0:00:01.7 Professor Walden: Alright, guys, welcome, welcome. We are here, and we are going live, so we’re just gonna wait a few seconds and let everybody jump in and let them do their thing. So no worries, we’re just kind of relaxing here and letting everybody join the crowd. I’m like… I’m looking at my stuff. I’ve got to join the crowd, I have to log in as well.
0:00:35.5 Professor Walden: Alright, guys. So this is fantastic. Most folks know, or most folks maybe, maybe not… Well, kind of. We have been very much talking about… I hate to even say the buzzword, but burnout. So we have been talking about burnout, and we have been talking about resiliency without saying the words, and we have been talking about just making sure that whatever we do and whatever our… Hello from East Tennessee. Whatever we are doing, that we are fulfilled, and that we are happy, and that we are taking the steps to make sure that we take care of ourselves. You all know I’m a big, big advocate of taking care of ourselves, and so we’ve been on this kick for a while, and I’m always gonna reiterate it, just because it’s a time and a space where I am right now, and I need everyone else to understand that as well. Okay, so with that being said, I’m very, very excited that we have Dr. Sandra Pagenta here. So she is going to be our presenter today. So before I bring her on, let’s talk about it ’cause I love her, she’s the sweetest. Alright, so I’m gonna read you her bio, so I can introduce her.
0:02:01.1 Professor Walden: Okay, so Dr. Sanda is a geriatric nurse practitioner, host of the Doctor Nurse podcast. If you have not listened to the podcast, it’s great, you should listen. She’s a nursing influencer and content creator. Her podcast features RNs and NPs, using their degrees and certifications with a business mindset. She’s a part-time… Oh, we’re gonna have her back. She’s a part-time neurologic. I can never say that word, nurse practitioner, and loves taking care of veterans. With over 13 years of nursing experience, Sandra wants to provide a platform to increase awareness of how much you can do with your nursing license. Her mission is to uplift, empower, and advocate for RNs and NPs to enjoy the journey of their career, so that they can have a career and a life that is lived to the fullest. Currently, Sandra is focused on her family, podcast opportunities, and collaboration with other nurses. In her free time, she was learning to play the piano, how fun, and how to embroider. So let’s welcome Dr. Sandra. Hello. Oh no, she froze.
0:03:13.2 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: Hi, thank you for inviting me today.
0:03:15.3 Professor Walden: Fantastic. It’s come on. Okay, so for a second there, you froze.
0:03:21.7 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: Can you see me? Can you see me? .
0:03:22.8 Professor Walden: Yes, we can see you, we can hear you.
0:03:22.9 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: Okay. Okay.
0:03:24.8 Professor Walden: We’re so excited to have you on. I have no idea. Guys, we have been chatting for probably, what, four months now, five months now. How did I not know where you work?
0:03:43.9 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: I don’t know.
0:03:43.9 Professor Walden: I feel like we’ve never talked about this. We just knew each other, we’re NPs, and we’re just like, high five, we’re doing it, we’re talking business.
0:03:53.8 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: I think that’s why, ’cause we talk business, girl, we talk talk business.
0:03:54.2 Professor Walden: I know. I never knew she was in neurology, that is… I find this hilarious. So we’re absolutely gonna have you back to talk about a neurologic conditions.
0:04:04.5 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: Oh my gosh. All the things. Please.
0:04:07.1 Professor Walden: Guys, this turns out to be fantastic. So we’ll do that. But what we do first is we will have her talk about her presentation, which again is very much on that self-care, taking care of yourself, and just for her, it is very much living in abundance, so I’ll let you take it away. I’ll bring your presentation up. And there you go.
0:04:35.0 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: Alrighty, very good. So welcome guys, thanks for coming on. And thank you, Latrina, for having me on today. And it… And it’s something that I recently have gotten very passionate about because of the fact that as with the birth of my son, and we’ll get more into this as we’re going throughout the presentation, but after the birth of my son, I really started to dive into different mindsets and kind of cultivating a different mindset that I’ve not had before, so I wanted to share my thoughts and hopefully a little bit of wisdom. I know there’s so much information being ported us as people that I hope to share wisdom and not so much instructions or… More stuff that you’ve gotta absorb. I hope it feels like wisdom, because I think that’s really what most of us need, is wisdom instead of more instructions on how to do stuff, so… Yeah, with that being said, we’ll take it from the top. My… First page, there we go. So today’s presentation of The NP Collective, again, thank you Latrina for having me on and letting me speak to your audience. I’m gonna describe a little bit of the journey of my podcast, a little bit about what I do.
0:06:04.7 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: Yes, I’m a neurologic nurse practitioner, and then I’m gonna talk about some concepts you may or may not have ever heard of, really based on the principles of The 7 Highly Effective People book by Stephen Covey, where he talks a little bit about being a principal-centered person, principal-centered leadership, and then understanding abundance, shifting to an abundance mindset and then how to keep an abundance mindset going throughout life.
0:06:32.5 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: Like she had said earlier, my name is Sander Pagenta. It’s still weird to call myself doctor, but I do have a doctor and a nursing. I am Dr. Sandra Pagenta. Say it with confidence, I am a wife and a mom, those are my first and foremost most prized roles that I have, and then as she was describing, I do have a podcast called the Doctor Nurse Podcast. I wish he had a super cool name outside of the fact that I had a conversation with a friend of mine and he was like, “So you’re a doctor nurse?” And I was like, Yeah, my doctors, and I was like, that sounds gonna cool. I should make it a name, and so I’ve always just held on to it as this kind of this thing.
0:07:09.3 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: And so here we are. And yeah, I just created… I created this platform so that nurses could share their career journeys because one of the questions I always got asked is, how did you become a nurse? How did you get here? How did you decide to be a neurologic nurse practitioner? How do these decisions happen? And what I began to realize was that I didn’t really begin with the end in mind, I didn’t think that way when I started, when I was first a baby nurse, Oh, I’m gonna be a neurologic nurse. Things just kind of happened and I serendipitously got here, or so I thought, but when I listen to other people’s journeys, like Latrina, where she describes that she intentionally took certain jobs to create opportunities for her, that then led to her creating a side hustle that made her go, hey, listen, I’m only gonna work part-time, my job, because my family is important, so she created a system where when you listen to her podcast episode, you hear that she really had… What I like to call and say is an abundance mindset, but it was really based on certain principles, right?
0:08:12.4 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: And then, yeah, my other job is doing neurologic procedures, so my job really is based on cystoscopy. I actually solo, do procedures without an attending. I have worked in the operating room alone, which has been crazy. I operate, I ran an operating room by myself and did a neurologic procedure with the whole team there. Maybe I flew under the radar and people didn’t know that I was doing this, but… Yeah, and I also do prostate biopsies, so those are my two primary bread and butter procedures that I do as a nurse practitioner. But I also do other things. I’ll ____ bladder tumors, if a patient were to come in with a tumor, I can keep them out of the OR. I also go up into kidneys. I don’t know if people know that nurse practitioners can do that. I do this. I did not know this.
0:09:04.7 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: And so again, bringing that awareness to certain job is another thing that I like to do with my podcast, because I think that because nurses and nurse practitioners are so distance from one another, we kinda don’t know what the other hand is doing, and so my podcast is to let you know like, yeah, no, there are nurse practitioners that are running their own businesses, there are nurse practitioners that are working as adjunct and they own their own clinic, and they’re doing all these other little side hustles. So I’m just letting people see what other people are doing because when you see it, then you have, what, self-efficacy, right? You believe you could go out and do it yourself.
0:09:40.6 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: And so that’s kind of the point of the podcast. And again, some people don’t even know, they’re like, I had no idea that I could do neurologic procedures, and I can work like a surgeon, and I get to do that with my job, even though I’m not a surgeon, I didn’t go to medical school. I have a certain scope, we’re safe, but I still get to do things that I’m like, this is pretty cool that I get to do this with my job, so… Yeah, and that’s kind of what I do for a living, and do the podcast on the side. Alright, so starting off the presentation, and I love this quote. When I first read this quote, it made me stop and think for a second, and so I really want you to stop and think. Have you noticed that when we die, our eulogy celebrate our lives very differently from the way that society defines success? Alright, so the way society looks at, you are successful with money and power and all these different concepts that we think I’ve made it, a car, a house, when we die, those are things that aren’t really talked about it.
0:10:58.4 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: And so, imagine you were 80 years old, looking back at your life, and what do you want your legacy to be? What do you want people to say about you? And so what I’m asking for you to do today is to begin with the end in mind. And when we start to think about how we want things to end, again, our days are numbered, we have 29,000 days in a human life. It’s not that many days, so when you think about how many days you have and where you are today, you start to realize that your time is not very long, and how do you want your life to look. And that’s why I wanna talk about abundance and what it looks like for your nursing career and for your work. When I first started off in my career, I got really focused in on building my resume at the hospital, making sure that I had all this experience, and tragically, which ended up being so fortunately, I was fired, and I was let go. When I was finishing my doctoral degree, I was in the throes of a health crisis, and I was actually being fired, and so when this all happened… And again, realizing my value and my worth as a nurse, since I had to go and find another job.
0:12:26.2 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: Somebody was moving my cheese, and I was having to find new cheese, I realized I had built nothing for myself as far as my career was going, and this actually kinda got brought up again in my career with the birth of my son. So my son gets born and I’ve gotta go back to the hospital, right. So that first firing, I began to see my value as a nurse when I was offered so many jobs I couldn’t even count and be making so much more money. And so then I realized, Wow, we can make a lot of money as a nurse practitioner, and then I had this second pivotal point where I began to realize that my value, and my money, and the way that I made my money didn’t necessarily have to be at the hospital and what were the options that I had?
0:13:18.5 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: And so when I had to go back to the hospital setting, because I hadn’t made anything for myself, I began to realize that the principles and the values that I had, I was dictated, was being dictated by the hospital, meaning that the hospital says, we need you here, yeah, your child’s important, you really wanna be there, but our values and our… Or our principles matter more, and so we need you here. And so, again, looking at where you work, certain jobs are way more flexible. If you work at Amazon, they know that you need time to go and meditate, so they have…
0:14:11.1 Professor Walden: I’m here. So, darn, it looks like she froze. I’m not sure she knows she froze. What may be the thing? Darn. I was like, it’s getting good. Let me message her. Oh, I think we lost her completely. I’m back, here we go. I don’t think she realized that she was frozen. It’s all good. No worries. I’m sure she’ll pop back up, and she’ll return. This is exciting though. I am interested to hear what she has to say. I’m also interested in having her back, so this is a good conversation. I do have one tiny little update while we wait for Dr. Pagenta to return. Guys, if you are not paying attention to what is in the portal, and the binder drops being dropped and printing those out and using what you have, we have one of our very own who messaged us or messaged me this morning and said, because of listening to the information, the videos that we drop when they are recorded, coming to the lives, and printing out the binder information, she was able to get… And she uses all of it in clinic, and she doesn’t always make the lives, but she tries really hard. But if she can’t, she’ll make sure that she listened to the videos a little bit later. She got a 20,000 raise. She said she was surprised, but they said that she just basically knew her stuff, and they were very impressed with how she was utilizing the information and treating the patients.
0:16:29.8 Professor Walden: So made me feel very, very good, very, very good, to let us know that what we’re doing is useful. But I just want to let you know, this stuff that I’m giving you, I promise you it is worth it. She has just made her investment into NP Collective 20 times over, and she even got her job to pay for it. So I’m telling you guys, utilize the information, go through the portal. As we continue to drop information, please, please make sure that you utilize it because it can be a game changer for you, it can be a game changer. So she just popped on but then pops back off, so I think she’s having trouble with her connection, which is okay. I would just wait for her to return, so just to let you know. But going back to that, guys, this stuff works. I know what I’m giving you is key. So if you guys have questions or you need to see things, don’t sit silently. Please ask us if you need help, guidelines, whatever it is, don’t sit quietly, utilize the group and have those conversations. Be asking me the questions, ask each other the questions, because again, it can be a game-changer, so I’m very, very excited to hear that from her and to have her tell me that, to wake up to that. That was amazing.
0:18:21.5 Professor Walden: So I’m super proud of her. That’s way… I don’t feel bad that everyone can’t make it. I get it, but make sure that you’re listening to the information, okay? So just wonderful, just wanted to kinda pop in and say that, like we’re giving you good stuff here, so utilize it when you can, and we can get the party started for you. We may do a little bit about revisiting some job situation. I know that a couple of us are having some issues, and that’s just because the climate that we’re in, searching for a job, so I think that is something that we’re going to revisit, and I’ve got a handy-dandy new toy to play with. So maybe that’s something that we should look at. I could check in and go through some things, so we can make sure that everybody’s getting maybe not their dream job, but at least a job all at first, and then we can move on and try to get those wonderful dream jobs that we want and desire. So I think that is… We’re gonna put that on the docket as well. Hopefully, you guys have gotten your…
0:19:40.0 Professor Walden: If not, you will be getting a phone call soon, and you will be getting your buddy soon. Oh, she’s messaging me. I don’t see you. So she’s trying to log back on, and it’s not quite working for her, but it’s… Okay, so she’s restarting her computer, so it’s coming. Yes, so Lucy, I’m good. Good, Lucy. I hope you’re excited. We’re excited about that as well. So we hope it’s super helpful, and it’s networking ’cause I know all of you guys, and I absolutely know who to call for what, so hopefully you guys can make the time to discuss with one another, even if it’s in the Slack, if you are just DMing each other, just do that. And remember, you can always DM me if you have questions. And I may take it to the general group because it may be something that other folks are questioning as well. Here, she’s back. So don’t worry if I do that. Hello, no worries.
0:21:07.1 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: I was on a roll, I was going, and then it was like, “Hello, am I by myself? Am I talking to myself? Pretty sure I am.”
0:21:15.2 Professor Walden: You were. And I was like, she’s in it, and I don’t know if she knows she’s gone. It’s okay. I’ve been filling it in. It’s all good.
0:21:26.8 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: Okay. I’m pulling up my presentation right now. So let me go back, I’m gonna take it from where it was.
0:21:36.9 Professor Walden: Okay. I was like, I got on, I said it was just getting good.
0:21:41.0 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: I was like starting to… I was like, I’m feeling myself… And then it was like, hello.
0:21:46.5 Professor Walden: No, it is perfectly fine. Gotta love technology.
0:21:50.0 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: You really do.
0:21:50.2 Professor Walden: I used to work for DaVita, and we used to say there were little green men in the computers because when you least expected it, you know.
0:22:01.2 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: It almost like it knows, it’s like “Oh, you think we think you’re good right now? You think you’re good? Watch this.” Stay humble girl, that’s one of my principles, that’s one of my principles I just wanna talk about.
0:22:16.9 Professor Walden: Okay.
0:22:17.1 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: All right, let me go over here and… Let me get to where we were. So sorry about that. And let me put this right here. Let me see, so I can get to this thing. All right, and I was…
0:22:32.5 Professor Walden: Okay, I’m gonna pop off.
0:22:35.1 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: All righty. Sorry, thanks guys for hanging with me. So I am going to go over here, I think you guys got my presentation. Okay, so I wanted to start with principles, and I was talking about that before my computer humbled me… Yes, principle-centered. What does that mean? And what are principles? What do they provide? Why do I need them, Sandra? Why are they important? So principles provide a true north direction to our lives when navigating the streams of our environment. And so if you look at the little diagram over there, you’ve got principles, which are in the middle, and that’s representing the principles that you have in your life, and they can be anything. And at any point, some of the items around those principles dominate the center of our life.
0:23:24.6 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: So, if you’re self-centered, and that’s where the principle should be, so your principles are being replaced with the self and you say “Oh, this is all about me, I’m the one that dictates how things go,” then based on the four principles of security, wisdom, guidance and power, which are the way that we navigate through life, so we either use our wisdom, we’re using our guidance, we’re using our power, we’re using our security, and I’ll break down those things what they mean a little bit more.
0:23:58.2 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: But what I really want you to understand is that if you are in the middle, instead of the principles, and we’ll get into again, what those principles are based on those four different domains. But if you are in the middle, then your security is constantly changing, your ability, which I guess I’ll explain it now. Security is your sense of worth, your identity, your emotional anchorage, your self-esteem and your personal strength. If you are in the middle, your security is constantly changing and shifting. Nothing is secure.
0:24:34.7 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: The next area, your judgement, your criteria, if it feels good, it’s what I want, it’s what I need, it’s what’s in it for me, you have that mindset, you can replace any of those in the cogwheel, you can take any of those things and put them in the center. And that is kinda how you construct this kind of where you are… Your point of view is kinda how I like to describe it. You view the world by how decisions, events, or circumstances will affect you if you were in the south. Your ability is to act as limited to your own resources without the benefits of working with others, it’s all about self in all four of those domains.
0:25:22.2 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: Then again, guidance stands for… Is the direction we receive in life, it is an internal monitor, it’s your conscience. Wisdom is your sage perspective on life, a sense of balance, a keen understanding of how the various parts and principles apply and relate to one another. And then your power, which is the capacity to act, the strength, the courage to accomplish tasks. And so again, if each one of those things are… One of those other cogwheels, then you will always be kind of like this kite. A kite is only as strong as the anchor. If you let go of the anchor, then you think the kite will just keep soaring and go to higher heights, but that’s not what happens. The kite hits the ground and completely doesn’t fly because it needs the anchor. That’s what keeps the kite flying.
0:26:14.4 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: And so I love that analogy, that when your principles and the things that you’re supposed to have at the center are at the center, and you operate out of that true north, then everything else begins to flow from that space. And so the real question is, okay, so Sandra, what are the principles? What do I put as a principle? And these are things that do not change regardless of how you are feeling. And so that goes back to humility, it goes back to trustworthiness, it goes back to having character and showing that you are someone that is genuine, authentic, and having that leadership over yourself, and so that you can operate out of all parts of your life; work, possessions, pleasure, friends, your husband, your family. If you work out of those principles being centered, everything else begins to work together and you live a life with no regrets. You look back at that 80-year-old, you look forward at that 80-year-old looking back and saying “I’ve always let these core principles drive my life.”
0:27:31.5 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: And so I love that, I love that mindset and that shift starts internally. You’re not being thrown back and forth by what’s going on around you, you’re not like “Oh gosh, I gotta figure this out. I’m scared about this. I don’t know how to respond, I don’t know.” It’s like “No, I go back to my principles,” whatever those principles are for you. And you can start out at the beginning of your career, writing a mission statement about what you want your life to look like, and by writing that mission statement and writing it down and looking at it, you will be able to direct your career and your family, and again, there’s gonna be things that come into our lives that toss us back and forth, but you will be able to move with a sense of true power.
0:28:19.9 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: And so I love that. Hopefully, that makes a lot of sense. I spent a lot of time like pouring myself into this so that I could really understand it, because as I understood it and I began to spend more time in it, I really felt that this was the core of everything, and I really want… For one of the things that you take away from this presentation today is understanding the abundance mindset. And so I think you guys are still on my screen here, so I’m gonna go ahead and switch over to mindset shift.
0:28:53.0 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: So, why is this important? So in order to cultivate and create an abundance mindset, it’s gonna work on your character, and so who you are and how you think is super important, and I want that to be something that you carry throughout your career. So, Sandra, what is abundance mindset versus the scarcity mindset? So an abundance mindset is the idea that there is enough resources and success for all to share. Okay, we all have what we need available to us, versus the scarcity mindset, which is “There isn’t enough to go around. I have to guard my possessions, this is mine,” and I can’t help others. I have to view everything in terms of win-lose, if I have it, that means that you don’t have it. Or if you have it, that means that I don’t have it. There’s only so much.
0:29:45.2 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: And so, the more principled-centered we become, meaning, I’m focusing on me, I’m focusing on growing, and my wisdom, growing in guidance, growing in the security, working in my power, I’m in those zones that I’m focusing on those things, the more genuinely happy we are for those around us, and for the achievements of others, for the recognition, for the good fortune of other people, and that their success actually adds to our lives instead of takes away and detracts.
0:30:19.8 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: So, I have this really cool graph that I hopefully will make it a little more clear. So again, scarcity, abundance, and I really want you to check and see where your mind is at different times, and we’ll go through some exercises to help you and you can kinda look and go “Oh, maybe I’ve got a little scarcity mindset in there and… Oh no, I’m definitely abundance mindset.” So again, it’s just a way for you to kind of reset and start to notice this mindset. I know this stuff is mundane, and I know this stuff is like “Oh, so I’ve heard it a thousand times.” But sometimes we need the reminder. We don’t need the information, we just need the reminder.
0:30:55.9 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: So, scarcity, over here, it says, it’s focusing on the limitations of the situation, you’re quick to point out negatives. Whereas, if you’re in the abundance mindset, you start to see opportunities in a situation that you’re like “Oh, my computer died, I’m actually gonna debride through this and I’m gonna be super chill and fine, and just let’s see, yeah, I need a new computer. I don’t know, maybe that’s what it means. Or there’s only so much to go around mindset, you are greedy, you’re jealous, you’re skeptical when someone tries to help you, versus there is more than enough to go around, I’m just gonna share, I’m just gonna encourage others, and I’m gonna be open. One sounds so much more nice and positive than the other, right?
0:31:34.1 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: When you’re in a scarcity mindset, your goals are fixed to problems. “Okay, I’m gonna set a goal to fix this problem and I’m gonna fix that problem,” and they require a lot of work, you lose motivation. You just get tired of chasing problems. Whereas, when you’re in the abundance mindset, your goals are simply add-ons to an already blessed life, you’re seeing all that you have, and that anything that you can do extra or expand upon is just you getting 1% better, it’s just you changing this one little thing about you that’s making you better, it’s just the possibilities are endless, your motivation is effortless because you’re so excited about what’s coming down the pipeline.
0:32:12.5 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: You focus, if you’re in the scarcity mindset, you’re focusing on things that are outside of your control, you start to worry, fear, stress, but when you’re actually in the principle, and you’re focusing on your principles and you’re looking at what you can change, which again goes back to that power, then you focus on what’s in your control, you’re gonna be inspired, you’re calm, you’re confident. And then again, scarcity, focusing on what you don’t have, whereas abundance, you focus on everything you do have, and so that impacts everything that you think and how far you go. So again, abundance mentality springs from an internal security because you are basing your life on your principles.
0:32:50.8 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: When other people have stuff that you don’t have, you’re not worried because you know what you’re building, you know what you’re doing, and you’re not worried about comparing yourself to others, people’s opinions of you, your possessions, your associations, how good you look, am I with the right people? Do I look… You’re not worried about that because you’re really worried about cultivating a character of humility, kindness, meekness, gentleness, whatever those things are for you, that you look and you go “This is the kind of person I want to become,” that really is where you start to find a lot of happiness.
0:33:30.5 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: Here’s a scenario for you, and again, this is just internal, talk to yourself, be honest with yourself, when you hear a friend that just got a new job, she’s making more money than you and maybe the same position. Who knows? Are you jealous? Or are you happy? And I’ll let you sit with that for a little bit. Okay, couple more seconds, we won’t rush. Couple more seconds. Sit alone. Just see how you feel.
0:34:03.2 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: Okay, there we go. Your sister just met the love of her life and you’re still single. Do you congratulate her or do you pat about how you haven’t met anyone? And I’ll let you sit with that for a little bit.
0:34:24.3 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: Okay, and then the third scenario is, when your friend gets excited about his new car, house or boat, whatever, what are you thinking? Is it “I’ll never have enough money for that,” or “I cannot wait until I get excited about something like that too, that just looks awesome, I’m so happy for him”? So, what did you notice? Any thoughts come up? I don’t think people could talk on this, but I put anything you’d like to share, maybe write it down and just start to notice like “No, I don’t get happy for other people, I don’t think these are things that are gonna happen for me, I tend to see what I’m missing. I don’t look at everything that I have, I compare. I’m always looking at other people,” and these are all normal things.
0:35:10.0 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: Like I don’t believe that what we are describing is abnormal, I just believe that there is a mindset that is associated with being successful and being happy, and then there’s one that leaves us being discontented and disappointed with our lives. So again, why is this important for your nursing career, why is this something that I need to worry about, Sandra? This just maybe sounds like woo-hoo stuff. I don’t understand why this is important, and I think we talked a little bit about that earlier. But again, just when you’re operating out of your core principles, you have freedom and guidance, because again, you’re going back, you’re moving with your convictions. You’re proactive instead of reactive. Right? Because you already know where you’re going, you already have your goals established, you’re aware of who you are, and you’re not just reacting to “Oh my neighbors got a boat, I gotta go get a boat,” that’s reacting, where you’re like, “I don’t want a boat. That’s not really something that I want because I know that I really enjoyed camping. I want an air strip, and so I’m gonna set that goal for myself.
0:36:15.5 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: Whatever it is, it doesn’t necessarily have to be stuff, but it could be, “I wanna travel with and make memories with my spouse so that we can go see all the national parks,” whatever those things are inside of you when you are operating out of what is important to you and what matters to you, then you don’t look around at others, you only see what you have and what you need to be working on, and I think it just creates a lot more happiness, more so than a lot more discontentment.
0:36:47.8 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: So starting with your thoughts, and that’s why this is so important, and that’s why it starts with a mindset shift, it starts with going “Nope, I’m not going to think that way anymore,” and when the thought comes up, you begin to just immediately put it down and replace it with truth. Okay. Watch your thoughts for they become your words, watch your words because they become your actions, watch your actions because they become your habits, and watch your habits because they become your character. Right? So your character, we’re going back to that. And character is… You have to watch your character because it becomes your destiny, and character really is made up of three things. It’s made up of your integrity, your maturity, and the abundance mentality.
0:37:34.6 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: And so the integrity, meaning that your habits are aligned with your values, your words, with your deeds, and your expression with feelings, and they make commitment… You make commitments to yourself and you make commitments to others. Maturity is the courage balanced with consideration, you’re able to express your ideas and your feelings with courage and consideration for the ideas and the feelings of others. And then again, we’re going over the abundance mindset, right?
0:38:06.0 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: And so, when you’ve got that abundance mindset, you believe that everyone has value, that again, if you can see that everyone’s got unlimited potential, you really start to see just how special each and every one of you are. Every single nurse practitioner, there is no other you, right? We need you to be you, you need to operate out of your core values and your core principles because we need your type of personality in nursing, and there’s never gonna be another one of you. And so, who better to be than the best version of yourself, so that when you look back at 80, looking over your career as a nurse, you think, I did that well. I was 100% me throughout my entire career. So when you look into the mirror, what do you see? And this is, again, going back to why the abundance mentality is so crucial, because again, if you look into the mirror and you smile, you’re smiling back at yourself. Whereas, if you look at the mirror and you’re like, my best friend is getting married, again, I’m in another wedding, you know? You’re frowning at yourself, and so that’s what you’re gonna see.
0:39:18.7 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: So again, just changing, shifting that mentality, and I love scripture, and so I always quote scripture, because I just believe there’s such a great wisdom in the Bible. And so, I wrote it down, I wish I remembered it. Here it is. We demolish arguments and every pretention that sets itself against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. So, every single thought that comes in, you squash it, and you’re like, No, that’s not an abundance mindset, that sounds like scarcity, and I don’t believe in that, so I’m not gonna spend time thinking about those things. And so, I have to do this all the time, it just happened a couple days ago, and you just have to go, Okay, this is comical. I don’t even know how this is happening, but there’s something in it, there’s some purpose in whatever you’re going through. So just again, smile at yourself, take those thoughts captives, realize that your thoughts are so powerful, so, so powerful, and so if you can change your thought patterns, get your thoughts aligned with your values, your core principles, and whatever those are, individual to everyone, really research, what is my life mission?
0:40:26.5 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: What is the best version, nurse practitioner version of me and work out of that, I just think that the world would be a lot better of a place. So, you’re like, Sandra, you’ve convinced me kind of, I kinda think this stuff’s important, so how do I start? Where do I get started? So, you reframe your thoughts, going back to that, capturing every single thought, maybe you need to see what your thoughts are, you’re like, I don’t really know what I’m thinking. So, get your journal, scrap piece of paper, and start asking yourself questions. Consider each area of your life, finances, relationship, career, health, fitness friends, all of them, look at them, and just really decide if you’re focusing on the limitations or the opportunities. Actively choose what you listen to, what you see, what you read, filter it. If it is negative, negative thoughts, I’m just not gonna spend too much time on that, I’m just… I’m not gonna spend that, ’cause it’s just really negative, and that stuff matters because my thoughts matter, because my words matter, because my actions matter, because it makes my character, and then my character creates my destiny, and so, I gotta start with my thoughts, it starts with the small stuff.
0:41:40.1 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: And so, yeah, the other part is, again, just going through more questions to ask yourself like, am I happy for others genuinely? How do I want this area of my life to be? Do… Again, do I make big goals? That’s one of the things on here. Do I make huge goals for yourself? The bigger you make your goals, the more likely you are to hit the target, right? So like, I’ve always heard of that saying where you’re like, create a target, and they’re like, shoot for the stars, ’cause if you miss, then at least you’re up there, you’re up high, you know? I’ve always heard that. And I know it’s sounds super corny, but it’s so true, that even when again, if you shoot for the stars, even if you miss, you’re still off the ground. And so, just keep doing it. Dream, dream of a future that’s beautiful. Think about things that you’re like, what do I… What’s a crazy thought that I never would have processed or let myself think out loud or say out loud? Maybe it’s to do some crazy trip or whatever, whatever that is, just dream, focus in on that, practice gratitude for the things that you have around you and give.
0:42:44.8 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: One of the most amazing things you can do for yourself is to give. I heard this really great quote from Pitbull, people are like, Pitbull, actually, he’s a really great entrepreneur, and he’s kind of incredible when you hear his journey and where he’s from, but what I thought was best is when he said I… Money does buy happiness, but you’ve gotta give it away. And I think that that is so, so true. Like, if you hoard the money all for yourself, the happiness is actually when you give to people who are in need, and it doesn’t have to necessarily be money, it can also be gifts, cooking for people, or if you’re really good at maybe playing the piano, which is something I would love to be great at, if you’re gonna play the piano, just go and… Go to the church and play for free or whatever. Just give yourself away because it’s by giving, that we really do open up ourselves for things to come back to us.
0:43:39.8 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: There are laws in the universe that rule it, regardless of what we’re doing, right? Like, a farmer doesn’t go out into the field after he threw a bunch of seeds down after a couple of days and start digging up looking for carrots, right? He planted a bunch of carrot seeds and he goes out days later, no, he knows that there’s a time to reap. And so, as you give, even though you’re like nothing’s happening, there are laws outside of our control that are making things happen for you, despite how you feel. And I think… Okay, last page. Write your informations down. I have a vision board, which helps me see certain things. Every single day, I walk past it in my closet, and I’m like, Oh yeah, I thought about that. Oh yeah, I’ve been thinking about that. Oh yeah, I wanted that. So these are things… Again, I just see these things, I journal, I think about, I meditate, I just… I immerse myself in this train of thought, because by doing this, I’m able to shape my mind and to bring about things and have things occur.
0:44:42.1 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: Because I am focusing the attention and I’m looking for things and I’m seeing… Even with my husband and my son, I prayed for so long for a husband and a little kid, and they’re here. And so, it’s like, I need to be enjoying these things, I don’t need to be so worried in my life with how everything looks that I don’t enjoy the things that I was praying for and hoping for. So, hopefully, this made sense. I hope it made sense. I hope you see my heart and what I’m trying to convey, and what I’m hoping that more nurses view their careers with this abundance mindset. I think that we would be a lot nicer to the baby nurses if we saw that the more we give, the more that we see that there is more than enough to go around. We don’t need to put people down to hope that we look better. It would just change so many things in the nursing community.
0:45:47.5 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: I think that it would just be a really, really good shift. And if it can start with just one person thinking that way, thinking about the end in mind, thinking about how they wanna look at the end of their life, I think that we would be a lot better people. So anyway, yes, this is my website. That’s where you can email me, check out my podcast, that’s just me talking with other amazing nurses about their careers and the opportunities that they’ve created for themselves through just creativity, innovation, incredible examples of people that… They weren’t looking around, they’ve been focusing on what they want to grow and create and cultivate for their lives. So abundance mindset, that’s what we all need. I think that’s it. Latrina, hopefully that…
0:46:36.4 Professor Walden: No, it was great. It was great that you have a lot of, yes, I needed this. This is interesting. All of that. So I think we all needed to hear it. I went to therapy today, so I feel like this is right on track with that, changing your mindset and reframing things. It is so very important. And it is work. So that is the other thing that I definitely wanted to add, because we’re absolutely putting homework with this, and so we’ll have some things for them. But just know, guys, it’s not easy to come to grips with going from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset. Like that mind shift, sometimes it’s hard, and just acknowledging that, gosh, I was really in that place in the first place, because it’s not something that we admit for social media, right?
0:47:32.9 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: Yeah, no, I don’t. Something happened a couple days ago, and I remember, I literally had to tell myself, I’m like, you wanted a child and a husband so bad, and here you are, and you’re not even thinking clearly. And I just immediately right then I captured it and I went back to being present and enjoying what I had. ‘Cause I think it’s so easy to do, it’s the easiest thing to do, is to just look around and think somebody’s got it better than me, or this person has it, so therefore, I can’t have it. But when you start to look at it from a different mindset, you just start to see so many opportunities like… Again, I created a podcast, I met Latrina, and I didn’t even know who she was. I didn’t even know who she was, and I think she’s the most incredible human. And it’s because instead of wallowing in, I’m so sad that I… For me, I walked away from about 70% of my salary, I just walked away from it, and I was like… My principles and my core values are memories. That 80-year-old Sandra is gonna look back and think I miss memories with my son.
0:48:37.9 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: And so, I was like, No, I’m not gonna do that anymore. Like, that doesn’t align with who I wanna be, and so I stepped away from it. And by doing that, it has been… Again, I’ve gotten the time with my son, and now I’m getting to have conversations with the most amazing people that I would have never been able to do if I didn’t let go of something for my core principles. And so, I think it can be done, it’s hard, but I think starting small.
0:49:04.7 Professor Walden: It is definitely hard. Yeah. Start small, it is work, you do have to work at it, and you have to make little shifts. It’s like my husband tells me… : So my husband is very… He’s brilliant, I don’t even know what I got there, but he says, when you start comparing yourself, he’s like, you know… We always tell people don’t do that. And he goes, but we do it. We’re human, right? We are going to compare ourselves, but he just is… Just notice, hon they’re just… It’s just a different chapter in the book. So while you may be on chapter one, they may be on chapter seven. So yeah, it’s gonna look a little different. They’ve gone through a journey, and they’ve gone through a process. So our chapters look different. So you can compare, you can do that all day if you like, it’s not healthy, but…
0:49:55.0 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: You’re gonna be sad, yeah.
0:49:57.4 Professor Walden: Right. Right. But we’re human, and it just happened, but realize we’re also on different chapters of our lives. So some of us are just starting that and then some of us have been there, done that, and we’ve kind of moved on and done some work and maybe it got worse before it got better, but that’s what we’re doing. So, no, it was wonderful, it was great, and I absolutely loved it. You had a lot of everyone else who loved it and said they needed to hear this as well, so.
0:50:28.5 Dr. Sandra Pagenta: Good.
0:50:29.4 Professor Walden: I am excited. So, hang out, and then I’m gonna close everyone out and watch that for a second. Thank you, Dr. Pagenta. So fantastic, I’m glad that you guys all enjoyed this. It was… We do have the presentation up for you, just so that you can have it all and go through it, because there are some areas that I do want you to reference. I’m going to ask you to put… To look at the principles and really choose your top three, because that’s going to be important, because what I want you to do out of that is I want you to write your personal mission statement. Dr. Sandra talked about that. She mentioned that. But that is absolutely something that I want you to do. And that is part of your homework. So I want you to write your personal mission statement. Guys, I know it sounds crazy, but if you don’t have a direction and a goal in life, you’re just kinda out here flailing.
0:51:28.0 Professor Walden: So, you know, I want you to have direction, and I want you to make sure that you are strategically moving in that direction. So whatever that is, and making sure that I can help you with that as well. You don’t have to tell me your mission statement, but we do want it to align with everything and make sure that you are moving forward, and that’s my job, okay? That’s my job for you. So, we’re gonna do that, and then you’re gonna have to reassess your life, your career. And again, these are scary moves when you do that, they… Like Dr. Pagenta said, start small, but it is work and they are scary, so the fear is going to come, but fear means action, right? So that means you should be doing it. You gotta get uncomfortable, okay? So don’t stay where you are comfortable. So I’m just gonna shove you off the ledge, and move you over there. So that’s going to be important.
0:52:28.8 Professor Walden: So we’re gonna do that, and then I’ve got some other mirror… She talked about the mirror activity, so we’re gonna add that in for you and then we’re gonna add some affirmations to it. Again, sounds very frou-frou right? Sounds very cheesy and corny and all, but I promise you, it works, okay? Because part of it is you have to believe it. If you don’t believe it, then you won’t be making those moves and those goals. And I don’t want you to look back in five years and be like, This is not the life I wanted, okay? Because I feel like… You know, I’m very much normalizing nurse millionaires. Let’s talk about money. We like money. There’s nothing wrong with it. We also deserve a very happy and long fulfilled career, whatever that is. And while I’m very pro-nurse practitioner, I am also very much pro be happy. So, if that is not aligning for you of being a nurse practitioner, at this moment in time it’s not aligning for you, then let’s do something else, and let me help you get there, okay?
0:53:28.9 Professor Walden: So, we’re gonna talk about all of that. I’m gonna give you all of that homework, it’s gonna be fine, I’m gonna be checking up on you, and we’ll be doing that, but it’s gonna be exciting. I’m excited for that, so I hope you enjoyed it. We’ll get everything up for you in your portal, and you all know how I am. I will definitely see you at check-in this… Later on this month, we are going to talk about jobs and careers. So we’re kinda gonna stay on that train. I just wanna let you know just a little bit of what’s coming. Spanish is coming, so I am very excited about that. So that is up next, Spanish, we’re gonna have Spanish class, so I expect to have everyone in there. So, that is next Tuesday. My team is frantically texting, but that is next Tuesday, so we are gonna have Spanish, medical Spanish. So this is for us to help our patients, because again, all we wanna do is serve them appropriately. So, I am very excited. It’s gonna be a three-part series, guys, so it’s gonna be good. Then our pharmacist is coming next year, okay? I mean, not next year, but what is next year?
0:54:42.0 Professor Walden: Next month our pharmacist is coming back, so we’re gonna dive right into some medication, some new medications. We’ve got diabetes on track, we’re gonna have Dr. Sandra back, because I’m gonna have her talk about all her urology stuff, she doesn’t even know it yet. So we’re gonna make her a whole theories and have her come back. So, all the clinical stuff is coming and get ready for it next month, because it’s back, okay? So we’re gonna have everything for you, it’s gonna be exciting, and I can’t wait to see you. I will see you over in our communication channels. Let me know if you need anything. I’ll see you next Tuesday. That’s gonna be a good one as well. Alright, y’all. As always respectful of your time, so I will see you guys later. Reach out if you need me. Okay, bye.