Hi, welcome to Navigating Your Path. I'm your host Duane Newton, and I'm really thrilled that you're joining me for this inaugural episode. If you're anything like me, I know you feel like you received excellent clinical and scientific training, and that prepared you for so much of what you need to do as a leader in our field. But I also know that there was a lot that we didn't learn that wasn't part of our official training, knowledge and skills that were really necessary for us to feel comfortable and to be successful in our leadership roles. In my over 20 year career in the field, I've had to pick up a lot of that knowledge and those skills on my own along the way, some of it through my own trial and error, and some of it through seeing how other people approached things, finding what resonated with me and what didn't resonate. It's a tough process to go through and it's really tough to go through alone, and that's one of the reasons why I wanted to start this podcast. I wanna have conversations about these issues and experiences in a space that feels safe and comfortable for people to talk. The topics that I wanna discuss, both from my experiences and through the experiences of others will help show that you aren't alone. That we're all dealing with the same kinds of struggles, and I think we can all learn from each other to hopefully make our jobs and our lives a little bit easier. Maybe pick up some things that we haven't really thought about or learn some new approaches to try to tackle the tough situations that we're dealing with. It could be a situation like struggling with a problem employee or trying to get your team on the same page to get them to move in the direction that you'd like to take. Maybe it's trying to figure out how do I talk to my boss? How do I really get my message across to other people in the organization? Maybe you're struggling to figure out if you're even in the right place. Is this job that you're doing really something that resonates and is fulfilling for you? I know those are all really tough questions and I certainly have faced them. I know a lot of other people have faced them or are facing them now. My goal through the podcast is to have conversations that will help inspire and maybe guide you to be able to answer those questions for yourself. I think that before we can start to tackle some of these difficult topics, topics that will help us to be more effective leaders, it's really important to take a step back and think about how we're showing up as people, as individuals in our roles. I don't think you can be a leader in any kind of environment unless you have some awareness of what's important to you, what your values are, how you're showing up on a daily basis. I think that awareness helps inform you where your strengths and maybe some of your opportunities for improvement are. But I also think it provides some enlightenment as to how others are showing up and how they might approach the same situations you're facing. Having that kind of awareness of yourself and others, I think will start to open your eyes as to how to be more effective in the way that you lead and the way that you communicate with others. Also, how you make decisions on what's important for you as you move down your path. These are realizations though that I personally came to the hard way. So I'd like to start by telling you some of the story about how I got to where I am now and several important lessons that I learned along the way. Lessons that helped me to realize that I wasn't showing up as my authentic self. When I started my journey as a scientist and ultimately became a clinical lab director, I was doing all the things that I thought I was supposed to do to be successful. I got my PhD from the University of Dayton. I did an academic postdoc in infectious disease research at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Memphis. Then I applied for and was accepted into the CPEP Fellowship at the University of Rochester, where I trained to be a clinical laboratory director my dream role. I took my first leadership role at the public health lab for the state of Michigan, running their virology section for a couple of years, and then ultimately was recruited to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and was the clinical microbiology lab director there. Eventually becoming the associate director for all the labs in clinical pathology. Often when I was at professional conferences, I'd be giving a presentation, and in the introduction they'd rattle off all these positions and my history and my accomplishments, even showing a picture of me, my headshot in my shiny white U of M lab coat. Objectively, it may have looked and sound impressive, but it was always a little bit embarrassing for me to hear and listen to people talk about me like that. Maybe when you see and hear it, you feel like that's what you aspire to be. Maybe you think that's kind of pretentious. Maybe you don't think anything at all. Who knows? But I was up there on that stage, so I must have been a big deal. I must have it all figured out, right? Regardless of how you perceived all of those accomplishments and attributes or how you look at that picture of the dude in the white coat, from the outside looking in, I thought that's who I wanted to be when I grew up. But what I will tell you is that guy that I'm referring to in the picture on the inside, he was miserable. I felt miserable. Even though I was doing what I set out to do, and I think I was doing it well, I was miserable. I felt bored, trapped, stuck. I didn't want to be around people. I didn't want to get up in the morning. I felt insecure. I felt like my life lacked a sense of purpose and meaning. Logically, I knew in my head that the work that I was doing was meaningful, but it truly didn't feel that way. I felt like I had so much more to offer and that there had to be more out there for me. I'm really happy to report though that I've gotten to a point in my life where I don't feel miserable anymore. Believe me, it's not all unicorns and gum drops and candy canes, but I am truly happier and more joyful and more content, and more grateful than I've ever been in my life. I've found my purpose and my meaning, and through the stories that I'm going to share, I hope to inspire you to find your purpose too. Before I get into that, that I'd like to begin with a little bit of a backstory on the aha moment that happened to me that helped me to start down the path of finding my purpose. About 12 years or so ago, I was in the audience of a professional development conference being put on by my department listening to a speaker give a presentation about the importance of being in your element. The speaker talked about all these amazing ways that you feel when you're actually in your element. You feel like you're doing something that is completely natural and aligned. Something that resonates so strongly with you that you feel like it's truly who you are. You love what you do, your eyes light up when you talk about it. I was sitting there and I remember thinking What? Do people experience this? Because he wasn't describing me. Then he, he started talking about what it feels like when you're not in your element. That was my aha moment. He said that people who are not in their element describe their jobs as okay for now, or it pays the bills. They don't really enjoy life. Time seems to drag, five minutes, feels like an hour. You feel like it's actually draining everything out of you rather than filling your bucket. I sat there and I was like, oh no, he was describing me. I realized right at that time that I needed to do something. I needed to take action. I had to find a new path. I was going to find where I needed to be to feel like I was in my element, but almost simultaneously fear and anxiety set in. I thought, oh shit. What do I do? How do I do it? I was really scared and physically sick to my stomach. I felt paralyzed by the thought of making any changes. Suddenly, all that path that I'd been on, the one that I thought was perfect and right for me, got really, really foggy and very uncertain. Everything that I'd done up to that point, all of my school, all of my training, all of my jobs, all the choices that I've made personally and professionally had put me in this place. It was all that I knew. Eventually though I was able to move from the paralysis and started to take action. It was a long and bumpy and sometimes messy experience, but I learned a lot about myself and my processes along the way. If you're in that position where you're feeling stuck and disconnected, disappointed in life, maybe even a little bit hopeless, please know that there is hope and I hope that you can learn from my journey. So to wrap up, I'd like to introduce you to some of the changes that I made that I believe are really essential for anyone who's starting a journey towards following that more authentic path and living a more authentic life. We've already talked about some of the ways you might feel if you're on a misaligned path. If you're dreading waking up in the morning or you're feeling like there's more out there for you, then it might be time for a change. I wanna be absolutely clear though that this is not at all a story about me feeling like my choice of majors or my career path was a mistake. I don't want you to think that I feel that clinical microbiology is unimportant or invaluable. That couldn't be further from the truth. This is a story about realizing that I was no longer in the right place for me. I'm calling these changes that I made, the "Five Steps to Becoming Your Authentic Self." I'm not claiming to have it all figured out. But I really believe that these are five critical steps to take that will really help you get aligned to your authentic path. When you decide to make these changes, I can assure you your life will become more fulfilling and you'll feel more joy. So to start, step one, get out of your head and into your heart. Move away from what you think is right for you towards what you feel is right for you. Step two, connect with trusted people. You don't have to figure this out on your own. Step three, trust your intuition. You'll get great perspectives from others and see new possibilities, but your intuition is really what's gonna identify what makes sense for you. Step four. Take risks. You have to get out of your comfort zone in order to learn and grow. And finally, step five, enjoy the journey. Be present. Smell the flowers, soak it all in because life is short. In the next episode, I'll spend some time sharing more of my story, going through the things that happened in my life that helped me to realize how important each of these steps are. I am hoping that through these conversations, I can help you get oriented to your authentic path a little easier, because let's face it, not everyone needs to learn the hard way. Now, don't get me wrong, taking this path is not easy, but it will be worth it. If you'd like to directly connect with me, you can reach out via my podcast email, which is listed in the description of this episode. It also contains the links to the podcast website and YouTube channel where you can check out more of my content. Feel free to reach out if you'd like to share any comments or make some suggestions about topics to discuss. I'd also love to hear if you have suggestions for people for me to interview or even if you'd like to be interviewed by me. You can also contact me if you'd like to learn more about what I do as a professional development coach. I look forward to having you join me next time. Take good care.