Getting the Most from Your Rehab Travel Career

Part 1: Self Assessment

Designing Your Career Begins with Understanding YOU

Read any self-improvement book available and you’ll quickly find a great deal of the material is dedicated to understanding what in life is most important to you. It’s quite difficult to reach your expected destination without a map and clear milestones as your guides. In Part 1 of Getting the Most from your Rehab Travel Career, we’ll help you quickly assess your goals, wants, needs, special requirements, and the milestones that will help you stay on track.

This can be an extensive process, or an activity that takes just minutes, but it is critical to start with self discovery (and to revisit often) if your career will take the shape that you originally intended.

Self Discovery

Others define success in terms of the life their career enables, be it abundant leisure time, unforgettable experiences, financial freedoms, or happy and healthy families and friends.

You must develop your own understanding of who you are, what you want and what you have to offer. For example:

• What is most important to me in my life? (Money? Status? Relationships? Time? Personal Growth?)
• What type of lifestyle do I want?
• What type of work gives me energy vs. draining me?
• What do I want to spend each day doing?
• Who are the types of people I enjoy working with?
• What type of work environment is important to me?
• What types of work, people & experiences will I avoid?
• What are my talents?
• What do I do better than anyone else?
• Where am I lacking?
• What steps must I take to improve?
• Why have I chosen to work on a travel or local contract basis?

Defining Your Goals

It is also helpful to categorize your goals. Outline professional goals, personal goals, time frames for each, and think about how often you might revisit them.

Professional Goals

• What type of healthcare settings do I prefer?
• What assignment length is appealing to me?
• Am I willing to travel long distances or would I prefer to work locally?
• What skills would I like to acquire?

People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates. ~Thomas Szasz, “Personal Conduct,” The Second Sin, 1973 I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can’t find anybody who can tell me what they want. ~Mark Twain

Personal Goals

• Why am I working on contract? To maximize income to pay off debt? How much & by when?
• What is most important to me on my first assignment? To see the country? Test the waters before making a permanent move? Stay close to family & friends?
• Do I prefer to find a great assignment and stay there for the long term or is it important to me to move around?
• Will I travel year-round or only during specific times?
• What locations are important to me?

The only right answers to these questions are your answers. If the reasons for pursuing the career you’ve chosen aren't truly yours, then the life you create won't be yours either. Define your goals. By taking this step, you’ll be amazed at the clarity with which you can begin your career and chart your success.

Set Rough Deadlines

Organize your goals into categories such as:

• Assignment-Specific Goals
• 90 Day Goals
• 6 Month Goals
• 1 Year Goals
• 3 Year Goals
• 5 Years Goals

Rather than leave these vague references to time alone, pick some dates for each of them. There's tremendous power in attaching a deadline to a goal. Deadlines force you out of procrastination and into action. You’ve heard the saying 'If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would ever get done.' Setting deadlines helps you avoid operating in the last minute.

The One Thing

It’s time for you to design the life you want. It’s your turn to build a career that leverages your strengths and enables the pursuit of your goals and dreams. To do that you must find the one thing.

The one thing is the type of work or activity that defines you. It’s the one thing that may leave you physically exhausted, yet you just can’t get enough. The one thing energizes you, ignites your passions, delivers immense satisfaction, exhilarates your soul and leaves you feeling magnificent.

Define exactly what that is for yourself, build your plan, and pursue it without compromise.

Let's Get to Work

Whether your a Physical Therapist, Occupational Therapist, or Speech Language Pathologist, carefully considering your goals, primary needs, and big dreams is the first step to realizing them all.

Use this tool to get your plans down on paper and revisit it a couple times each year to make sure you're on track, or to think through some changing needs you may have.

MDI Medical has earned The Joint Commission's Gold Seal of ApprovalTM. Certification recognizes MDI Medical's dedication to providing rehab therapists that are qualified to provide safe, high-quality care to patients.