"Determine What the future will be rather then merely reacting to it as it happens"- Grossman

CREATING A PREFERRED FUTURE FOR NURSING

...is the responsibility of all nurses.  We need to commit ourselves to excellence in the future of nursing.  "All nurses have the professional responsibility to be involved in nursing organizations that are actively working to create a preferred future for the profession.  Sigma Theta Tau International and other organizations have committed to creating a positive future by offering leadership institutes, helping members expand their networks through Internet and newsletters, and offering recognition through awards and citations as a way to motivate nurses to work at their highest possible level" (Grossman, 2009, p. 149).   All of these things are great and build our profession however I believe that it is our professional responsibility to commit ourselves to working at our highest possible level regardless of the personal benefit behind that action.

What can we do as the future of nursing to create our preferred nursing future?

One can work to advance and shape the future of nursing practice by:

* Working at the local or chapter level as a committee member or officer

* Serving on a board of Directors

* Working on an International committee

* Reviewing manuscripts for an organization's journal

*We must continue to study the health care practices of various groups, as well as patient responses to specific interventions in order to maintain or enhance function.

*  Practice results should be published in magazines and journals, including those that are multidisciplinary.

* Commitment to using research results as a basis for practice

* Research should be integral to every nurse's ongoing practice.

In this TED talk by Tony Robbins he asks the questions Why do you do what you do? What motivates you? What is driving you?  What shapes the persons ability to contribute? How do you make what is invisible, visible meaning how can we take what you are dreaming and make it happen?  What is it that shapes us?  He talks about how decisions are the ultimate power and that decisions shape our destiny.  I think that this talk is really great because it makes us reflect on what and why we are doing the things that we are doing.  It makes us see that stepping out of our comfort zone and making our ideas real is the only why that change and growth happens.

Please view the video below to hear some of Tony's great insights and become part of the future of inspiring transformational leaders.

Tony Robbins: Why we do what we do

Tony Robbins discusses the "invisible forces" 

that motivate everyone's actions. 

The following are guidelines to help with shaping the future:

1) Do not wait

2) Have credibility (be honest, be an inspiration, maintain competence, and be looking forward)

3) Have your head in the clouds but your feed on the ground (always be thinking of possibilities but also stay grounded in reality)

4) Share values

5) Accept that you cannot do it alone

6) Remember that leadership is every one's business.

And I leave you with one last quote from Shelia Grossman:

"Leaders for the future need to take action, engage in self evaluation, seek feedback from colleagues, set goals and periodically evaluate the progress in meeting them, advance their own knowledge and try new things.  Leaders of tomorrow must be transformational ones; people who can propel a vision, recruit the new generation of nurses, empower followers to work enthusiastically to realize a vision, meet change head on and grow from it" (Grossman, 2009, p. 151).  

Reference:
Grossman, S. C., & Valiga, T. M. (2009). The new leadership challenge: creating the future of nursing, 3e.  Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Compan