The Well-Fed Nursing Career

Just like your body, your nursing career needs good nutrition. How are you feeding your career, and is it getting the macronutrients it needs to thrive?

Not Rocket Science

Feeding your nursing career an excellent nutritious diet may not be rocket science, but it doesn’t always come naturally. We aren’t taught how to maintain a career; it requires time, energy, and thoughtful action.

When you graduated from nursing school, your attention was focused on passing the NCLEX, getting licensed, and landing your first job. This is an exciting moment after years of hard work, so it’s natural for your eyes to be fixed on those prizes.

Once you’re working as a nurse, you transition from student to novice, then from novice to more experienced nurse. During this period, you learn and master hard skills (phlebotomy, procedures, wound care, transfusions, etc.) and soft skills (communication, emotional intelligence, patient education, etc.) You may also find yourself trying to figure out how to navigate workplace politics.

Beyond that, feeding your career entails other things you can do to keep your career alive and healthy.

Macronutrient 1: Professional Development

The first macronutrient to consider is your professional development, which can take many forms.

One way to develop as a nursing professional is to seek opportunities to learn new skills, which may include pursuing certifications.

You can grow by taking your continuing education seriously through podcasts, videos, books, nursing journals, in-person and recorded CEU courses, conferences, and webinars.

Belonging to nursing organizations and associations local, state, regional, national, international, or specialty can provide many professional development opportunities. If you want to get involved and get noticed, you can join committees or even run for elected office in your organization. These are all great networking opportunities.

Macronutrient 2: Tending to your Personal Wellness

Nothing can stop career development in its tracks, such as not feeling well, whether physically, emotionally, psychologically, or spiritually.

While the term “self-care” has been terribly overused in recent years, you need to care for yourself. This doesn’t necessarily mean bubble baths and meditation, although it might.

Wellness can mean going to therapy or counseling, ensuring your marriage and family receive proper attention, developing hobbies, getting enough exercise, sleep, good food, and hydration, going on vacation and getting away, or participating in spiritual or religious communities or practices.

Only you know what your wellness needs are, but you can’t ignore this part of your life because no matter what, doing so will come back to haunt you. So, pay attention to your own needs.

Macronutrient 3: Your Career-building Toolbox

The basic building blocks of your nursing career are basic and not to be overlooked.

Your resume should always be up to date and ready for action. Even if you’re happy with your job, you never know when a fantastic position may come along. You may also need your resume to submit an application for a fellowship, apply to graduate school, volunteer, or ask to be accepted as a member of the advisory board of a non-profit you admire.

Macronutrient 4: Nurturing Your Long-Term Vision

This macronutrient may be tragically overlooked by most of us. Life happens, and we easily get caught up in the day-to-day. However, we need to keep our eyes on the big picture.

In previous sections, we mentioned going back to school, earning an advanced degree, or getting certified as avenues to professional development; however, it is also worth noting your long-term career vision separately.

Your long-term career vision may or may not involve education or certification. It can also encompass entrepreneurship and starting a business, becoming a freelance writer, launching a podcast, becoming a keynote speaker, and planning for retirement, among other possible things you can do as a nurse over the long term.

Keeping your finger on the pulse of what you want in the bigger picture is a significant driver of career satisfaction, and what success looks like for you may be different than your colleagues. Remember this, especially if you want to broaden your previously narrow perception of career development.

Keep It Fed and Fresh

Keeping your nursing career fresh and fed is a long-term proposition. This is not a one-size-fits-all process, and your career may look very different from someone else’s, not to mention your original vision when you first entered nursing school.

Feed your career well, keep things fresh and interesting, and be open to new ideas and concepts, and you’ll be on your way to a career that is exceptionally nutritionally sound and ripe with possibility.