Aiming for success – both personally and professionally – in 2019

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Q Throughout the years, with 2018 no exception, I have heard many sterile processing managers and technicians express frustration and discontent with their work settings and career status. They cite lack of support, recognition, respect and career advancement opportunities as the primary source of frustration. In individual discussions I have found that most feel trapped, hopeless, and are quick to blame others; and they feel they are powerless to change their fate. I feel that many sterile processing personnel have a lack of self-esteem and confidence in their profession and have surrendered their responsibility to self and to contribute and facilitate changes within the organization and themselves, which could otherwise bring them career enhancement and personal fulfillment.

A To all those to whom this might apply, here’s my advice. Another year has passed by and perhaps you didn’t keep your 2018 resolution, or maybe you didn’t achieve all that you hoped for in 2018. Well, now is not the time to despair or to wallow in self-pity over unfulfilled dreams and missed opportunities. That’s right. It is a brand-new year, and you get another chance up at bat. Now clear your vision, focus your aim and swing that bat hard and steady with all you’ve got!

Failure and rejection or even fear of failure and rejection can be crippling to your personal growth and development. Allowing failure or rejection, or the fear of same, to become a barrier to your future growth and development will depend on your attitude and your determination. Failure and rejection can also serve as a motivator for future success if you think positive and persevere. You would do far better to worry less about failures and worry more about the opportunities and success that can be missed when one no longer tries. Many celebrities and successful people throughout history achieved success only after first experiencing failure. Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times but he also hit 714 homeruns. R. H. Macy failed seven times before his famous store in New York caught on. The great composer Mozart never won a prize, and John Creasey received 753 rejection slips before he published 564 books.

We have all failed many times in our lives, although we may not always remember. Most of us tumbled over the first time we tried to take our first steps. Many of our knees and elbows were scraped learning to ride a two-wheeler. As we attempted to swim the first few times, I’m sure we all swallowed and aspirated some unpleasant water. Nonetheless, despite these early failures we were determined, we persevered, we gained experience and we tried repeatedly until we finally succeeded.

As individuals, we are evolving all the time; each of us has great potential. Personal and professional growth is a continual process throughout life. We can always learn or experience something new; we can improve and expand our skills or contribute more to ourselves, our family, our work and society. As we embark on any new mission, we will likely continue to confront challenges and experience some failures.

I believe that it is the challenges and obstacles which we overcome in pursuit of our goal which make the victory of success so sweet and rewarding. I believe that success and the process to succeeding can be a stimulus breeding more success.

Success and the meaning of success is different to all people and it may be measured in many ways. I think of success in very broad terms. To me it is encapsulated in individual spirit and attitude. The definition of success I like most is a simple one which says it all. Its origin is unknown to me but it goes like this: “Success is getting up one more time than you fall.” Indeed, success does often come in that one last step or around one more corner. Success, then, is in the doing and not necessarily in what we get; it is the trying, not necessarily the triumph.

Everyday provides the hope and promise of a new opportunity and a fresh start. No one has ever won a race without leaving the starting gate. We are in a new year–have you left the starting gate yet to chase and conquer your aspirations? If not, what are you waiting for? It’s never too late to start or to complete a climb you previously started to victory.

Why not make 2019 the year something special happens for you and unleash your potential, whether that is returning to school, completing a course, writing an article, getting a new job, winning recognition, learning a new skill or making a change in lifestyle? You are the master of your destiny and must take responsibility for all that does or does not happen in your life. Yes, only you can make things happen for you, but first you’ve got to start, be determined, and then finish.

It took me twelve years on a part-time evening basis to complete my college education, undergraduate and graduate school. It was very challenging; I can remember at one particular point about halfway through I was about to quit. I was beginning to despair over how many more years it was going to take me to complete my education. I can recall lamenting to my advisor that if stayed in the program, l wouldn’t finish until I was 35. His response was so apropos and thought-provoking. He asked, “And how old will you be in six years if you don’t complete the program?” It then occurred to me that time was one thing over which we have no control: No matter what we do it is going to pass. We only have one life and time is a gift. While we may not be able to control its passage, we can control how we use it and what we do with it. For me. I know that I would prefer to look back over time, acknowledging my efforts, my failures and my successes, rather than to look back at effortless years full of fear of failure and missed opportunities.

Success is in all of us. It is a personal standard; it is reaching for the highest and best that is in us and becoming all that we can be. If we try and do our best, then we are a success. I say, aim for the moon and if you fall perhaps you’ll land on a star. Happy New Year!