Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast today. I'm talking all things nursing career opportunities and being opportune With potential pathways that are sitting right in front of you The reason I wanted to talk about this is recently I put out a post where I talked about How I got into being a clinical facilitator And I know a lot of people right now are looking for jobs that they can do that have flexibility that make a little bit more money Or a lot more money and allow you to have a bit more work life balance.

I think that's such a smart decision and clinical facilitation was one of those. Now whilst I'm not going to dive in too deeply into clinical facilitation, I really just wanted to create a short episode to help you really tune into. Exploring what is sitting right in front of you right now. So many of you are so stuck.

What do I do? Where do I go? What's possible for me? And you know the answer. When you jump on the calls with me, and I ask you, and I say, Hey, what would you do if there were no rules? What would you love to do? What are you most passionate about? What if people come to you and say, Hey, Liam, like, you're really great at X1Z, did you know that?

Or, what's the type of feedback that you get from your peers and the multidisciplinary team, your patients, the relatives? And when I ask those questions, and I say to people, I don't know is not allowed, because I don't know is your brain indulging in confusion, because when we're confused, we don't have to do jack shit.

Okay? So, we take I don't know off the table, and we allow ourselves to just... dream for a little second. We just play, curiously play and explore. What if I could do anything? What would I do? And miraculously, people come up with great ideas. And ironically, as I start working with people, and we start working towards their goals, and they join one of our programs, and we coach them, They make that come to reality.

Okay, without any extra qualifications, without any extra courses, without extra years of experience, we simply just allow them to see what is possible for them in their career. A lot of the stuff that we teach in our programs is common sense, but just because it's common sense and it's simple doesn't mean that it's easy and that people will do it, right?

Because we have a whole population of clinicians globally that are in jobs that they absolutely detest. If it was just as easy as just going out there and applying and getting a new job, wouldn't everybody be doing it? Okay, so I wanted to offer you just some ideas about how you can make your next role happen without needing to spend 10 grand on a friggin qualification, go and do a course that you don't want to do, or you know, spend another couple of years waiting for the right time or for somebody to leave or retire.

for you to be able to move forward in your nursing career. So I wanted to tell you this through a story. When I was working throughout my whole career, I've been quite opportune. I think being opportunistic is a hugely undervalued skill. As a clinician, I think a lot more of us, many more of us could really dive into being opportunistic in our careers.

I talk about this a lot with guests that come on that tell us about their career stories. And a lot of them, nine times out of ten, that have had really diverse, exciting, you know, different flavors, different international experiences within their careers. They have just been opportunistic. They've been, uh, I don't want to say in the right place at the right time.

They've like actively, most of them sought out opportunities and they've asked for what they want. How could it be true that maybe it could be as simple as just asking for what you want? And it makes complete sense that as clinicians, we don't do that. Because we've been trained to just, you know, follow instructions.

And do all the things, right? Like we're becoming more and more autonomous as a profession, which is incredible and it's amazing and it breaks my heart when people say we should not be degree trained because we should be degree trained for this exact reason, because it gives us status. It gives us the ability for us to be able to go out into the world and to be regarded as professionals in the medical world.

That's just how it works, right? So when we think about how we can navigate our careers and how we can go out there and. Create... Camille, I'm having a... You're going to have to cut that last part there because I'm having a mind blank, what I was even talking about?

I'm being opportunistic. So, let me tell you about a couple of times where I've just been opportunistic and it's resulted in a new position. So when I was first moved to Australia... No, let me start again Camille, sorry. So let me tell you about a time where I've been opportunistic. When I was working in my first job as a medical admission planning unit nurse in the UK, I was looking after a patient who was, uh, I didn't know, but their relative was the matron of ICU.

The matron of ICU. Imagine not knowing that, oh my god. Terrifying. So, um, once I found out, I was cacking my pants and I was like, oh my goodness, did I do all the things right? But she was absolutely lovely. And she said to me, hey, you know, I think you'd be a really great fit for ICU. Like, I've just watched you all day and you've just been, you know, really addressing people's needs and I was like, thank the lord, she, like, it was a good day.

Anyway. That was like moment one of me, of seeing how being opportunistic can really benefit me in my career. And I asked her a couple of questions and I was like really validated as a people pleasing, externally validated new graduate nurse. I was like, you see potential in me? Amazing! Like, please hire me!

And at that point in time I was like, well, when are you advertising? What's it look like? And she was like, yeah. We're advertising at the moment, you should apply. So I was opportunistic and I applied and I got the job and I made the move from medical admissions to ICU. And then a little bit later in my career, um, I was working in, um, advanced life support training role.

And I was kind of getting to that point of, yeah, what am I going to do? Like, how long can I really do this for? I enjoy it, but I feel like I want to have like a broader impact. And, um, I was always up on the wards and I saw that there was a opening for clinical nurse educator. So I just was opportunistic.

I'd never done it before. I didn't think that I could do it, like, amazingly. I just knew that I could add some value. And my brain was indulging on all of the drama. But I was just opportunistic again. And I spoke to the director of nursing, the num that was hiring. And I had all the fear, all the stress, all the worry.

But I went out there and I did it. And the result was that I got to interview and I got the job. And I was now the clinical nurse educator, and I got to build that team and do all of the things. Then whilst I was in that role, I had a coffee with my nurse unit manager at one point, and we were just having a chat about my growth and about the unit and the goals and the KPIs and all of the data, and I just slipped up the tongue and said, you know, if there's ever an opportunity to be a nurse unit manager, then I'm keen.

Keep me in mind. I'd love to walk under you, learn from you, grow for, grow with you, um, and to support the, the stream, the medical stream. And, you know, two days later, there's an opportunity. So the point here is, if people don't know, if you don't ask, people don't know, okay? So we kind of like can't sit there and indulge in these stories like, well, I'm never going to get what I want if we haven't explicitly asked for it.

We have to have these conversations. Now, a lot of you, your managers aren't asking you. They're not saying to you, Hey, like, where do you see yourself in a year? What do you want out of this job? How can I support you? So if they're not asking you, don't take that as like, well, you know, I'm stuck. Create it for yourself.

Empower your own journey. Nurse on your own terms. You have full control, full power over your career. No one is stuck. It's literally impossible to be stuck. Okay. We can be stuck in a dysregulated state. That's totally possible, but we're not physically stuck there. Okay. So when we think about like creating opportunity for ourselves, there are opportunities left, right, and center.

Sometimes we just have to be open to receiving them, open to asking for them, planting the seed, and then just watching that seed grow and bloom over time. And when the right time becomes available, they will come back to you. The world will come back to you. I'm a firm believer in like speaking it out loud, putting it out into the universe, right in conversation with your peer.

You don't have to be weird or like, you know, go out and like speak to the universe , but you do whatever that means to you. And you can put it out into the world, and then just watch it kind of boom around back to you in some way, shape, or form. That is what I've found to be true in my career, and it's quite fun to play with it, and to say it, and then to see it come to fruition.

Remember, when we think it, and we really believe it, and we create it in our brain ahead of time, that's literally, that's called a dream. That's what we call a dream. And we make it come to fruition in our results through how we feel and how we act. Right. So that was another opportunity where I then got a nurse unit manager acting position and I did that for a couple of months.

And then I was presented an opportunity through my university to go to Fiji and I was told to apply for a scholarship. I've never had a scholarship in my life and I applied and I got it. And I created another opportunity for myself to go and experience something really rich and culturally diverse and amazing for me personally and professionally.

All of these opportunities just came through me just being willing to bet on myself, just ever so slightly. I mean, I was terrified to go to Fiji. I mean, it's Fiji. Like, how could you be terrified? But I was. I was all up in my head about it. And I was so worried about, you know, all of the things. But I created opportunity.

I was willing to try. I was willing to have my own back. I had self confidence that regardless of what happens, I might make a complete fool of myself, but I have my own back. I'm willing to experience the mental and emotional experience and roller coaster that comes with trying something new. If you didn't listen to last week's episode, go and listen to last week's episode about changing specialties and what comes up when we change specialties.

It's the same thing when we create opportunities. It's change, so our brain resists it until we create safety for our brain to recognize that change is actually okay. Now I also, I put a post up about this recently, which was becoming a clinical nurse educator. I was working as a nurse unit manager, and I was very opportunistic, and I was looking for like, some part time after work.

After hours work. I mean, crazy. I was working full time. It was ridiculous to think at the time, but this is what I did. And I wanted to go out there and create some more income on the side, because we had some like, holidays and stuff we wanted to do. So I was willing to go and do some evening facilitation work, support some students, do some marking.

Um, and at this point, I had my master's so I was kind of like eligible and I'd done some facilitation work. But it doesn't mean to say that if you have all, you don't have all of those things that you can't put yourself out there. Stranger things have happened, my friend. Okay, just bits of paper. So don't wait for the bit of paper to ask for permission to create the opportunity for yourself.

Go and create it. So I emailed the head of, deputy head of school and I used my network. I planted the seed with a couple of people and then I emailed them and had a quick coffee. Um, in my actual hospital where I worked, a little naughty, had a coffee, and they were like, Yo, like, what's your goal moving forward?

Like, they were talking like PhDs, they were talking lecturer pathways, and I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, like, I'm just kind of looking for some extra work, but Just through me being curious about what was available, I allowed myself potentially like three, four different career pathway options. Now, I got to sit there and experience it and be like, okay, like, am I interested in a PhD?

Do I want to become a lecturer? Do I like the idea of that? What if there's just some facilitation work or some marking work? And turns out that they had a role for, um, I think it was four days a week I did it. Which was lovely, by the way. Four days a week as a clinical nurse facilitator, um, supporting students on placement for three months in New South Wales and I got to drive, and I got to drive up to, um, Wollongong Hospital and some, like, rural hospitals that I've never been to before.

Got to meet different people, hear about different, um, healthcare systems. It was fascinating. And I would not have created that opportunity for myself if I didn't just ask. Okay, so sometimes the simplest of things are not easy. But it's the answer. I recently had a beautiful, amazing human, um, um, email me and say, Liam, this is my situation, and I just don't know what to do.

And I was like, you were offered a job. Like, what if you just go back to them and say, Hey, like, is the job still available? Maybe that will work, right? And like, maybe you don't need me. I'm all about people not needing me. Like, if I can help you solve the problem in the simplest way, shape or form, let's go.

Let's take that pathway if it aligns with you. So, I wanted to record this just to show you that In being opportunable, we create opportunities for ourselves. I mean, that's, that's obvious, right? But so many of you are so stuck in fear and worry about asking the simple questions that we need to ask to be able to get us forward in our career.

It could even be as simple as like, I really don't want to build my career, but I need to go down to four days a week. If you don't ask, your manager's never going to know. So create an environment for yourself where you make it safe to ask regardless of what the result is. I think so many of us are so worried about feeling the shame, the embarrassment, the emotion that comes with asking, because what if we don't get the result?

Or what if you do get the result? Is it worth experiencing shame and embarrassment? I would say yes, I would say anything that I've gone after that's been bigger than where I currently am, like quote unquote bigger, like more exciting, you know, diverse, a higher level position, even in my business, the more that I build my business and build capacity to receive in my business.

I always have these emotions that want to keep me stuck. They want to keep me in this dysregulated place where I'm like, I can't do this, it's not for me. But am I willing to experience the discomfort of those emotions to get the result that I want? And like I said earlier, simple doesn't mean that you're going to do it.

So many of you, even listening to this podcast, 140 episodes, you still won't take that next step. And that's okay. Maybe now is not the right time for you. But we can acknowledge that it is simple in its nature. In order for us to get from A to B, it is very simple. But just because it's simple doesn't make it easy.

Okay, especially if we've been in a state of chronic fight or flight, we've been experiencing lots of burnout, some compassion fatigue, our nervous system is frazzled and fried. It makes complete sense that even doing the simplest of things can be really, really challenging. So if that resonates with you, if that sounds like you, come and have a chat with me, book a free call.

I'd love to chat and connect with you. But if you're somebody that's like, oh, you know what? I, I just feel the nudge to just go and ask the question. Ask it, and let me know how you go. See what opportunities you can create for yourself. Get creative. Explore. They don't even have to be explicitly right in front of you.

If you really want to be a clinical facilitator, for example, and you're not in a facilitation job right now, what's the harm in calling the uni? What's the harm in speaking to the TAFE, asking the question, planting the seed, sending your resume? Seriously, if more people did this, we'd have more people in aligned jobs that they actually enjoy, that they want to do.

And it really, truly can be that simple for some of you. Okay, for those that do it, let me know and I'll see you next week.