I'm a registered nurse, case manager, and life care planner. More importantly, I'm a husband to Charity and a dad to Becky, Michael and Gabrielle.
For more about me, see the About page.
Take Two
Sometimes there are detours along the journey
Today the church is speaking with a clear voice,” the Rev. Jeff R. Johnson, one of the seven gay pastors participating in the ceremony, said at a news conference just before it began. “All people are welcome here, all people are invited to help lead this church, and all people are loved unconditionally by God.
~ The very left leaning ELCA now supports the ordination of gay and lesbian ministers in non-celibate lifestyles. I agree with the first and third phrases of Rev. Johnson’s last statement but not the second one. God welcomes and loves all people regardless of their status but he does expect them to change to become “holy as He is holy”. I’m on the left left end of my particular denomination and think we need to rethink a number of our positions but there are some things the Bible speaks in a clear voice on. On these issues, our opinion is irrelevant.
Contrarian Career Advice
Penelope Trunk had a column in the Business Insider this month that I found to be fascinating. Contrary to the advice of many, Penelope suggest that one not “do what they love” but rather “do what they are”. This is brilliant.
There are many things I love: writing, jazz, cinema. While I love these things, I don’t have a particular aptitude for them (you will note they are all artistic- my degrees are in science (nursing) and business (accounting)). I tend to be much more logical than artistic and would be a failure at any of the above.
Don’t get me wrong- I love what I do. That’s a bonus. But career choices should not be based solely on interests but (and as a vocational specialist I would say more heavily on aptitudes. I’m thrilled to do a job that 1) I’m good at 2) I very much enjoy and 3) is intellectually and financially rewarding. But remove number 1 (ie, do something I suck at) and the other three are falling out pretty quickly.
Quick personal story to drive this home: My firstborn, Becky, for years wanted to be a doctor. This is a good and noble profession. She was fantastically interested in it. When she got to high school, she took an anatomy and physiology class and really struggled with it. I advised her to consider careers outside of medicine. I checked with my business partners (all RNs) and they had similar advice. Why? Because every doctor, nurse, and therapist I know had a natural affinity for anatomy. It just came to them. She’s now on the road to being a teacher with the Peace Corps and she’ll do brilliantly with this because not only does it interest her but she’s good at it.
In this age of coddling parents, we’re so concerned with making our kids happy that we let them go down the primrose path of doing something they love whether or not they have a talent for the field. This is setting them up for failure. If you find something you are good at and succeed at you’ll love it. From there, you can make a career choice.
The genesis for this not so short post is that I am in Philadelphia (yet again) seeing some of my new clients tomorrow. I love my work. I’m also pretty good at it. I think that’s where the satisfaction comes from is because I’m able to facilitate successful outcomes for my clients. I have been mulling over some “what ifs” in my mind career wise and it’s taken the wind from my sail. Thankfully, I was able to remember the good things that have come out of those choices and I am reminded of how truly blessed I am. And that makes me happy.
I have watched this commercial at least 20 times and it still kills me. Enjoy.
Cue Willie Nelson
I got home from Philadelphia at 2:30 this morning after a five day combined work/business trip with my family. I am flying back to Philadelphia Thursday night and home Friday night. Sunday afternoon I am flying back to Philadelphia and home on Tuesday morning. Sometime in the next month, I also need to go to Atlanta, New York City, and Syracuse.
Does this strike anyone else as a tad insane?
We are in Philadelphia this week. As I mentioned in my last post, my works going to have me here for a couple of days every other or third week for the next several weeks. These trips are vastly improved by the presence of my family. They’ve taken time this week to play in the hotel pool and go to the Philadelphia zoo. We also took in some of the historical sites on Wednesday.
Today, I got to spend the day with my family and spend the day museum hopping. We spent the morning at the Franklin Institute and the afternoon at the Academy of Natural Sciences. Afterward, we took the Pat’s vs. Geno’s Philly cheesesteak challenge. For the record, I’m a Geno’s fan (love my steak with cheese whiz).
Tomorrow we are heading home. We may detour through Gettysburg on the way but I’m looking forward to getting back to my house. At any rate, these trips are always better with family.
Steinbrenner’s literary interests date back to Williams College in the late nineteen-forties, where he wrote his senior thesis on Thomas Hardy’s romantic heroines. The sportswriter Steve Wulf, now with ESPN Magazine, once tried to catch Steinbrenner out by asking what he thought of Eustacia Vye, the beautiful seductress in “The Return of the Native.” Steinbrenner responded that he thought Eustacia was one of Hardy’s most successful female creations, supporting his case with details from the book. Today, he reads a lot of military history. He recently finished “Five Days in London: May 1940,” John Lukacs’s account of the British government’s decision to fight on against the Nazis. “It gives a side of Hitler that you don’t see,” he told me. “He was an evil, bad man, but I think Churchill realized he was brilliant in some ways. If it hadn’t been for Churchill, I hate to think what would have happened to this world.
~ From the New Yorker’s excellent profile of New York Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner. The unspoken take away in this remains that leaders are readers. Say what you will about Steinbrenner but the man was a leader. R.I.P. 
Image via Wikipedia
Tony Morgan has a brilliant post this morning about the importance of task vs. people. The above chart speaks volumes. It’s a must read for anyone hiring or recommending key people in an organization.
Making Lemonade
When people ask what I do for a living I tell them we make lemonade. What this means is that we work with individuals and families who have had catastrophic and life changing injuries and try to make the best of a bad situation. The work is tremendously rewarding.
Last week was a week from hell. My boss is on vacation off the grid in Alaska which makes me in charge. After the holiday Monday, my Tuesday starts with a principal of our company resigning sans notice. The resulting day was wrapping up loose ends, reassuring clients, and taking care of the already significant amount of extra work that was on my plate due to my boss’ absence. In other words, not good times. The balance of my week include cleaning up a life care plan that someone else had developed four years ago, talking at least twice to our corporate attorney, picking up a huge amount of work in Philadelphia (from the departed partner), and spending five plus hours at the airport trying to get to Philly before bagging it. Let me also note that I work with some of the greatest people in the world who took challenging circumstances and powered through like pros.
Back to my work in Philly, I have half a dozen cases there now and need to kill the better part of a week there. As I’ve mentioned, I am spending more and more time on the road which causes me to miss my family a lot. What to do? Make lemonade.
This week, we are taking an impromptu family vacation to Philadelphia. We are history junkies and are looking forward to taking in the Constitution Center, Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and everything else the City of Brotherly Love has to offer. While I’m meeting with clients, Charity and the kids will be checking out the Philadelphia Zoo and the Children’s Museum. The kids (and Charity) are really looking forward to the week out of the house and i$ really looking forward to having them with me for a change.
Next week, a long business trip turns into vacation week. I can hardly wait.
Please excuse the typos and lack of links. I did this post on my BlackBerry.
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