Do You Have Energy Suckers in Your Life?
Boy I sure do and this week has been full of them. What’s an energy sucker? It’s a person, or even an entity, that simply drains the life out of you. It’s because they are negative, maybe antagonistic, sometimes even hurtful. It’s the person who constantly criticizes. It’s someone who may try to undermine the things you’re doing. It could even be that organization you try to participate in only to find yourself with one huge headache at the end of the day from constantly hitting a brick wall. What’s consistent is that your interaction with them simply has the ability to pull you down and drain the energy right out of you.
It’s a busy time around here right now. As you guys know, we’re working really fast and hard to get the courses ready to go on the electronic health record workforce training. It’s an exciting project and one that will bring value for folks. And yes, as astounding as it may be to some, it’s also a revenue generator for the business I have.
Just this past week, one of the popular bloggers I follow set up a workshop for people about the new Google+. He’s spent a lot of time on it already and simply felt he had some things to offer that would help others understand how to use it better. He’s a guy who gives away a lot of great information on his blogs, all for free. However, for this workshop, he set a fee. It was sad to watch many in the online world tear into him for daring to charge a fee. It seems someone did the math and figured out just how much he could make if he had 1,000 attendees (he does have a really large audience). I watched the fray with some amusement, wondering how someone can really take another to task for figuring a way to earn a living doing what they do. Well, it was amusing until I realized that we often have that very same thought process in our own industry. It’s an energy sucker that seemed to almost drain me this week.
This site, and the others I run are here to provide value for the community. A lot of what is here and on the other sites is free and open to anyone, because it’s what we do and how things are. It’s about engaging all of you, and I must say this community is pretty awesome at being engaged. And yes, we have courses and those courses do have fees. And when you feel it’s something that is of value for you, then you do indeed sign up for that course. If it’s not of value for you, it’s pretty simple, you just don’t sign up. Yet there are also those in our industry who think that’s just wrong. And yes, sadly, that decision to actually charge for some things on these sites is sometimes met with criticism.
It’s almost the same as when you hear someone dare to say they like SRT editing and feel they actually make more money doing that than traditional transcription. That person puts themselves out there as someone who’s often seen as a “traitor” to the industry. Why is that? It’s something I simply don’t understand and probably never will.
So, energy suckers. Let’s agree that they really have no place in our world. Life’s too short and there’s way too much to accomplish to be drug into those things. It’s sure how I’m looking at life these days. With that, I imagine there will be some significant changes in how I spend my time and investments in the near future, simply because I have no time to continue to be drug down by those things. We’ve often talked here about how it’s a good thing to look at the return on investment for the things we do in life. I’m very much doing that this week. I hope it’s something you always do as well because you value yourself and your time.
For me, I’m making it my promise to myself that I won’t let the energy suckers control things anymore. I’m simply going to call it what it is and then learn that it’s time to move myself away from those things, be they people or entities, that drain the energy from the things I try to focus on. It’s really in doing that that I can do some great things with these sites and the communities I serve here, and in the end, you guys really are what it’s about.
So, for today’s Friday topic, I’d love to hear: What do you do about the energy suckers in your life? Any tips to share?
NOTE: If you haven’t signed up for Sarah Barton’s workshop next week, it’s shaping up great with lots of registrants. Don’t miss it as she will be sharing some awesome job search tips as well as her exciting new venture and how her medical transcription skills have led to a pretty awesome new opportunity. For those who need CECs, this workshop has been approved by AHDI for one PD CEC. Please help us spread the word as I believe this is one that people will get a lot of value from!
Related posts:
- When Life Isn’t Fair
- Life Lessons From The Dog: Guest Post
- Don’t Spend Your Life in the Grey Twilight
- A Day in the Life of a Medical Scribe
Tagged with: values • writing your life story
Filed under: Challenges in Medical Transcription • Simply Life
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Good for you! We each have to earn a living, and if you can do that (or supplement it) by also engaging in work that you have passion and enjoyment for, that’s a double benefit. Any self-help book on finding purpose in your life usually says something like “Find your passion, then find out how to get an income from it,” as it will enable you to earn a living doing something you love. For detractors, I would say there is a lot more, forgive me, “prostitution” aspect of earning money when you are making great money but doing something you despise.
Regarding energy suckers, we tend to think of time and money as our most valuable assets, but energy, as well as health, are largely ignored. We are each responsible for our own energy, attitude, and physical well-being, and it is up to us to guard those precious gifts carefully against those who would try to disrupt them.
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Kathy Reply:
July 22nd, 2011 at 8:19 am
Carol, thank you so much for that. It really is about finding something you’re passionate about. Been there, done that with things that don’t fit in my life that way!
And I’m working out a plan to do just what you suggest–guard those gifts!
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“Find your passion, then find out how to get an income from it,”
The people who figure this out are the lucky ones, and there will always be those who criticize the lucky ones who perhaps moved forward faster on their ideas than others. (I hope I said that right. Don’t want to offend anybody.)
Do kids count as energy suckers? My adult children are really good at that. But things may be getting better soon – I hope.
I also feel Facebook is an energy sucker but I just can’t stop watching the pattern of who people respond to and who they don’t respond to. So, I’m backing off on that and not wasting my time on posting there as much.
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Kathy Reply:
July 22nd, 2011 at 10:07 am
Lisa, I think you said that just fine and indeed that’s part of the problem. It’s a fear that someone else might do something better, faster, or whatever. Yet, what I’ve learned from people like Seth Godin, it’s important that you SHIP things, actually get them done! And yep, I suspect kids can indeed be energy suckers!
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I think jealousy and power struggles are the modi operandi of some of these energy suckers. They can’t get the job done, but YOU can, so they have to criticize you and throw up road blocks to try and slow you down. It is so emotionally draining to constantly be criticized and told to stop because “that won’t work” or “we don’t have time for that now.” Energy suckers are the main reason I’m moving on from my job now. Just get out of my way, folks, and let me do what needs to be done!
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Kathy Reply:
July 22nd, 2011 at 11:42 am
Deb, I really love that attitude of get out of my way and let me get things done! It is indeed where my head is today.
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When confronted with an energy sucker, I usually find it works best to project a feeling of kind goodwill toward them and then to promptly remove my attention from them and place it on something/someone more positive, productive, or helpful.
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Kathy Reply:
July 22nd, 2011 at 11:42 am
Charmaine, a great response and an important reminder that we can and should choose to move our attention to other things!
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Kathy, Judith Orloff has a book called Positive Energy and a chapter in there is about energy vampires. In qigong, you can protect your energy when you encounter the energy vampires or a negative situation by touching your index finger to your thumb gently, making a circle. It does not allow negative energy to invade. Also taking deep breaths and visualizing all the unneeded energy flowing back into the universe also is helpful.
It is difficult to see others prosper and be happy when you are uncertain or afraid to go outside the lines—just like the old phrase, misery loves company.
So good for you for recognizing the energy drain, and giving yourself permission to step away:)
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Kathy Reply:
July 22nd, 2011 at 11:43 am
Carole, I love the example of a vampire. It’s so appropriate. So I’m making that circle and taking some deep breaths!
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I had to laugh at the comment about those of us who like SRT and openly admit to making more money doing it being “traitors.” I was just having a conversation about my transition to working with the EHR and I mentioned what a fluid transition it is as far as MT work to EHR professional. When I first accepted the job I started investigating what professional organization fits my job and I realized the answer is that AHDI fits my role better than any other organization. The biggest deciding factor for me, however, is that it also gives me the chance to talk to other MTs who are leery of making the transition and see EHR as this big evil thing about to take away our jobs. The response I got from one MT in this conversation was “So, are you ready to be viewed as a traitor then?” I sure am! This traitor just increased her income by 35% and no longer has to strain to hear a doctor dictating in his convertible while smacking on his sammy. Being a traitor afforded me a sizable increase in income, VERY affordable benefits, and a position in which I will learn things I never would as an MT, plus it is just an easier job in many respects. Yep, life as a traitor is pretty darn good!
So, I guess my approach to the energy suckers is to just not care.
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Deb Reply:
July 22nd, 2011 at 11:42 am
Meanwhile the “traitors” are moving on up while the suckers stay stagnant. Good advice, Sarah!
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Kathy Reply:
July 22nd, 2011 at 11:44 am
Sarah, I actually thought of you when I wrote that paragraph. Your story is such a great one for this industry and I can’t wait for you to share more of it in next week’s webinar. Your boldness in stepping out and refusing to accept mediocrity has and will take you a long way!
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Kathy, You have brought a lot of value to the table with your knowledge, experience, and ability to share that with others and you do a wonderful job of it but I sure don’t think that you or anyone else should pass that information along for nothing. When a person is in business it is to make money and hopefully really enjoy what they are doing. From taking your class about the EHR I know that you really enjoy what you are doing and I also feel that there needs to be compensation for that information.
Anytime anyone sets up a business a lot of planning and effort goes into that and from my point of view the classes that you are working on right now are going to be even more intense and they will also lead to new career opportunites for many people. I simply cannot see the logic that the knowledge should be for free. If I go into any kind of training school, I am going to have to pay for that information and teaching so why would I look at this site and its classes any differently.
I also liked the analogy of the vampires because there are always going to be people that are going to try and suck the joy and excitement out of anything and everybody. I was watching the Oprah show today and she was sharing about how she prepares for going into any kind of situation where there are negative people or feelings. She said that she always surrounds herself with a white light for protection against the negativity so do the circle thing as Carole talked about and also surround yourself with the white, positive, healing light. I’ll send some your way as well my friend.
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Kathy Reply:
July 22nd, 2011 at 10:55 pm
Linda, thank you so much for those kind words, and the white light. I just have to remember that we do indeed have choices about what we subject ourselves to. And I saw that same thing on Oprah today and thought about what I had written here!
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Just wanted to post the link to my blog post about energy drains from 2008 as an extra comment:
http://simplicityexperiment.blogspot.com/2008/05/drains.html
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Kathy Reply:
July 24th, 2011 at 7:44 am
Thanks for sharing that. Such great words and I always love your blog. It’s a great reminder of how very important it is to spend our time in things that matter. In the end, I think that’s what helps us be able to say we have lived our life with no regrets.
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I am really amazed that a person would be expected to have educational courses set up without a charge. How in the world could anyone afford to do that? Time is valuable. Where can a person go to get a free education? It is really laughable.
I do have energy suckers too. People who ask for help over and over but do not make any changes over the years to help themselves. I guess that is why this post affected me so strongly. What is the saying? “If you are looking for a helping hand, look at the end of your arm.”
Yes, we all need help to get pointed in the right direction, to get a start. At what point do we take responsibility for ourselves?
Sorry, Kathy. You have have an amazing talent for getting things done. You have been a tremendous help to me too since I have met you a few short months ago. I do appreciate it and hope never to be an energy sucker.
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Kathy Reply:
July 26th, 2011 at 4:00 pm
Thanks Sherry. And no, I can’t imagine you ever being an energy sucker! This really came about not just about charging for courses, but about offering them period because it creates competition for others. I think that’s sad because that is what our world is based on. I also think the more opportunities we can provide people, the better off our industry is!
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Sherry Reply:
July 28th, 2011 at 11:48 am
That is just the point. We need to find ways to keep those in our industry employed. These courses are a step in that direction. For you to take the initiative to offer them is going to help a lot of transcriptionists do just that.
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You know, I got to thinking about “energy suckers” and I came up with one that I bet none of us really thinks about…OURSELVES! How many of us can absolutely say, without exception, that we plant our butt in our chair from X to Y, do our work, and then we’re done for the day? Don’t we have things running through our minds while we’re working (like getting that load of laundry down to the basement and into the washer, like getting the dishwasher going, like making a quick trip to the post office, library, grocery store, etc.)…and just trying to see WHEN would be the best time to push back from our computers to do those things? We are schemers and planners who not only take advantage of the fact that we work at home and basically on our own schedule but also at times push it to the limit….and we have no one to blame THAT on but ourselves! There is no one else in the house with me to say, “No, you keep your butt planted in that chair for the next 2 hours and THEN you can get up to stretch your legs and go to the bathroom, and then you get your butt right back in this chair and get back to work!” Instead, the little voice in my head becomes the “master energy sucker,” enticing me to take an extra 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there, and 90 minutes THERE! If I let myself do this, I become the biggest energy sucker in my world! I’m not saying that there aren’t others out there, but my worst enemy in this regard is just ME!
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