Are You Applauding Only Your Success as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant?
I’m a huge fan of Cirque du Soleil and have seen most of their shows. They do everything so well – costumes, acrobatics, acts, clowns and music. I always come away awed at their creativity and reminded of the importance of striving for excellence in business. In one show the aerial acrobatics surpassed anything I had ever seen.
The distances the performers cover are some of the most difficult in the world. It opens with three very muscular, costumed men standing on a center platform suspended high in the air near the middle top of their “Grand Chapiteau” tent. On opposite sides of the middle platform, and equally high, there were more platforms, each of which held three additional men for a total of nine. Hanging beneath each of the side platforms was a metal swing onto which one of the very muscular men quickly climbed down and began swinging back and forth.
All of this is taking place much higher in the air than I’d ever willingly climb. In fact, to get to these platforms the men had to go up small rope ladders that twisted and turned as they climbed. That climb alone would have scared me half to death.
The act quickly continued with the men on the swings being joined by another, slightly smaller but still muscular (I notice these things) man. The bigger man started swinging harder and harder to the point that it seemed the swing was about to go all the way around. At the apogee of the frontward movement, the smaller man suddenly leapt into the air, sailing toward the men on the center platform. He twisted in the air like a high diver completing at least one twisting somersault, landing feet-first in a basket formed by the interlinked hands of two of the men waiting there for him.
The man on the swing would build his momentum again, this time hanging upside down from the swing by his ankles and, just before he reached the closest point in his arc to the platform, the flying man would leap (with a boost from the “catchers”) out into space and catch the hands of the man on the swing. I held my breath with each leap of faith.
Soon, four flying men were taking turns launching themselves into space and landing on that tiny center platform. The audience would hold their breath while the men were in the air and after each accomplishment we’d cheer and clap at their daring.
The acrobats seemed to take this as a stimulus to challenge each other to attempt more and more daring feats of twisting, turning aerial acrobatics. The combination of strength, physical ability, control over their bodies, derring-do and apparent lack of fear was mind boggling and I was clapping and cheering just a loudly as everyone else.
Suddenly, one of the acrobats mistimed his jump and missed the outstretched hands of the man on the swing by what must have been only inches. We all gasped as he fell into the safety net far below. He landed, leaped up (just like a guy) and was climbing back up the rope ladder as quickly as he could.
As he climbed, the audience erupted into louder shouts and cheers, not just for the audacity of what he attempted, but for the fact that he went right back up to do it again.
In your legal nurse consulting business, are you celebrating or cheering only your successes? Or, do you take the time to celebrate going for what you want, regardless of the outcome? In business, sports and acrobatics there is no 100% success rate, no guarantee that each time you’ll meet with perfect results.
I’m always one for celebrating and remembering encores of past successes. Likewise, it’s important to reward yourself for trying something daring like speaking at a legal conference, or even less than daring like calling that attorney-prospect referred to you or offering a new CLNC® service to your current attorney-clients.
If you only celebrate success, you’ll certainly have plenty of rewards, but remember to also acknowledge your failures because without attempts you’ll never have successes. Get out today and take your best shot. If you step out to fly and instead tumble to the ground, celebrate anyway!
The more you celebrate the unsuccessful attempts, the more you are wired for stepping out without reservation. You have to step out before you can fly high as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant. Celebrate stepping out today and every day.
LegalNurse.com is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
The National Alliance of Certified Legal Nurse Consultants (NACLNC®) is the largest and oldest association of legal nurse consultants.
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*The opinions and statements made by Vickie Milazzo, the founder of Medical-Legal Consulting Institute, Inc. are based on her experiences and expertise, should not be applied beyond the specific context provided, and do not guaranty or project actual results. Vickie Milazzo is no longer involved in the operations or management of the business, but is involved as an independent education consultant.
