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The Light Needs the Darkness

Happy Holiday on this the longest night of the year, the Winter Solstice! Celebrated in the northern hemisphere marking the start of winter and the return of the light, this year is special. 2018 coincides with both a full moon AND a meteor shower! Darkness and light, each need the other. Extreme darkness allows the light to feel more precious, providing the setting for a single flame to illuminate the night. Without darkness, we cannot fully appreciate the importance of one small flame of Light. It’s the contrasts in our lives that provide the opportunities for growth and discovery.

As Christmas nears and the year ends, my hope for you is that you gift yourself quiet time to consider these 5 important questions. Brendon Burchard my coach and mentor, taught me to step back at the end of each year and ask yourself these thoughtful inquiries called “Five by Five”, give 5 answers to each of these 5 questions:

1. What 5 things I am grateful for in 2018? And 3 things I...

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The “5 x 5 Review”

Happy Holiday on this the longest night of the year, the Winter Solstice! Celebrated in the northern hemisphere marking the start of winter and the return of the light, this year is special. 2018 coincides with both a full moon AND a meteor shower! Darkness and light, each need the other. Extreme darkness allows the light to feel more precious, providing the setting for a single flame to illuminate the night. Without darkness, we cannot fully appreciate the importance of one small flame of Light. It’s the contrasts in our lives that provide the opportunities for growth and discovery.


As Christmas nears and the year ends, my hope for you is that you gift yourself quiet time to consider these 5 important questions. Brendon Burchard my coach and mentor, taught me to step back at the end of each year and ask yourself these thoughtful inquiries called “Five by Five”, give 5 answers to each of these 5 questions:

1. What 5 things I am grateful for in 2018? And 3 things I...

Continue Reading...

The Darkest Month, The Brightest Month

Hi everyone!

December is the darkest month of the year, when nights stretch to their longest, outpacing the daylight here in the Northern Hemisphere – yet, the very longest night, the Winter Solstice on the 21st, is also when the cycle shifts and the sun begins to reassert itself.

Helping the light along are the holidays of this season - Hanukkah, the festival of lights, and Christmas and the kindling flame of hope it brings to the faithful. It can’t be by accident that this long, dark night of a month is when we gather with those we love to share joy, merriment, and gifts – or that it so often leaves us feeling exhausted.

I always sally forth into dark December buoyed by high hopes; hopes of reconnecting with old friends, of sharing laughter and fun with family, and of finishing the year with a sense of accomplishment rather than regret. And there have been some years in which I actually achieved all of that – but other Decembers have seen me miss the...

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Are You a Player, or a Fan?

2018 fan hospice october player Nov 03, 2018

ARE YOU A PLAYER, OR A FAN?

Even in a year in which I’d stretched myself past what I thought were my limits, October was the most intense month of growth I could imagine. There were days I felt like my brain might actually explode (fortunately for those around me, it didn’t.)

My October quest began with a question; How is the world beyond hospice using new technology to get their messages out in powerful, meaningful ways? I began the journey at Mel Abraham’s Thought Leader Academy. Mel is a CPA who helps people from across the world put their special genius into a framework that’s simple to explain and share with others. With 35 years of hospice and leadership experience I realized the things that I know and take for granted are unique – and I’m learning to bring them to a broader audience. For an idea of what thought Frameworks can do, think of how the pyramid graphic makes Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs simple to understand.

 

Patti and...

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Leading In Chaos

Being a leader in uneventful times takes focus and attention. Leading in times of chaos is a whole different thing. Nowadays, organizations all over the country hone their readiness for emergencies with “disaster drills” that prepare them to function in all manner of catastrophes; calamitous weather events, onsite shooter drills, and multi-casualty incidents like train wrecks or plane crashes.

But I live in Florida, home of the hurricanes, and I’m not talking about the University of Miami mascot. I’m talking about Michael, and Irma, and Andrew; storms that have brought such widespread and stunning devastation that it is difficult to describe in words.

I know that every part of the country is afflicted with some kind of natural disaster - wildfires and earthquakes out West, tornadoes on the Great Plains, and Snowmageddon-sized blizzards in the North - but for me, hurricanes mean autumn in Florida – a far cry from beautifully colored leaves gently...

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Where Have All The Nurses Gone?

I’ve had a very busy summer consulting with hospices all across the US. In talking with administrators about their biggest worries, I heard one alarm sounded everywhere I went: Hospice is in the grip of a critical nursing shortage. Certainly, in some areas the problem is greater than in others, but make no mistake; recruiting the ideal experienced, compassionate, smart, flexible and dedicated hospice nurse (or social worker, for that matter) is more challenging by the day. As a board member of the University of Florida College of Nursing’s Alumni Council, I can tell you that the school cannot afford to admit more than 120 new undergraduates/year. The University of Delaware College of Nursing admits 136. Numbers like these will not begin to meet the burgeoning needs of the Baby Boomer generation as they age.

And it’s not just that new nurses aren’t entering the field at the rate we need them to; we’re losing those we have, nurses who are leaving the...

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On the Road Again and Again

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness” Mark Twain

How much time do you spend in planes, trains, cars and hotel rooms? I love traveling thanks in part to Mark Twain’s quote above. Getting to see my clients while traveling is the bonus!  Travel for work can feel like an endless sprint of stuffing suitcases and figuring out rental cars, bolting down airport meals and rejiggering your internal clock to match the time zone you’re in. As someone who spends a good chunk of her working life on the road, I’ve managed to come up with some useful strategies that take a lot of the stress out of constant travel, and I’d like to share them with you.

I keep a suitcase mostly packed and at the ready at all times. Mine contains a full, separate set of my makeup and other must-have beauty products, all in the regulation-sized bottles and jars. I keep a complete outfit of walking/workout clothes in there and a pair of running shoes,...

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Bad Bosses

Bad bosses - they’re the inspiration for movie comedies, great literature (Charles Dickens and Shakespeare wrote more than a few) and hilarious dinner party stories. But there’s nothing funny about having a bad boss, much less being one. Bad managers drive good employees away, undermine their workplace’s success, and cost their organizations in dollars and lost institutional knowledge when those disgruntled team members move on.

Good managers rally their employees to strive toward a common goal, grow loyalty for their organizations, and get – and retain - the best of the best even in a competitive labor market. We all know them when we see them – but what exactly are the qualities that separate great managers from failed ones?

I am a Predictive Index Talent Management provider and I help clients put the right people in the right seat on their bus. Predictive Index World Wide set out to answer the question definitively in This comprehensive new...

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Bad News

Are you distressed by the many negative news stories we’ve seen about hospice in recent days?  I certainly am.

            From the headlines last week in the Dallas Morning News -  Frisco hospice exec admits overdosing patients ‘to hasten their deaths’ and make more money- to the report out this week from the Office of the Inspector General, Vulnerabilities in the Medicare Hospice Program Affect Quality Care and Program Integrity: An OIG Portfolio, which focused on the very things that are, or are supposed to be the hallmarks of hospice care: pain management, patient AND family support, 27/7 care availability and provision of the 4 levels of hospice care. What did they find? That  “hospices do not always provide needed services to beneficiaries and sometimes provide poor quality care. In some cases, hospices were not able to effectively manage symptoms or...

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Flying Without a Net

What does pushing past our limits look like? At this moment in my life, it looks an awful lot like me, standing in the wings of the famous Improv Comedy Club in Los Angeles, waiting to go onstage. And no, I’m not joking – though believe me I will be, and with all my might, when the spotlight hits me.

            What in the world am I doing here!?

            Speaking in front of an audience is one thing. Doing standup is another thing entirely. Will I fly – or will I fall? Whichever it is, once it’s behind me, I know I’ll feel stronger for having done it, because that’s how it’s always worked in my life; every risk has brought some reward, even if it’s just a hard lesson and wisdom. And there are no rewards at all unless you are willing to go out on a limb – or in this case, a stage. The fact is, complacency...

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