Operation Smile

There are times, like the present, when I just need a wee little bit extra motivation, or energy, to study.  The stack of information to learn for final exams seems very daunting at best, and time is quickly running out until the exams must be written.

It is times like these that I look at the bigger picture, and think (try to remember!!!) why I am putting myself through these extra years of university. 

Because I really want to be a nurse, that's why.  Because I genuinely want to help people, in small and large ways.  I want to feel like my work is making a difference to somebody.  I want a sense of satisfaction that I worked hard, and achieved something after a shift is done. 

And one more reason -- because I want to volunteer my time internationally, being part of medical teams.  One such medical volunteer team is Operation Smile.  Volunteer doctors and nurses travel to developing countries, to operate on children born with cleft palate and lip.  These children are usually shunned, hidden away from society, and rarely allowed to attend school.  It is such an easy operation (relatively speaking!) to fix the birth defect permanently. 

Talk about making a difference to somebody, and getting a feeling of satisfaction at the end of the day, when you've been part of a team that's operated on a half-dozen children in a day!!!

There are no words to describe that feeling (although, knowing myself, I'll probably try, when the time comes!). 

I look forward to experiencing that feeling, and that, is why I must do my absolute best on the upcoming final nursing exams. 

Here is a link to Operation Smile: http://www.operationsmile.org/

Some good questions to ask yourself

It seems that in my recent browsings on the Net, I've come across a number of interesting pieces and sites about career change, and that friends have been sending me interesting articles as well.

My latest find is an article from the Oprah site.  While I have never really been on the Oprah bandwagon, I certainly readily admit that she has done amazing work in having people "wake up" to living their lives mindfully and helping inspire people (as well as giving practical advice how) to make the decision to live their lives to the fullest, best, most content level possible. Her web site is an excellent resource for articles and interviews on these themes, and clearly, many, many more. 

The link and credit to the full article is here: (drives me crazy that the articles are never available on a single page)
http://www.oprah.com/money/Get-Out-of-a-Job-Rut-Suzy-Welchs-Career-Advice

However, the main premise of the article is to ask yourself five key questions about the direction, state and environment of your job/career, and to use the answers as the basis of your thinking about future plans, goals and objectives.

The five key questions are:

Question 1Does this job allow me to work with "my people"—individuals who share my sensibilities about life—or do I have to put on a persona to get through the day?

Question 2
Does this job challenge, stretch, change, and otherwise make me smarter—or does it leave my brain in neutral?

Question 3Does this job, because of the company's "brand" or my level of responsibility, open the door to future jobs?

Question 4Does this job represent a considerable compromise for the sake of my family and if so, do I sincerely accept that deal with all of its consequences?

Question 5
Does this job—the stuff I actually do day-to-day—touch my heart and feed my soul in meaningful ways?

So I'm just putting this out there, as I think they are strong and valid questions to ask oneself, regardless if a career change is brewing on the horizon or not.  "Job" could be any situation you find yourself in, from present career situation to volunteer work.

 

"You Should Probably Quit Your Job" (article)

A friend sent me the following article, that she found in a Canadian newspaper.  Clearly, the author is a like-minded individual to myself!

Only one and a half more weeks to go until classes start, and only 5 more days at my job next week.  Only 11 more commutes to/from work.  I'm good at countdowns. :-)

THEN, the focus of my writing will most certainly be focused on school, rather than the media and thinking up various scenarios of what school will be like this time 'round.

I must admit that this upcoming career change still seems completely and utterly surreal at this point.  I'm doing what in a couple weeks???!!! 

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You Should Probably Quit Your Job

Life is short. It's "go to bed worrying about your English final, wake up with grey hair and three kids" short.

And shorter yet are the "productive years"; that period in your life when you can make a difference, when your knowledge, experience, and influence add up to something.

Those productive years are fabled. They represent the Promised Land where, one day, we'll start doing something meaningful. I know an investment banker. "One day," he tells me, "I'm going to get out and do something worthwhile, make a difference." A friend told me yesterday, "One day, I'd like to move to Montreal."

Even my five-year-old daughter is craning her neck towards this Promised Land. She tells me, "I'll be a vet one day."

But the banker won't change jobs, my friend will not move to Montreal, and I doubt my daughter will be a vet.

One day never arrives. It never arrives because our short lives move so fast, and we have so much to do. There are too many phone calls to be answered, e-mails to be read, payments to be made. They pile up in front of us, a small mountain of immediate problems, blocking our view, preventing us from seeing beyond the next few months.

But occasionally someone remembers that our lives are so short, the time is so precious, and they push aside the pile to look again on the "Promised Land." And then they do something important. They quit their job.

This happened to Kai Nagata this week. Kai was a Canadian TV reporter who suddenly resigned because he realized he could be doing more if he was doing something else. In his words:

"I quit my job because the idea burrowed into my mind that, on the long list of things I could be doing, television news is not the best use of my short life."

The public reaction was electric. Kai's blog post announcing the decision went viral, Roger Ebert tweeted about it, the Huffington Post reported on it, and it made news across Canada. People didn't care that much about a reporter in Quebec, but they did see themselves in Kai and they realized they would never be brave enough to do the same thing.

Another example of this is John Wood. Working at Microsoft, he was locked in to a solid management career. But one day he realized he could do more, that his productive years could be better spent on something more meaningful to himself and to others. So he quit, and launched Room to Read, a charity that increases literacy in some of the world's poorest nations. By any measure, his decision to quit has allowed him to do something meaningful for himself and others.

Take an honest minute and think about your job. Is it making a difference? Is it making you happy? Is it as valuable to you as the few short years you have on this planet? Some of you can say yes. Most of us, if we are truthful, cannot.

Most of us, if we are honest, know our jobs are simply a means towards a prosaic end. It pays the bills. We tell ourselves "There's nothing else I'm qualified to do." Or "The economy's so bad I couldn't find another job." In truth, everyone could be doing something else, even in tough times like this.

Sadly, though, we are so focused on the pile of immediate problems that we fail to see what Kai and John saw, which is life is too short to be wasted on meaningless work. We all should be doing something important for ourselves, our community, our children, the environment, poverty, or our nation. Remember how you, too, wanted to be a vet? It's not too late.

You should quit your job. But, sadly, you probably won't.

Scott Gilmore started Peace Dividend Trust (after quitting a really good job).

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