Think of those people you admire most. Are those people people in positions of relative power? Are they people who have had a great influence on your life? Power and influence are misunderstood. Many people wait their whole lives for someone to give them power in order to be able to make a change. Power is not something that people give you. It is something you take. To become empowered requires that you identify those strengths within yourself, embrace them, develop them and then use them to influence other people toward a good outcome.
Everyone likes to watch someone who is very good at what they do. Just look at all of the attention that is given to sports. Our sports heroes are those people who are very good at what they do. They have embraced their areas of excellence, developed them and then they use them to influence others to follow.
The first step is to understand that you have inherent gifts and areas of excellence within you. Some may include the ability to place an IV quickly and painlessly, extraordinary assessment skills, or empathy that allows you to be able to connect with patients and patient's families. Embrace your areas of excellence. Know that these are areas that you are good at and spend some time developing them further.
Most people would tell you to work on your weaknesses. Working on your weaknesses will probably just make them mediocre or become discouraging. Your areas of weakness are somebody else's area of strength. Let them shine in that area, while you work on your areas of excellence and develop them further. Then use your excellence to encourage other people to pursue a path of mastery in their areas of excellence as well.
“Excellence can be obtained if you:
...care more than others think is wise;
...risk more than others think is safe;
...dream more than others think is practical;
...expect more than others think is possible.”
- Anonymous
Best wishes,
David W. Woodruff, MSN, RN-BC, CNS, CEN