How Healthcare Works, LLC

I really like having a schedule...a lot. One of my favorite assistants used to put my weekly schedule on my desk every Monday morning. I would arrive at work around 9:00 a.m. Before I even had my coffee at my desk, she had my schedule there ready to go. I never had to wonder or worry what was going on. And, if I changed my schedule during the week, she would put the updated schedule on my desk and take the old one away. That way, I wouldn't confuse the old schedule with the new schedule. I like schedules, structures, and routine a lot. It really helps me keep my life organized and planned. I often say that I like planning so much that I have a degree in planning. I am not a fan of pantsers or the pantser lifestyle. I think that it is simply unstructured behavior that others try to mask as spontaneity. It isn't spontaneity. It is disorganization. I really don't like waking up every day and someone telling me they don't know what their schedule is or not having any

I had these great plans laid out for Day 1 of the Billion Steps Challenge. I was going to walk to the park, take my dogs with me, record a video (which would be amazing, of course), get all of my steps done, then go home for a relaxing evening of reading and whatever else I decided to do. Okay, some of that happened, but not exactly in that order. First of all, I did take my dogs to the park. It looked really nice outside, because it was 50-some degrees here in Missouri. I was excited. The weather looked beautiful. When I went out to lunch, the wind picked up dramatically. I decided that was okay. It wasn't that big of a deal. I could still swing this. I could still walk with the dogs at the park. I had my smart watch all charged up and ready to go. I actually was ready to go to the park, dressed and with my shoes on at the time that I said I was going to go to the park. I had my dogs all ready to go to the park, too. Their leashes were on. I was set. They were set. I drove

As a young girl, I played softball for several years, tennis, volleyball, and I was in track. I tried out for the basketball team, but I quit after learning that in 6 on 6 style play for girls I wasn't allowed to run and dribble with the ball. I couldn't wrap my head around the idea that I could only take two steps and then had to pass the ball. In high school, I was a cheerleader. I only played intramural sports in college, until my senior year. That year, I tried out for the women's varsity soccer team and made the team as a walk-on. I thought that my whole experience trying out for the soccer team was a great example of believing in myself, knowing I deserved to succeed and setting up a plan for success. I should predecess this whole discussion by letting you know that I never played soccer before I tried out for the varsity team, other than in P.E. class in junior high and high school and pick-up games in the schoolyard. I grew up in the Midwest in the 1980s, and soc

Last summer, I read Rachel Hollis' book, "Girl, Stop Apologizing." I believe I have written about this book before, because I really liked the book. One of the chapters that caught me off guard and was rather surprising to me was "Girl, Clean Your House." The reason that surprised me was because the book was about empowering women and teaching them to be leaders. At first, I wondered what cleaning your house had to do with leadership. Rachel Hollis did a fairly decent job describing why having a clean house helps you become a leader. Recently, I went to visit a family member, and they told me, "My house isn't as clean as your mom's house." Well, I am here to tell you, not that many people's houses are clean as my mom's house was when I was growing up -- except maybe my sister-in-law's. But, I will talk more about that later. My own house isn't even as clean as my mom's house. It is what I call "company-ready-in-an-

I am about to tell you a secret. Turn off the television, put down your phone, close your other tabs, silence your alerts. Here it is. Do you know what the secret to success is? You don't? You should. Thought leaders around the country are telling you all the time. It's all over the internet. There are actually thousands of books and articles written about how other people became successful. If you are really paying attention, you will start to notice themes among these thought leaders and others that our society holds in "high success" status. One of those themes is that the successful people and thought leaders all express their gratitude for their lives. Expressing gratitude seems like it's easy to do, but for so many people it's difficult. They are distracted by all of the things about their lives that aren't exactly what they wanted or what it should be. Let's admit, too, that there are people who do have challenging lives. They have had to o

To me, an apology has three parts. They are as follows: 1. Say, "I'm sorry." I remember learning to say "I'm sorry" in elementary school. The students would have to apologize to whoever they did wrong. Then, the teacher would ask, "Now, what are you sorry for?" That's a tough question for an elementary school student. It's also a tough question for adults. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) calls the "what I'm sorry for" part, acknowledgment. That means you have to admit that you did something wrong. In addition, IHI states that you should offer an explanation for what you did. "That happened because I engaged in this behavior and/or because I made a mistake." The actual "I'm sorry" portion of the response is what IHI calls remorse. That means, that you feel bad that you hurt or injured or caused someone else some kind of discomfort. 2. Promising to do better in the future. To me, an apo

Another Week. Another Race. This makes my third 5K this summer, in case you are counting. You see, when I first embarked on this 5K journey, I was doing it to mark something off my Life List. In case you don't know what a Life List is, it's the same thing as a Bucket List. Instead of focusing on things to do before you die, however, it focuses on things to do to enrich your life. My life. Thus, it's my Life List. Anyone who knows me knows I can't just do something just to do it. I once had a friend tell me, "You can't be good at everything." My response was, "Yes, I can." Of course, I may not be good at everything, but I can try my best at it. That's what running the 5Ks is all about to me. Trying my best and pushing myself to see how much I can improve myself to reach my goal. Yes, I set a goal for myself for the 5K time that I have not reached yet.  I have this timestamp in my head that I want to see when I cross the finish line. Until I