“Why Am I Here?–Do You LOVE What You Do?”
In all the blogging I’ve done regarding the patient experience, I haven’t mentioned a critical element regarding taking care of patients in a hospital setting. What I’m talking about is your particular job. Do you like it? Love it? Are you passionate about it? Did you get into it because it pays well? Because you love caring for people? Because it gives your life meaning?
These are heavy questions that demand thoughtful answers. I’ve always maintained that to be really successful at something, you need to be passionate about it. The people who are wildly successful in this world are the people who are on fire with their jobs/businesses and their purpose. And most times the two are completely integrated.
I recently read in Fortune an interview with Tony Robbins. He is arguably the most well-known and highest paid speaker/coach in the world. Although he’s extremely wealthy(his fortune is estimated at $480 billion), he continues to run five companies and is “a happy workaholic who sleeps barely five hours a night and spends 200 days a year on the road in his never-ending quest to pull peak performance out of the underachieving masses”.
I’ve personally followed Tony since 1987 when a friend mailed me a copy of his bestseller, Unlimited Power. He’s a peak performance expert and considered the “father of the life-coaching industry”. He does 25 multi-day seminars each year and, in addition to all this, is a “coach” to some of the top power players in the world–who pay him up to $1million per year for his advice and guidance. He has coached everyone from heads of state (including 3 U.S. Presidents), superstar sports figures and entertainers, and titans of the business world.
My point in highlighting Tony’s accomplishments (other than the fact that he was probably the biggest reason I got into the speaking industry) is that if you’re working in the healthcare field, don’t you owe it to yourself and the patients in your care to be passionate about what you do? Don’t they deserve it? Don’t YOU deserve it?
In order to be successful in any endeavor, field or job you’re only going to be as good as you are interested or passionate about the job or business you have. Tony Robbins obviously doesn’t need more money, fame, accolades or the trappings that go along with all of that. It’s pretty obvious that Tony does it because it’s who he is! The late Abraham Maslow, a noted psychologist who was best-known for creating Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs”, put it best when he said, “What man can be, he must be.” Maslow meant that “self-actualized” people, do things because it’s who they are and they wouldn’t be happy and fulfilled without doing it.
In the healthcare field, and in particular, taking care of patients on a daily basis, I firmly believe you’re job must be born out of a need and desire to truly serve your patients with compassionate care. The true superstars in the healthcare field, who I’ve watched over a long period of time, are so good at what they do that it’s almost—and in many cases is–their calling. How about you? How do you feel about your job?
Best,
Tim