The professional baseball season is 162 games and as many as 19 games in the playoffs so you can just feel the relief through the happiness of the team that wins.

It is a great ending to something that the team has put a ton of effort into.  For a lot of the players it is the only time they will ever experience this and they sure do enjoy it!

We don’t always get that kind of punctuation mark at the end of our hard work in healthcare.  It would be nice if after every 162 patient interactions, we popped the champagne (off duty of course) and celebrated a great victory.  But that’s not how it works.

We have to find our own motivation and find our own moments to celebrate.  We can take “one game at a time” and try to make every interaction the best it can be.  That’s important because while we are grinding things out day by day, our customers are sometimes in their own World Series.  Very often, they are in a once in a lifetime crisis and they are looking to us help get them through it.

If you can put a smile on the face of someone who is anxious, if you can comfort someone who is afraid, if you can relieve someone’s pain in their moment of need, well, that’s worthy of a celebration.  Try to give yourself and your team a little affirmation at the end of every “season.”  The World Series is, after all, just a series of games.  What you do in healthcare can be much more meaningful.  You deserve the occasional celebration.

I’ll bring the champagne.

Send me a note to Jake@wecreateloyalty.com or tweet me @JakePoore

PS-  Congratulations to all of our Red Sox fan friends @Baystate_Health. We know you are enjoying the victory!