Finding Your Personal Challenge @ HIMSS11

I had an interesting dream a couple weeks ago—bare with me here, this story will have a point—where I was speaking in Spanish.

I took Spanish classes growing up, but had never pursued learning or applying it beyond that. When I woke up from this particular dream, I clearly remembered asking a store clerk “¿Tienes galletas?” (Do you have cookies?) This was followed by me arguing, in Spanish, about how much change I should receive after purchasing said cookies.  

Ridiculous? Yes. But it really made me think. My brain was holding onto this knowledge that I was certainly not applying, even after all this time. Didn’t I owe it to myself to take advantage of this knowledge base—and add to it? Challenge myself? Having that dream was a “call to action” for me, and earlier this week, I signed up for some continuing education Spanish classes at a local community center.  

As we come up to our HIMSS11 annual conference, I hope you are thinking about stretching your brain and really taking a hard look at the 300+ education sessions. What skills or knowledge do you have that need to be amplified?

I encourage you to find sessions that really challenge your thinking (consider attending a roundtable session) or allow you to develop in your career. Check out the career development sessions here. Making connections with colleagues at networking events is another tried-and-true way to find people who you can learn from, and in turn, impart your knowledge upon.  

I’d love to hear either 1) what drove you to sign up for the conference this year…your “call to action”… or 2) what session(s) you’re most geeked about attending that will allow you to be challenged.