It's important to take time to identify proud moments in your career. 

This was the simple question I was asked before I started working for RPI. I remember thinking to myself, “What a nice perk.”  I didn’t think much of it and chose a PC (the wrong decision, according to most of my co-workers). 

Yet over the last year, I realized that question wasn’t a nice perk at all. It was something so much more significant.

That question represents a core part of RPI’s culture. We are individuals. We have preferences and want different things from life and our careers.

We are unified in our desire to build healthier and happier communities, our quest for clinical excellence, and our support for each other. Yet we are individuals, and how we accomplish that, looks different from person to person.  

Some want a variety of patients, some want to treat all endurance athletes, some want to see the aging population, and others want to treat specific conditions.

Some want to work long days and have a day off, others want...

People often wonder why we're so excited to go to work everyday. Is it the paycheck? Is it the variety in what we get to do? Or, is it something else?

Phil:  Jenna, I want to talk about enjoying your career, enjoying going to work.  A lot of people look at us and they're like, Hey, you guys seem excited to go to work every day.  What is it that you enjoy. What makes you enjoy work every day?

Jenna:  Yeah.  So for me, it's people and it's always come down to people like throughout my career, but even like having jobs in high school and stuff.  If I liked who I was working with and who I got to interact with then I was happy.  So for me, I love my coworkers, so I look forward to seeing them every day.  And then I love my patients and who I get to work with.  Then you add in like a lot of the other like side things that I get to do.  And in all those instances, I really enjoy the people.  So I think it comes down to like...

Do you have this key thing in your PT career?

How do you become a continuing education instructor? This is the second video in a 2-part series where we explore the steps necessary to becoming a continuing education instructor.

How do you become a continuing education instructor? (part 1)

Many of us come up in the field wanting to make an impact. We see leaders from the time we are students and want to someday become one. But how does that happen? Is there something we can do?

Stress is not always a bad thing. There are instances when using energy can actually give you more energy. Stress may not always be something to run from.

Phil:  All right, Jenna, I want to talk about good stress versus bad stress, good exhaustion versus bad exhaustion. You taught a continuing education course this weekend, which is one of your dream career goals. And it was a lot of stress leading up to it. A lot of stress in the weekend and left you completely exhausted. Tell me how that can be a good thing.

Jenna: So it's definitely a different kind of stress when you think about it, because yes, I felt stressed, but it was easier for me to reframe it as like excitement and nerves versus like feeling like I'm actually exhausted or like I'm getting burnt out because you know, all week I practiced and I practiced and it was like every minute that I had to think about anything, I was thinking about the course that was leading up, right? And that can feel stressful, but...

How do you find your area of passion and expertise in physical therapy? When you're a new PT or trying to find your place, is there anything that can help you figure it out?

Jenna: Okay, Phil so how do you find your biggest passion or area of passion within physical therapy? So when I think of you, I automatically think of injury reduction. I think of movement. I think of a lot of different things that you're very well known for and that you're super passionate about. And I struggled with this early on of like, how do you find your thing, I guess you could say. And I feel like a lot of PT students ask like, how do you find your thing? So I guess my question is, how do you find that area that you're most passionate about?

Phil: Yeah, I think that this took me a while to fully understand. I think we have it backwards.
I think we have it such that find your passion and then follow it. I think the advice actually should be
go do a bunch of stuff and you will find your...

Where are all the older PTs? This question made me laugh and I gave a few ideas, but I am not sure I know the answer. I am curious what everyone thinks?

Phil