own journey, I’ll share mine. NEW: Block first 90-minutes of morning for content creation when off the road. My head swirls with ideas, programs and videos I know would support others, as well as my own business growth. Yet, in my desire to accommodate clients in other time zones or quickly turnaround a request, I often give away the time of day I’m most creative and energized. I know better (and can even quote the research in support of time blocking), and now it’s time to do better. How? I’m using Calendly.com to send a link to both speaking and coaching clients to show my availability which excludes that 90-minutes as an option! RENEW: Continue to invest time connecting with family and friends when speaking in their city. Trust me, it’s easier to simply jump on a plane and return home quickly to accomplish more. However, during my own reflection, the photos and memories most cherished were a result of the conscious decision I made last year to show up and be present for people I cherish. Two of my highlights were celebrating Dad’s 93rd birthday and a last-minute weekend with girlfriends, four of whom I hadn’t seen since high school freshman year! How? Rather than overthink the situation, as soon as an engagement is confirmed in a particular city, I send a quick email to a nearby friend to discuss options. Even if the timing for a visit doesn’t align, a fun conversation usually follows as a result. RELEASE: My need to be right. Although I’ve been working on this behavior for years and have made great strides in my professional life, I can’t claim the same in my personal life. I’ve grown up, done my time in therapy and healed enough to eliminate my need to have the last word, educate or judge others when it comes to the bigger issues in life. I truly accept and appreciate our differences and the different perspectives we bring to the table. YET, I still catch myself telling my sweetheart, Blue-Eyes, there’s a faster route to our destination than the one he’s chosen, a more effective way to communicate with his family or a more efficient way to load the dishwasher! As someone who speaks on the power of connection, I recognize the need to release this unhealthy and unattractive behavior once and for all. How? Before opening my mouth, I’m going to ask myself, “Is making this statement more important than making this beautiful, kind man feel loved, valued and appreciated?” After all, isn’t that what we all really want and crave from our connections? Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to make your healthcare event a success! |
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