Episode #213 – The Ultimate Mental Recipe for Animal Health and Veterinary Career Success
Julea: Welcome to “The Animal Health and Veterinary Employment Insider,” brought to you by The VET Recruiter. In this podcast, Animal Health executive recruiter and Veterinary recruiter Stacy Pursell of The VET Recruiter provides insight and practical advice for both employers and job seekers in the Animal Health and Veterinary industries. The VET Recruiter’s focus is to solve talent-centric problems for the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. In fact, The VET Recruiter’s mission is to help Animal Health and Veterinary companies hire top talent, while helping Animal Health and Veterinary professionals attain career-enhancing opportunities that increase their quality of life.
In today’s podcast episode, we’ll be talking about the central element for Animal Health and Veterinary career success. Hello, Stacy, and thank you for joining us today.
Stacy: Hello, Julea. As always, I’m glad to be here with you.
Julea: Stacy, we’ve been discussing success as part of series of podcast topics on the subject. Is today’s episode another part of the series?
Stacy: Yes, it is. And we’re going to end our series with today’s episode. We’ve talked about a wide range of topics in this series, including how important the mental aspect, as well as the importance of being self-aware as opposed to self-absorbed. We’ve also discussed why being ready to take action is critical for success. But today I want to talk about a delicate balance that exists, one that makes up the ultimate recipe for Animal Health and Veterinary career success.
Julea: What balance is that Stacy?
Stacy: Well, before we get into that, I want to note that what we’re going to discuss today is applicable to just about any situation, not just those that involve the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. That’s because the basic ingredients for success are often the same across the board. What makes a person successful in one situation is usually what helps them to be successful in another situation. So, there’s nothing magical about the things we’ve been discussing, but they do work.
Julea: Stacy, even though they work, it seems as though not everybody are practicing these things. Is that the case?
Stacy: Yes, that is the case. Even though these things works, not everybody practices them, because they’re simple but they’re not easy.
Julea: What does that mean, exactly simply but not easy.
Stacy: That means these things are simple to understand and grasp, but they’re not easy to implement and actually do. And the main reason that this is the case is because the majority of them deal with the mental aspect of success. And today’s topic definitely deals with the mental aspect.
Julea: I’m glad you mentioned that. Tell us about today’s topic Stacy.
Stacy: Today, I want to address the mental aspect of a person’s attitude. Specifically, I want to talk about being positive, especially in the midst of challenging circumstances. This is because I don’t think people realize what it means to be positive and how to the positive in a way that will help a person be more successful.
Julea: You mean there is a negative way to be positive?
Stacy: As crazy as it sounds, yes, that is the case. And I am more than happy to explain all of this.
Julea: Okay, great. Where would you like to start?
Stacy: First, I want to blanket this whole discussion with the blanket of personal branding. That’s because what you think and how you act based on what you think are integral to your personal branding efforts. And remember, your personal brand is essentially the experience that you provide to other people, and how you think definitely affects your actions and the experience that you provide to others.
Obviously, if you want to experience more success in your Animal Health or Veterinary career, then you want to provide the best experience possible. And in order to provide the best experience possible, you must master the mental aspect of success, and that includes what you think about the circumstances around and the situations in which you find yourself.
So, if you’re able to master the mental aspect of success, then you’ll also brand yourself in a positive way, and that will help you to become even more successful.
Julea: Tell us more Stacy.
Stacy: For the very simple reason that people like positivity and they like to be around positive people. Most people do one of three things in terms of their relationships with others. They either draw or attract other people to them, they drive people away or repel them, or they have no effect on them. They neither attract people to them, nor drive them away. But in terms of personal branding, having a neutral effect on other people is almost no better than having a negative effect or providing a negative experience for them.
This just underscores the importance of being positive, not just in your Animal Health or Veterinary career, but also in life in general.
Julea: So, with all of this in mind, what is the ultimate mental recipe for success?
Stacy: There are a number of components involved with this recipe, and I want to go through them one a time. The first component, as we’ve already discussed, is positivity. There are two major aspects of being positive. The first aspect deals with the present, the current circumstances in which a person finds themselves. All of life is a combination of positive and negative circumstances. You can’t get away from that. It has always been the case, and it always will be.
Julea: Stacy, is that where the saying, “You have no control what happens to you, but you have 100% control over how you react to what happens to you” comes from?
Stacy: Yes! And that’s why the first aspect of positivity is not allowing your current situation and circumstances to affect you in a negative way. Even if those circumstances are negative, you can’t allow them to make you negative in your thoughts and the way you’re approaching your situation.
Julea: How does a person do that? Like you said, it sounds simple, but it’s not exactly easy.
Stacy: It’s all about what you choose to focus on. Since all of life is a mix of both positive and negative circumstances, on which of those circumstances does a person choose to focus? The negative or the positive? The answer, of course, is the positive. It sounds simple, but it is not easy. The problem is that we are all human beings, and because we are, we’re susceptible to negative circumstances. Specifically, we’re susceptible to be affected by them.
Julea: Stacy, why is that the case?
Stacy: One word: fear. We’ve discussed fear on many occasions on this podcast, and that’s because fear can play a huge role in the person’s professional life, including in their Animal Health or Veterinary career. Fear makes people focus on the negative circumstances of their current situation, and when they do that, they reduce their chances for success, and on top of that, they’re probably branding themselves to other people in a negative way.
Julea: That makes sense. What’s the second aspect of positivity that you mentioned?
Stacy: While the first aspect deals with the present, the second one deals with the future and how a person thinks about the future. While it benefits you to focus on the positive things in the midst of your present circumstances, it would also benefit you to be positive about the future.
Julea: Is that sort of like a self-fulfilling prophecy?
Stacy: Yes, that’s part of it. If you always focus on the negative, then you’re going to expect bad things to happen to you. And if you start to think that bad things are going to happen to you, then you’re going to act and react like they’re going to happen before anything even has a chance to happen!
Ultimately, part of being positive means keeping a positive frame of mind with a hopeful expectation of a better future. It means doing everything you can to position yourself and prepare for that future. Being successful is like anything else. If you want to be successful, then you have to prepare to be successful. You have to frame your mind in a way where you expect success. There is someone I know who says, “everything I touch turns to gold” and you know what, he is a highly successful person. He expects to be successful, but he also does the things that make him successful.
Julea: You mentioned earlier that there is a potential downside to being positive. What did you mean by that?
Stacy: Well, this is where the delicate balance enters the picture, and that delicate balance is part of what of makes up the ultimate mental recipe for success, including Animal Health and Veterinary career success.
When you’re a positive person and you focus on the positive aspects of your circumstances and situation, it doesn’t mean that you ignore the negative circumstances that may exist. It means that you don’t focus on them to the exclusion of everything else and you don’t allow them to negatively affect your mental state of mind or your outlook.
Being positive does not mean completely ignoring the reality of your situation. When a person does that, they might be suffering from the “Pollyanna Syndrome.”
Julea: What is the “Pollyanna Syndrome”?
Stacy: The name of the syndrome is taken from the name of the book of the same title. Basically, it means an excessively or blindly optimistic person. Being positive is not the same as being blindly optimistic, no matter the reality of your situation. You have to keep yourself grounded and you must acknowledge your circumstances, even if you don’t allow those circumstances to affect you in a negative way.
Julea: What are the dangers of suffering from the “Pollyanna Syndrome”?
Stacy: If you’re blindly optimistic and you don’t acknowledge the reality of your situation, then you will fail to plan or prepare for the circumstances associated with your situation. And no matter how positive you are, if you don’t plan and prepare, then you decrease your chances for success.
This is why you must strike a delicate balance. You must be positive, but also practical, grounded in the present but also positive about your prospects for the future. In essence, you have to be positive enough to not allow negative circumstances to affect, while also practical enough to acknowledge your circumstances so that you can adequately address them and deal with them.
Julea: That all makes sense. You mentioned earlier that there are multiple components involved with what we’re discussing today about success. Being positive is one of the components. What are the other ones?
Stacy: The second component of our mental recipe for success is optimism, which we’ve somewhat alluded to already. Much like being positive, being optimistic is a choice. You can be choose to optimistic about a current situation or optimistic about the future.
Julea: Is that the hopeful expectation of a better future that you talked about earlier?
Stacy: Yes, it is! And once again, when you’re optimistic, you draw people to you and brand yourself in the right way. People want to be around optimistic people. In general, they don’t want to be around negative people. That makes perfect sense. So, when you’re optimistic, you help yourself and you help others around you. It helps you to obtain a win-win situation for everybody involved, and as you might expect, people who are positive and optimistic are more likely to be leaders and thrive as leaders.
Julea: Stacy, what other aspects are involved?
Stacy: There is one more that is central to our discussion and that’s enthusiasm. This is something that is closely linked to passion. When you have passion for something, you show enthusiasm for it. Enthusiastic individuals are more likely to overcome challenges, reach their goals, and enjoy more success than their peers who do not display enthusiasm.
Julea: So really, positivity, optimism, and enthusiasm all go together.
Stacy: Yes, they do! They are important elements in the delicate balance that we’ve been discussing and they’re definitely part of the ultimate mental recipe for success, and that includes the recipe for more Animal Health and Veterinary career success.
Julea: Stacy, thank you so much for all of this great information. I know you have a passion for the topic of success Stacy, and I know you enjoy sharing information to help other people become successful.
Stacy: Yes! I do have a passion for success and the topic of success. That has been the case for me, even before I started my career as an executive recruiter. And what I have even more passion for is sharing what I know about success with other people. I love to share my experience and expertise with employers and with professionals in the employment marketplace.
Julea: And Stacy, there is a lot of information on The VET Recruiter website that will help people be more successful, so I want to make sure our listeners take advantage of those resources. There are articles, blogs, webinars, videos and job opportunities in the Animal Health industry and veterinary profession, so be sure to check them all out.
Stacy: Yes, absolutely. We have a blog for Animal Health and Veterinary employers and Animal Health and Veterinary job seekers, and we also have career resources for job seekers. These include interview tips, relocation information, and best practices for working with an Animal Health or Veterinary recruiter.
Julea: So be sure to check out these Animal Health and Veterinary Career resources and the Animal Health and Veterinary hiring resources from The VET Recruiter at www.thevetrecruiter.com. Stacy, as always, thank you for joining us today.
Stacy: It’s been my pleasure Julea, and I look forward to our next episode of The Animal Health and Veterinary Employment Insider!