Gratitude

Someone recently introduced me to the book "Simple Abundance" and what a change it is making in my life. I thought it was worth sharing here. It's really a quite simple thing, that is to begin our day thinking about what we are thankful for. What abundance do we have in our lives that make them good? And it encourages that you keep a journal. I began thinking I'd just read it and wouldn't that be nice, maybe I could gain some pointers. What I have found is that this process can be life changing. This last week, I began to wonder how to take those same principles and apply them to our association. What can be be thankful about here? It is so easy sometimes to focus on the things we don't like instead of the ones we do. So, take a walk with me and let's chat about that.

Take a look around you and see what things you are thankful for in your life. Now, take that view to this association. I want to share some of my "list" with you.

I first am thankful for those early pioneers in AHDI who had a vision that MTs needed their own professional association. If you ever have the chance to read those early newsletters, do it! You will see a passion and drive and led to the establishment of our organization.

I am thankful for our board of directors. They are dedicated volunteers who give a LOT of their time to this association. And you know what? They are a talented group as well. I had a chance recently to read something that Susan Lucci wrote. Wow, that woman has some talent. And she freely uses it to represent us. I watch what Betty is going with military spouses and it does more than just touch my heart; her passion for that endeavor is so obvious it makes others just want to jump in and get involved. As I watched Cathy at this year's ACE, I was proud to call her the president of MY association. I found it easy to point to each and every single member and say "look what they bring in their individual talents and expertise" and be thankful for that group.

I am thankful that one day many years ago there were MTs in this association who chose to be a mentor to me. I was so green when I came into leadership in AAMT. And there were days when I was like a bull in a china closet. And yet, I had great folks who were willing to teach and guide and sometimes redirect me along the way. I am thankful that people like Brenda Hurley and Pat Forbis were willing to teach me about speaking and leadership. I am grateful for the wonderful editing skills of Claudia Tessier, who taught me more about writing than I could have ever learned in a school and did it with kindness and a willingness to teach. I am thankful for Bonnie Monico who taught me that the cup is always half full and life is better if you learn to look at the positive. And I could go on and on...

I am sure thankful for our staff. Anyone who meets Peter Preziosi knows he is full of passion about our industry. Look at our publications and what Lea has done with them. She has brought a level of professionalism to them that we can be really proud of. And goodness knows as your speaker, I couldn't get everything done without the support I have had from Gigi. And then there are all the folks in the office, people we often don't even hear about, and yet they are there, working for us, working to provide the services we want and need, and they ALL care. What a group.

I am thankful that I have had the opportunities in leadership with AHDI. I have gained so much by becoming involved with this association, more than I could ever give back. And it has led to other opportunities in life and in my profession. I recently had a student ask me "well, how would you articulate to others why AHDI is important?" I stopped and thought about all the things I have had in my life and realized it was so easy to explain that one. I have made contacts that have led to changes in my life, from meeting people in Washington, DC, to writing a book. And yes, I DO credit those things to my involvement here. And I had the opportunity to be your first ever speaker. What an honor you all bestowed on me with that one. We are making historical changes and I can be a part of that!

I am also really thankful for the opportunity to work with students in our profession. They remind me daily of the passion of entering this profession. They constantly keep me on my toes, and they never cease to amaze me. I recently stood in a room with 100 brand new MT students. As I looked out at their expectant faces and we talked about the industry, I was touched almost to tears. One of them said "I can't even imagine the future yet" and I said, "I know you can't. But I CAN and I am so excited for you!"

Now, what about you? What is it that YOU are thankful for with AHDI? What things have made a difference in your life? I look forward to hearing from you!

Okay, so now what?!

Today I had an email from an MT who said, great, so we're supposed to be engaged. So how does one get that way? A GOOD question. It's easy to say "well, just let the naysayers do their thing and focus on the ones who really want to do something," but I don't think that's the answer. Okay, folks, this one is long. So go grab your coffee or whatever you'd like, and sit back because it may take you a bit to get through this one.

Can you remember when you first started in this profession? I sometimes forget those days myself, and now that I am working with students on a daily basis I am constantly reminded. And with that reminder comes the reminder of the passion I have for what I do. I don't think we are engaged unless we are passionate about something.

If you haven't ever read the book "Halftime," I suggest you look into it. It speaks of how we spend the first half of our careers seeking success. We strive to become successful in our chosen profession. For some, that means making that line count that you've been struggling with for awhile. For others, it means getting involved in your professional association, maybe taking your CMT exam, perhaps getting that promotion you've worked so hard for. In AHDI, I believe that sometimes means that we begin as a member, just checking things out. Then perhaps we get involved in a local level, run for an office, serve there. From that, people often move on to their state associations. And some day, just maybe, you decide to run for delegate or even for the AHDI Board of Directors. For others, once you get into that office on a local or state level, you stay there forever. You love it, life is good. And then there comes a point where maybe something happens that we don't like, someone makes a decision we disagree with, or even we just simply get tired because we've been doing it way too long. And sometimes it's just that we have tried to take on so much ("nobody else will do it if I don't") that we can't do any of it well and when we fail (because, you know, MTs ARE perfectionists), we beat up on ourselves so much that we just give up. And, as we all know, tired people are often burnt out people. It happens in our lives in general, it happens in our work, and it even happens in our association.

The second part of the "Halftime" book speaks about the second half of our professional lives, the part after halftime if you will. In that part, what we seek is significance. When I first heard that word, I thought, no, no, I don't want to be significant! I've tried to be humble in my life and that word at first meant to me that I wanted to be important. But that's not what it means. It means we seek things to be involved in where we can make a difference. Things that matter. In doing that, we find renewed strength and energy, and yes, we can even find that passion again.

I have seen that in my personal life. A year ago, I was primarily managing production in my role at my job. It was okay, I had a great team, and I loved the people. Yet, was it truly making a difference? Well, yes, because I believe we created something great and a good place for MTs and I have always felt that was important. And yet, it began to feel like it wasn't all that it could be. And then we began our training program. At first, I must say, I resisted being totally immersed in training because it meant not being immersed in production. I thought I could just do both, after all, you do know I have that big red S tattoo'd on my chest, right? :) As we began to grow, it was at times painfully clear that it just wasn't possible to do both and that it was time to make some choices. And so now I am totaly involved in our training program. I have to tell you, I love it. Not only is it a great thing to be involved in, I see every single day how that program makes a difference in people's lives. I see military spouses, sometimes for the first time, truly feeling like they have a chance to have a real profession and not have to change jobs every time they get transferred. I see single moms believing they have a shot at making a difference for their children. I see them come in full of confidence, sure they can do this, and then they get that first "real" dictation and they think they have possibly made the worst mistake of their lives. And two days later, I hear that smile in their voice when they realize they have transcribed an entire day and didn't shed one tear and only left one or two blanks. THAT is significant! And that fires me up!

So what about within AHDI? I've always loved our association. I've been pretty involved, and I believe I have received more than I could possibly give back. Those who know me well would also know that in 1998 when I was president I was pretty sure that we didn't need a House of Delegates. I felt we were spinning our wheels and perhaps it was enough of a good thing. I was, simply put, not engaged in what the HOD was all about. Two years ago when the discussions began in the HOD about changing things and shifting focus, I remember seeing a spark of hope that this could be a real answer. Last year when I was approached about running for the Speaker of the HOD position, my first reaction was absolutely not. I couldn't do that, I had no time, and while I hoped it would make a difference, how could I be sure? What I did do was work on the committee that was talking about all of the restructuring of our organization. And what I saw was pretty exciting. And I did run for this role, and you elected me. This year's HOD was perhaps one of the most exciting ones I have ever been present for. If you weren't there, I'm sorry you missed it. The energy that came out of that room was amazing. There were passionate people, AHDI board, delegates, leaders, members, all of us together, working on a solid plan to really address what's important. Our celebration of leadership luncheon was simply a time to recognize all that each person has done and to say thanks, to recognize that it does take all of us, and to talk about how we can all begin to plan to pass that torch of leadership to someone else. If you were there, you know I spent most of that time with tears in my eyes.

So what do you do with all of this? First, think about what you're passionate about. And then, get involved in THAT project! Does that mean we will all agree? Absolutely not. None of us will always agree with every decision that is made, whether it is made by the AHDI board or the HOD, or even our own local and state leadership. I believe we need to come to an agreement to disagree sometimes and say that is OKAY. Find your passion and work in that area. Don't put yourself in positions that you really aren't passionate about just because "no one else will do it." Stop trying to do it all. Seek out those newbies in your area, get to know them, believe me, they will remind you of what it's like to be new and excited. And then, take them by the hand and mentor them. THAT makes a difference.

We are in the process of planning next year's committees and task forces. So, if you're not sure what's out there and want to explore those things so you can determine where you'd like to play, then let me know! There is a LOT to do and we can only do it together.

Kathy

Are You Engaged?

We often hear that we need more members in our association. I happen to be one who thinks that what we really need are more ENGAGED members, not just numbers. Sure, numbers are important when you go to the Hill in Washington, DC, and yes, that does count. And yet, without those members being engaged, it's pretty hard to meet the objectives that an organization sets.

I wasn't always an engaged member. Many of you who know me have heard my early stories in our association. My first meeting was a disaster and I let my membership lapse for awhile. And yet, I'm here and I continue to be here now. Why is that? I believe it is, simply, because I stayed engaged.

Our MT training program at work has a brand new AHDI chapter, the first one to receive official recognition in that category. I had a meeting last week with the officers before their first official chapter meeting after receiving their recognition. Like most students, they were so very excited about the possibilities for the future. As they planned for their upcoming meeting, they said, "we have to be able to articulate the value of being involved and being a member of AHDI and of this chapter. How do we do that?" Now, these "kids" are brand new to our world, still in school, and brand new AHDI members. They have no idea yet of what benefits might be out there for them or others. They just know that it's the organization for the profession they intend to join in the near future. They asked me, "Why do you think it's important? What has it done for you?" Wow, it's been awhile since I really sat and articulated that. I thought perhaps it was a good thing to share here with you.

As we talked, I asked myself how my life would have been different had AHDI/AAMT not been a part of my life. For me, it was an eye opener. In the early 1990s, I rejoined the association, took my CMT exam (purely because I thought it would look cool on my business cards), and went back to my second annual meeting eventually. At some point, I became fascinated with our legislative process and so I volunteered to serve on that task force, really because I thought it would be a learning experience. It was. As a result of that, I was able to participate in some of the meetings when the HIPAA privacy rule was being written, and I actually got to draft the association response to that original proposed rule. I also had the opportunity to meet and work with Bill Braithwaite, who was one of the primary authors of that rule. Stay with me, there IS a point here! Another person I met one time at an AAMT meeting was Julie Stegman. She is a publisher with Lippincott. Julie and I became friends as we saw each other at different meetings. Eventually, the rule was published, and I began to do presentations on it. I realized the more I talked about it that we really didn't have anything that was a guide about the privacy rule and medical transcription and thus a dream was born in my head. I remember clearly standing outside with Julie Stegman at a Florida state AAMT meeting and talking to her about how I would really like to write that book so that MTs would have that tool to help them understand a little more about HIPAA. I was fortunate. Julie caught my dream and believed in it. And when the book was published, one of the forewards was written by Bill Braithwaite. That may not mean much to someone who doesn't know who he is, but for me, it was a huge recognition and honor. I do not believe any of those things would have come to pass in my life had I not been engaged in this association.

The other thing I really love doing now is public speaking. That's funny because I have three bad grades on my college transcript. One of them is an F in typing (never could make that 7:30 a.m. class!), one is an F in Sign Language (following which I taught American Sign Language at the university for 10 years, and the third is a D in speech. I got that D because in a class of 15-20 people I found it impossible to stand up and speak in front of a group. In one of the earliest AHDI meetings I attended, I went to a session where Pat Forbis and Brenda Hurley were presenting together. To this day, I can recall how I felt. I was in awe of them and their ability to do presentations. I secretly wished I could do that some day, and yet knew I never could, after all, I had a D in speech in college. Through the association, I learned things that college class couldn't teach me and there it was a highlight in my professional life to later go "on the road" with a leadership conference with Pat and Brenda and the three of us presented together. The year I was AAMT President (1998), we had approximately 800 people at the business meeting breakfast. I will never forget the look on my mother's face after I gave my President's address. She said "wow, I never would have thought you could stand up in front of all of these people and do that. I'm proud of you." Another precious memory for me, particularly now that she is gone. And again, things that happened because i was engaged. Today, I am preparing to begin the Academy of Professional Speaking, with an eventual goal of becoming a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP)one day. Again, had I not been engaged here, I would never have thought of that.

Yes, it DOES make a difference if you are an engaged member. And so how about it? Are you engaged? And if not, why not? How do we move toward more engaged members? It is an idea I hope we can explore as we move to all of the new initiatives we recently created.

Balance

Balance, that's a word I strive every single to day put into my life and it seems to be the ever elusive goal. It always seems just out of reach, and it seems I am always saying "When this is done, I will work on balance in my life." And somehow, it seems that elusive balance never comes.

So what does it mean to be "balanced" anyway? I've been reading an interesting book about life and it actually says that balance isn't something we can achieve in our lives. It speaks about life being about "balancing" and that our lives won't ever be perfectly balanced. If you think about that, it does make sense. It seems there are just times when things seem to be in sync and other times when work or family or something else (and yes, sometimes, that is our volunteer work) take so much time that we feel out of balance once again. And so, it IS about balancing.

I do believe life should be about setting priorities. And then balancing those against the needs and goals of the day. And so, for today, I am giving up that journey to find balance and simply focusing on balancing all that's on my plate. At the very least, I won't be so frustrated about the lack of balance!

Random Acts of Kindness

Several years ago, I saw a show on Oprah (yes, I did watch her from time to time) where she spoke about random acts of kindness. What does that mean? Just simply doing something for someone else for no particular reason. I loved the idea.

I was on the AAMT (now AHDI) board at the time and we met three times a year in Modesto. That meant toll bridges in and out of San Francisco. I began to always pay for the person behind me. It didn't matter what bridge, who was behind me, and they, of course, never knew who I was or why I would have done that. It always gave me a great feeling. There really aren't toll bridges in North Carolina so there's not much opportunity for that. I did find myself repeating the act when in Colorado a few months ago on the toll road out of the Denver airport. You know the thing about random acts of kindness is that they always make you feel so darned good.

Tonight I found myself in Wal-Mart. Now, that is never my favorite place to be, especially when it comes check out time. The lines are always long, the people in front of me always have a TON of stuff in their basket, and I am almost always tired. And so it was tonight. As I stood there, a bottle fell out of my cart. The man behind me picked it up for me, and I noticed he only had two things in his hand. And so I asked if he would like to just go ahead of me. He was so pleased and it was just a simple thing that made me feel good as well. And you know, all of a sudden standing in line in Wal-Mart wasn't quite as bad as usual.

Sometimes I think the practice of random acts of kindness is a lost art these days. Where could you do that in your life? I challenge you to just give it a try and see how one simple random act of kindness changes your outlook on your day!

Eternally Optimistic

Sometimes I think we just get too serious in life. Sure, with the profession we are in, it's a necessity. And yet, what is it that really makes you happy? What goals do you have for your life that you spend time saying "some day I'll..."? It's important to take the time to look for those things and enjoy them in our lives.

For me, one of those things is Turbo. I thought I'd take the opportunity to introduce him to all of you. He's been a part of life in the Rockel house now for four years, coming to me when he was a little over two years old. Turbo was in a rescue mission. I had a dog before him, lost that one, and was looking for a new one. The day I walked into his foster mom's house, I knew he was coming home with me. You see, he looks exactly like Bailey, my first one. And yet, his personality is nothing like Bailey is. Turbo is part Chow and part Golden Retriever. That gives him all of the protectiveness of the Chow and all of the loving sweetness of the Golden Retriever. He believes it is his job to protect our home, and he does it quite well. He also has such a personality that he's just plain funny sometimes.

If you have a pet, you know that we learn lessons from our animals. Turbo has taught me a lot about being eternally optimistic. One of his favorite pasttimes is chasing the squirrels that live in our back yard. We have some storage buildings out back, and they probably have 4-5" beneath them as they sit on blocks. In the spring, it's not uncommon for him to come in covered from head to toe with mud because that squirrel has run under the building and he's gone in after him. And yes, he always gets stuck because he just doesn't fit under those buildings. But you know what? He still EVERY single time believes he WILL get that squirrel, even though he's never caught one (thank goodness!). It's the same thing when I get ready to leave the house. He's always there at the front door, anxiously waiting to see if this time he will get to put his leash on and go for a ride in the car. He loves that. And even when he goes very rarely, he's still there. He is, eternally optimistic, that THIS time will be the one time he will get what he desires.

What if we operated our lives like this? What if we always believed that THIS time whatever we were trying would succeed? I suspect our lives would be quite different. I imagine we would also be happier. I was struck by a speaker I heard not too long ago who asked the question "What would you do if you knew you could not fail?" If we always believed we would succeed, we would step out and do that one thing! What is it for YOU that you'd do if you were eternally optimistic? And what's stopping you from giving it a shot?

A Blank Page!

I love blank pages. They have so much potential to simply create whatever you want them to be. In many ways, our lives are like a blank page. We DO have the power to choose what we want in life, how it looks, what we do, how we think, our attitude. You see, I do believe life is all about choices.

As I thought of starting a blog, I realized it's an opportunity for blank pages to simply be filled up. Thoughts, ideas, anything I wanted it to be. And so here it is.

As I sit here in my house in Greensboro, North Carolina, I have a list of things I plan to write about and share. I am hoping those who read it will enjoy some of it and will share their comments. For now, on this holiday weekend, Turbo is simply insisting that I move away from this computer and spend some time entertaining him. And so, I'm off, to things of great importance and which always make me smile! Stay tuned, there is more to come.