Thanksgiving Thoughts

Well, Thanksgiving is behind us and though for a short period of time its meaning is hidden by mounds of mashed potatoes, turkey and pumpkin pie - the truth is that it is a great time to sit back and take a life evaluation moment. In my personal life am so very thankful for my 5 amazing children and the love of my life; my husband. On the professional side I think of the term professional growth as I evaluate where I am in my professional life. I think that professional growth can be as simple as increasing your professional skills over a period of time. I can certainly maneuver Quickbooks more efficiently now then I could several years ago. Now, a P&L means something to me and so on and so forth. I have a better skill set now then I did 17 years ago when I entered this profession.


This Thanksgiving though I am looking at my professional growth from a much different stand point - one that might not be so easy to evaluate for growth and may be much more difficult to deal with. For example, it would be much easier to find out that I need to learn out to create a budget then it would be to find out that my job is negatively affecting my mental health. So what is the more difficult professional growth evaluation? That would be my mental professional growth. I meet many different people in my career and so often I find that they don't know why they are doing what they are doing and if it fulfills them in an emotional manner. So this Thanksgiving I looked at my professional life and how it fulfills me emotionally and I encourage you to do the same. Are you proud of what you do? Why? Is there a sense of accomplishment when you close your laptop for the day? Are you respected by those around you in your practice? Are you able to do things that align with your personal beliefs and values? I think that we often get buried with that P&L we now learn to evaluate so efficiently that we forget that evaluating how our "job" makes us feel is as if not more important then that P&L.

I discovered a lot when I did this Thanksgiving evening. It is making me sit back and maybe make some choices in where I go next in my career and making me face some things that maybe I need to leave behind and others I should celebrate.

So remember, when you look at and evaluate your professional growth; don't forget the emotional part of that growth to ensure it is not stunted in an unhealthy professional environment.

Donna Bauman, CVPM
PS: I am also thankful for my brand new niece who turned 1 week on Thanksgiving Day.