3 Keys to Loving Your Job as a Health Professional

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Last year, after 5 short years, my career started to feel a little mundane. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE health & wellness. I love being a dietitian. I love making my own hours as a consultant. Promoting health is an area of major necessity and presumed job security. Exhilarating stuff, right?

Wake up, commute, see clients, chart, go home. Start over. I did not wake up with rainbows shooting out of my butt excited to go see my patients. Why? Because the type of clients I was seeing HAD to see me as part of their care. They did not choose it and many did not value health as a whole.

But that was partly an excuse. I simply wasn't on fire for the type of work I'd fell into years ago. It's challenges were become more predictable and I was becoming jaded.

There's a lot of reasons being in the health & wellness realm can get a little disheartening. Change is hard. Sometimes people aren't ready to change. (Insert many more excuses here). The solution? Overcome those excuses by getting passionate about your work. Foremost, this means actually enjoying what you do. But there's a few common threads that can really effect how ON FIRE you feel about your work and thereby improve your performance, efficacy and life satisfaction.

1. Have positive relationships with like-minded people.

They say you are the average of the 5 people with whom you spend most of your time. Although you can't always pick your co-workers, you can choose what types of conversations you're willing to engage in (read: positive groupthink vs workplace complaining) and whether you need to find an outside "tribe" for moral support, ideas and grown up time. Social interactions with like-minded wellness communities/teams/groups outside of work are shown to improve our own perceptions of our happiness meter. You don't have to get together for tea and crumpets; there are plenty of opportunities to forge relationships virtually and create success partnerships. (I've got many resources, so let's chat if you need a match!)

2. Find regular inspiration outside of what you're learning or practicing.

I see you on the other side of that screen, collecting presentation handouts from every lecture and professional meeting you've ever sat in, stockpiling them "just in case". But how often do implement or utilize these resources? When you stack them up and don't find useful ways to put them to practice, it can actually feel stifling. All these things you want to do, but can't find time or place to do. Find inspiration and motivation beyond the daily grind and tactical knowledge of school and work. This can come in the form of books (yes, you CAN find 5-10 minutes/day to LISTEN to or read an audio book!), podcasts, short YouTube videos or even just the white space of daydreaming. Without feeling inspired on the regular, it's easy to suffer from momentum apoptosis (little word candy for my phys nerds).
Here's a list of free BOMB.com inspiration.

Free guide here.

3. Be a mirror: lead by example.

I noticed as my excitement for my everyday work grind was less inspiring, I was taking less care of myself. As my career became more of tedious habit, it was mirrored in how I felt about myself. I wasn't filling my own cup and therefore, couldn't give to others in the way I once desired. It's hard to admit, right? The fact that we're human, succumbing to all the things we sometimes counsel our clients to avoid----lack of sleep, nourishing ourselves to have mental clarity and more energy, and my biggest failure in my early RD life, getting the right kind of exercise.

When you implement these things, people notice. They notice because you're happier, more confident, infectiously positive. And it's real, because you feel better about your relationships, your own motivation and inspiration and that you are living your purpose. And a friend of mine always says, "smiles are contagious!"

If you want to chat more about any one of these, drop me a line: [email protected] I love helping women find the right tools to fill the gaps in their health, wealth & happiness. Because part of my purpose is helping others live in their purpose.