This is the time of year we are making resolutions for the new year ahead. Most of the standard resolutions are related to our personal lives, but what about our work lives? What about professional resolutions for physical therapists? I believe having a goal helps to give us purpose, and can help to reinvigorate our passion for our work. So, PTs and PTAs out there, what are your professional resolutions?

I asked a bunch of therapists that I know and the answers were both varied and inspiring.

What is your professional/physical therapy resolution?

Many responses had to do with continued education and learning.

“…This year as part of my personal and professional growth I signed up for unlimited CEU access… It has allowed me to explore many areas that piqued my curiosity and that I have wanted to grow my knowledge base in. I will always be a lifelong learner and enjoy learning a little about everything.”

“… to learn a new specialty. I’ve been looking at the TPI certification for work with golfers”

“…to read more journals and/or watch more webinars. I have also considered the peds specialty exam…”

“… My goal is to take a running course because we are seeing an increased number of runners [at work].”

“…I will likely take an instructor course in nervous system regulation and neurofeedback to address trauma healing and autoimmunity issues.”

“… I started looking into specialty areas and plan to start to work toward my pelvic floor certification.”

Others are passionate about educating others and helping to develop the next generation of therapists.

“…I’m excited to work with students in acute care and want to optimize my skills toward that. I want to take the APTA level 1 CI certification course, and I’m planning to start having students this coming year and hope I get to have a couple of students over the course of the year.”

“…I love teaching and training new staff; I would love to have an education role in our field.”

Some are potentially looking to make a job change this year.

“…be open to new career opportunities.”

“…be open to a new opportunity. I love helping patients, but I’m feeling burnt out in this setting.”

Maybe you still want to help others but would like to explore roles outside of physical therapy. (If this is you, might I recommend The Non-Clinical PT.)

“…I use my [2^nd language] quite often in homecare and love being able to put patients at ease by explaining what the plan is in their language. I find that very rewarding and have often thought about medical interpretation.”

“…to promote my [side] business to the top level and help others do their Next Right Thing.”

“…I am interested in making some sort of intersection with developing adaptive equipment.”

Improving work/life balance is always important.

“…I would like to have more autonomy with my work schedule.”

“…to improve my time management and take less work home with me.”

Sometimes the focus is on developing personal skills that will help us professionally.

“…I want to improve communication for constructive feedback and difficult conversations and am reading Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, a book recommended by other APTA members, now towards that goal.”

My Professional Resolutions

In asking my friends and colleagues about theirs, many have asked me about my professional resolutions. Strange as it may seem, this was a difficult question for me to answer. Last year I made some drastic changes to my work life, not to mention starting this blog. As happy and satisfied as I have been with these changes, I feel like I am still settling into them and find it challenging to consider how to build on them. But there’s always room for growth, right?

Some of my goals mimic those of my peers; I always want to continue learning and growing as a therapist. More specifically, one of the three settings where I currently work is still relatively new to me; I hope to continue to develop my skills and confidence in this area. Also, I hope to continue to grow this blog and explore other writing opportunities.

Set Your Goals

Start brainstorming. What are your professional resolutions? What would you like to achieve this year?

If your end goal seems daunting, start by setting smaller goals that will help you to get there. We are all certainly familiar with the concept of short term goals leading to long term accomplishment! There is little more satisfying than achieving goals that you have set for yourself, especially if it takes hard work to get there. You can do this!