Category: Fun

Regular days are a new thing for me. As a recent graduate from physical therapy school (May 2016) I finished a 22-year “career” as a student. Students never have more than a few months, a semester maybe, where you have the same weekly schedule. Even within those short periods of time, you have breaks, holidays and other “routine killers.” I am now in a stage of life where I have what feel like regular days and it is very strange.

I feel like I have learned some things from this season of life so far, though.

1. Regular days aren’t as bad as I thought they would be.

Maybe it is the millennial in me coming out, but during school, I had a slight fear of the mundane, regular work days. I thought that I would feel so uninspired, bored and burned out by them. I have actually found the exact opposite. Regular days give me the sense of accomplishment, productivity, and recharge. I have found that the regular days that I once feared have become something that I cherish.

2. Regular days are what life is ultimately made up of

For most working adults our lives are really a whole bunch of regular days with a seasoning of extraordinary ones, both good and bad. Because of that, what we choose to do with ourselves on our regular days really makes a massive impact on the journey and outcome of our lives.

3. Regular days are where you become excellent or complacent

I have already felt the tension between excellence and complacency in my short career thus far. Most of that tension is felt on the regular days when I could either become more efficient at what I’m currently doing OR become more effective what would I’m currently doing. What I mean is that I could either become an expert at being mediocre, aka finishing notes super fast, treating loads of patients with OK care, being able to manage my time well…or I can hone the craft and become more effective. Now my perspective is physical therapy but I think it applies to every industry. You can either strive to make your current work easier to pull off…requiring less brain power and effort to get the same level of work done. Or you can strive to make your work of a higher quality. I want fewer things more than to do the latter.

Much ink has been spilled on servant leadership. Most of it tends to hang out in the nebulous, theoretical side of things. Since I was first introduced to the concept of servant leadership I have tried to model my life and any leadership roles I find myself in after it. One problem with reading about servant leadership in MBA books, entrepreneurship books, and blogs is that it rarely ever gets practical.

What does it actually mean on a daily basis?

I don’t claim to have the answer to that question in its entirety but I feel like I had the opportunity to model it today in the clinic. Let’s see if you agree.

Servant leadership at its core is making yourself lower than the people around you to raise them up. I interpret that to mean doing the dirty work when no one wants to or being a team player in order to let someone else get “the glory.”

In the clinic today we received 6 new office chairs for the PTs and front desk staff. They came in 6 big boxes and sat in the corner of the clinic for most of the morning. I had a patient cancel so I started tearing the boxes up and building chairs. I ended up building 4 chairs today and setting them up for the other staff. Now, this act felt very menial at the time, and in the grand scheme of life, it really is. BUT, I think that is the point of servant leadership. The little things add up. I easily could have just done paperwork and treated patients and went home for the day, but I went out of my way, sat on the floor with a tiny Allen wrench and built chairs. These are the types of little things that make you a servant leader and make you worth following. There are countless opportunities I have missed or actively dodged out of selfishness or laziness but this happens to be a small one that, after reflection, I’m a little bit proud of.

My point of saying all that is simply to put some meat on the bones of servant leadership. I don’t like when good concepts stay in the theoretical and never make it into the practical.

Next time you have the opportunity to do something small for someone else, take it, you don’t know what will come of it.

I listened to an interview with Seth Godin today, who is a famous online blogger. The interview covered several topics from entrepreneurship  and education to theories on combatting fear and stirring creativity in your life. I have gone through phases in the last 3-5 years that I have been very into start-ups, marketing, entrepreneurship and other business topics, but I have not thought about it much as of late. This interview rekindled my love for this type of thinking.

One of the big takeaways I got from the interview was a segment when he advised people to keep a daily journal online. He said something along the lines of, “do it for two weeks and it will change the way you think, do it for six and it will revolutionize your thinking.” I probably butchered that, but the principle is there. Putting out content, whether it is a short story from the day, a post of the newest running shoe, or a poem requires you to reflect on your day.

I want to try to do this for a little bit and see what happens. Due to the fact that I have 2 kids under the age of 2 and a half years old, any consistency in life is difficult, but hey I’m going to try.

What that means for your as the reader is twofold:

1. There will be more blogs in the “Fun” category, as I will most likely branch out of fitness, health and physical therapy topics.
2. You should join me! There is nothing bad that can come from it, only a little more self-awareness.