The Hope of Healthcare, Part 9 – The call of courage

Have you ever been challenged to do something every day for a period of time? Maybe it is to do some pushups every day for a month. Maybe it is to drink a quantity of water every day for a week. Truth be told, in the pharmacy, we often are challenging our patients to take an acute medication (like an antibiotic) for a few days or a chronic medication every day for an indefinite period of time. It is completely possible that you haven’t thought of it in these terms. I know it was not the way I used to think.

In the summer of 2017, I was introduced to an audio program called “The Strangest Secret” by Earl Nightingale. At the time it came with a challenge – listen to this program once a day for a month. I accepted that challenge and over the next 30 days, I listened to The Strangest Secret 27 times. I could feel my thinking change over the course of that month.

Since then, I recommend “The Strangest Secret” regularly and I even go back and listen to it again every so often. 

When I recently recommended “The Strangest Secret” to a client, I felt the need to go through the 30-day challenge again. I am so glad I did. Despite listening to this program 100+ times over the years, I was hearing things this time that I had never heard before. The program hadn’t changed at all. Instead, I had changed over the last six years and now new things were popping out for me.

One of the topics I have on my list for this Hope of Healthcare series is COURAGE. If things are going to change anywhere, we need the courage to step out and do something. That’s a straightforward thought. If you want to get somewhere you have never been, you will have to go somewhere you have never gone before. 

So, I have courage in my mental rotisserie of topics to present to you when I listen to this program. What stood out to me this time was a piece early on where Earl tells the listener that the opposite of courage is not cowardice.

The opposite of courage is conformity. 

Here is an idea that had been presented to me dozens of times before, but now, it was really standing out. And standing out because it is so true! And standing out because there is so much conformity all around us. 

It takes courage to step out and do something new. It does not take courage to do what everyone else does. 

As we consider the overall healthcare system, how much conformity do you observe?  Additionally, what kind of results do you see with that conformity? 

Many of us will see significant levels of conformity paired with significant levels of disappointment. We may see some areas which are comparatively better than others, but still fall short of an ideal expectation. 

Think of some of the innovations you have seen in pharmacy practice during your career. Each one required courage. Courage requires risk. And risk includes some possibility of failure. We know some of these innovations have failed. Some haven’t taken hold in the marketplace. Does that mean we should stop innovating? Absolutely not! We need courage all the more, especially as we look at the widespread results all around us. 

If pharmacists are to be the Hope of Healthcare, we must be alert to the conformities all around us and the results they deliver. Additionally, we must have the courage to explore new models, systems and services which deliver better results. Next time we will look at three different forms of courage we need to develop. Between now and then, I encourage you to consider your courage and conformity. Where do you fall on this continuum? What will it take to move one step closer to courage and away from conformity?

We will continue this conversation in my next post –

Until next time

Jesse McCullough, PharmD

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