Sastisfaction

There are many of you who have been around for awhile and like me, remember the old song Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones. I can still hear Mick Jagger lamenting the fact that he "couldn't get no satisfaction". Being satisfied is something that our human nature strives for, but always seems to be an inch out of reach. In a few days, however, we will be taking our Associate Satisfaction  Survey. The purpose of the survey is to measure how satisfied each of us is with Shawnee Mission Medical Center as a place to work.

Truthfully, it seems the last time I was satisfied for any length of time was the summer of 1969. I still recall what made that time so great. Water skiing on a nearby lake for hours, playing on a fast pitch softball team that was the best in the county, working with others my age at a summer camp in northern Minnesota and of course the music of the time was awesome. Ultimately, what made that time so great was my lack of responsibility.

Responsibility is a big word that drags a sack full of life's choices behind it. Are you satisfied as you peer into the depths of the choices you have made? How is that sack holding up? If you are like me, you have patched some of the holes in your bag with your tears.

A choice that you made at some point was to come and work at our Medical Center. As with most choices in life, there have been good days and bad days. At work, in order to do our best we need to have far more good days than bad. You can't afford sack full of bad days in your career. A baggie full maybe. With the passing of years, I've learned a point that I should have learned in 1969. Life is what you make of it, as being satisfied can be fleeting. Choose this day to live in harmony with the journey that you have been given.

-Brad Hoffman