Setting Career Goals Early

Something that I feel very passionate about, is not becoming complacent in life. I feel this way with both my personal and professional life, which is why I think it's so important to set career goals early and re-evaluate those goals frequently. I try to keep thinking about goals in terms of 6 months, 1 year and 5 years. By doing this, it helps keep me motivated to work hard in the present and by checking in on my goals I keep myself in check for moving forward in the future.

Before I graduated, one of our professors gave us an assignment that I think every PT school should make their students do and it was called a "Professional Development Plan". It forced every single one of my classmates to think about what they wanted to accomplish, professionally, in the next 3-7 years. I feel like when you're in PT school, the end goal is graduation. The end goal is to get that DPT. The end goal is to survive. Right? Well, I found myself, after graduating and passing the boards, having a short moment of, "Now what?" For the past 4-5 years I had been so focused on setting goals of going back to school to take pre-reqs, getting accepted, getting through school, passing the boards, and landing a job that I hadn't spent much time thinking BEYOND that point. 

So, I was actually really glad that one of my professors forced me to think about life beyond that first job, and then to record down some goals in WRITTEN FORMAT, to hold myself accountable. And, now that I'm roughly 6-7 months into my first position and things are starting to normalize, I feel that I've been thinking a lot more about "the future" and what my next steps should be to get there. 

For this reason, I wanted to post the thought process that my professor enstiled in me, and the thought process that I currently use when I'm thinking about the future and what moves to make next. 

Here is a somewhat simple five step process to make your own professional development plan that is actually more than just saying, "Someday I'd like to..." (Underneath each step, I am going to share with you, one of my personal goals as an example.)

Step 1: Choose a goal that is something you'd like to do and choose a TIMEFRAME to achieve this goal

• Become a successful clinical instructor at my place of employment (Summer 2016)

Step 2: Consider what your reasoning is for this and what the potential benefits could be

• Important to the continuation of this profession
• Valuable learning experience for the student and myself
• Background and interest in education

 Step 3: What strategies are you going to utilize to get to this goal... specifically?

•  When interviewing, discuss opportunities for becoming a clinical instructor, the guidelines that the company employs and how to meet those guidelines
• Observe colleagues that are clinical instructors to gain knowledge
• Continuously practice in a professional and ethical manner
• Complete the APTA Clinical Instructor Education and Credentialing Course

 Step 4: What resources and support are necessary for you to meet this goal?

•   Lecture from Principles of Practice V (my course at school) regarding becoming a clinical instructor
• Information available on the APTA website
• Continuing education courses from APTA on clinical instruction
• Using colleagues that are currently clinical instructors as a resource

 Step 5: What challenges or problems may occur that would impede reaching the goal?

•  Ensuring that I find a place of employment that will support me in this goal and help me achieve my goal in a timely manner
• Being able to manage time effectively with the additional requirements that will be required with taking on a student
• Receiving appropriate preparation and resources from place of employment and academic institution

By placing this much thought into a goal, it turns that goal into a plan rather than a wish. And when you have a plan, and you have a guideline and you have thought about what you may encounter en-route to your goal, then, in my opinion, you are more likely to succeed and reach that goal. 

Wow, a lot has changed!

I just looked back through my blog to around this time last year (and then the year before) and, wow. I have come a LONG way! I can't believe that it's 2014 and I'm a licensed PT working on my 5th month of rightful employment. ;) I remember when I first decided to go back to school for physical therapy and how daunting and impossible everything seemed... and even reading my blog from July 2013 and July 2012, I realized how far I've come... This time last year I was in my last semester of classes in PT school. I was working on writing my systematic review for graduation and learning about some more specialty-type areas of PT (including aquatic therapy and burn care.) The year before that, I was just about to start my very first clinical experience. Holy moley... I remember being so worried about my first clinical experience, and it has turned out to be an invaluable experience that, to this day, I still cherish. (And still use information from that clinical... well, the nuggets that stuck with me!)

I'd love to say time flies when  you're having fun, but I don't really consider PT school "fun". Yes, there were many laughs and good memories, but it was a lot of work and there were a LOT of times I considered quitting. Now that I'm working, I'm so glad I stuck with it... Everything fell into place so well for me and now I'm getting ready to embark on a bigger adventure with my current company. I'm actually going to be able to to continue to be passionate about cardiopulmonary causes and work towards getting patients the preventative care they need. I would have never believed myself (or anyone) if they had told me that I was going to get to work with such a special patient population, and still work on my orthopedic skills at the same time. I've been really blessed with a first job that is diverse and with a coworker that is a fabulous mentor (although is challenging to work with at times).

It seems like years ago (and let's be honest... it really was... it's been 7 years since I graduated with my education degree) that I was embarking upon a teaching career, or rather trying to, never knowing where I would be 7 years later... Life is funny.

It's days like these when I can sit back and reflect a little and realize that I did it... Classroom to Clinic. I did it, even though there were people who probably doubted me, there were people who didn't understand why I "gave up teaching". I had a supportive family and boyfriend that got me through it. And I'm a doctor now! :)

Back to school...

Ugh... Back into the classroom today. Although I am glad that acute care is over, there are certain things I will miss about being in the clinic. Just a few more classes and then I am done with all of my schooling! This semester is supposed to be a whirlwind, it's only 7 weeks long and there's a lot to fit in. I have Dysfunction of Multiple Systems (lovingly referred to as Multi-Systems) and my final Research course (time to write that systematic review!), as well as a professionalism course.

It looks like a ton of busy work, but I was happy to see my friends. I'm looking forward to getting these next few weeks out of the way so that I can go on vacation!

Oh! The best part about today is... I'M A THIRD YEAR STUDENT!

So excited to have that designation... Woohoo! :)

Last Day :(

I can't believe it has been 10 weeks. Today was my last day at my first clinical! :( I think back about how scared I was with day one and how nervous I was to start and now I am so sad it's over. I feel like I learned SO MUCH from my CI and the clinic I was placed in was absoutely perfect for me! I would honestly recommend where I went to any of my classmates/students because it was that awesome. Everyone was great to work with and having the extra worker's compensation piece was super interesting. I feel like I definitely utilized my #1 lottery pick well without even really knowing it. (Thank God!)

It was hard to say goodbye to my patients, but I know they are in good hands. I will really miss them! So many wished me good luck at school and how I will be a great PT some day. It was so validating even though it was bittersweet. I know Monday will be hard when I am sitting in class and not treating patients.

I am so proud to say, "I did it!", though. :) Now, to keep the momentum going...

Where has the time gone?

The last time I posted it was in January!! It's July! I can't believe it. Time has been going by so quickly and obviously school has kept me really, really busy.

My spring semester ran from January-April and I had a large course load with my first PBL experience. It was a lot of work, but I really enjoyed my small group and I thought that we worked really well together and I learned a lot. I also had Neuroscience which was a big challenge, but it was really rewarding to understand everything (thank goodness we had our amazing physiology professor to teach us Neuro as well!). We also spent a lot of time in the lab learning all kinds of things like modalities and e-stim and a bunch of other things that I can't even think back far enough to remember!

Today I'm taking my last final of my third semester and the end of my first year. I can't believe it!! We took an 11 credit course all about musculoskeletal dysfunction. Needless to say, it was a LOT and I am so glad that I passed all my tests and have been deemed "ready" to go to my first clinical experience.

I'll talk more about that in another post, because I've got to get my study guide finished for my last final!

T-minus 7 days to survival of Semester 1!

Well, I'm still here. In 7 days I will be done with my first semester of PT school and it has been really wild. I still haven't decided where I want to go for my 1st clinical, and I really need to take advantage of being in the first spot for choosing... I don't really want to think that far in advance, honestly. I'm too busy worrying about my anatomy and physiology finals. I am doing well in both courses, but I am at a borderline A and so one slip up could potentially have me failing either. Although I have my struggles about being in school, I would prefer it to be my decision to quit, not that I failed a course and was unable to continue.

A question I find myself asking a lot is, how do you figure out if something/anything is "worth it"?

Sometimes when I get A's on my tests it doesn't even feel good. Only because I know how much farther I have to go in this journey to even get through school, and because usually it's immediately time to start preparing for the next batch of tests. But, it hit me for a second the other day... I got a 95% in my clinical skills class... That means that I know 95% of what I was supposed to know... That's huge. Why am I acting like it's not? I think that I get so overwhelmed with everything going on around me, that I don't even realize how far I've come in just this short amount of time.

In fact, I know for certain that I passed two of my four classes (clinical skills) and my principles of practice course, because the finals were this week, in what I like to call "Hell Week #2" Remember Hell Week the first time? Yeah, not fun.

However, this time I only cried twice, instead of every day, and I didn't have a complete mental breakdown leading to a horrible anatomy lab practical grade. So, I've improved.

I took yesterday off after my last test and came home and stayed in bed all day, and slept in today and did some Christmas shopping. Now I feel like I'm ready to do this and get it over with.

My anatomy final is cumulative, so it's going to be hard and I need to try to remember everything I've learned along the way, and that's a lot... Physiology is all about digestion which is not my favorite thing to study, so I've got to gear up and get in it.

Hopefully, soon, I'll be celebrating that I passed all my courses and can move onto semester #2.

Week 3: I think I can, I think I can...

Although I'm still having a rough time, I did manage to have one really good day this week (and that was yesterday)! So I figure that if I can just start to have more days like yesterday, then eventually they will all be better.

I really want to try to keep being positive and telling myself that I can do this. I am an intelligent person and this is something that I worked hard to get to, and it would be so silly to quit now when I've come a long way to get here, being a nontraditional student.

That being said, I hate feet. No, I really do. There are so many muscles! I used to be worried about being able to name the bones in the feet, but after having lectures on the intrinsic and extrinsic muscles, the bones are literally a piece of cake.

The good news is, we aren't getting anymore new material (muscle wise) until after September 24th, which is our first test. I now have a little over one week to learn all the muscles, their origins, insertions, innervations and actions of the lower limb.

But, I am going to be positive and say that I can do this and believe it! It's going to be a rough ride, and I'm off to a really rough start, but I really want to prove that I can do this. I can do it, these science classes are intense, but I can do it.

Well, I'm going to stop giving myself a pep talk and get back to finishing my muscles flashcards. :)