ONS Connect - April 2008 - (Page 27)

wORkINgfORYOU ONS Offers Balanced Opportunities to Participate [By Paula t. rieger, RN, MSN, AOCN ®, FAAN, ONS Chief Executive Officer] Paula T. Rieger, RN, MSN, AOCN®, FAAN hen considering balance in life or at work, the concept of time creeps into the picture. In January, USA Today ran a feature story on how the world is coping with sped-up lives. Given all of the responsibilities and demands for our attention in the modern world, the article proposed that it was amazing that readers even had the time to read the article! A quotation by James Gleick, author of Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything, helps to put our feelings in perspective: “There’s never been a W From nominating one of your peers for an award to serving on one of the corporate boards of directors, you can choose how to share your talents and skills in a way that will fit into your life. time in history when people didn’t think things were going faster than ever before.” At least we are not alone in feeling stressed. Technology, in many ways, has changed the pace of our lives. Although its “instant gratification” nature helps us to accomplish things more rapidly, and, we hope, more easily, it also allows us to do more. The result has been higher expectations and less patience for things that seem to take too long. This issue of ONS Connect speaks about work-life balance for retaining staff in the workplace. I’d like to focus on a related but separate topic. How does ONS maintain opportunities for its members to participate in the work of the organization that realistically fit into their hectic and already over-crowded lives? The contributions of volunteers are the lifeblood of the Society. We thrive because of the dedication and passion our volunteers and staff choose to put into ONS. A key component of the ONS value of stewardship is the judicious and prudent use of the time and talents of our members and staff. The ONS Membership and Leadership Team continually contemplates this dilemma and has developed a chart to capture the many ways members can volunteer and the amount of time involved in each. You can pick the ones that fit your schedule. From nominating one of your peers for an award to serving on one of the corporate boards of directors, you choose how to share your talents and skills in a way that will fit into your life. Visit www .ons.org/membership/documents/pdfs/ GetInvolved.pdf to view the chart. I have admired many accomplished people and wondered how they did it all. A truth in life is that we achieve those things we choose to make a focus and goal. We have to dedicate time to those things that are important to us and learn to leave behind those that are nonessential. I hope that this year or sometime in the future, you will choose to make ONS a priority in your life. Without you, we cannot live up to another of our values: inclusiveness. Diversity of thought and individuals are critical to strengthening ONS’s ability to meet the needs of everyone we serve. ✱ APRIL 2008 ONS CONNECT 27 http://www.ons.org/membership/documents/pdfs/GetInvolved.pdf http://www.ons.org/membership/documents/pdfs/GetInvolved.pdf http://www.ons.org/membership/documents/pdfs/GetInvolved.pdf

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ONS Connect - April 2008

ONS Connect - April 2008 Contents Editor's Note Just In Work-Life Balance A Year in the Life—Month Four Web Connect Capitol Connection Notice Nursing Now Enhance Your Professionalism in Your Daily Practice Help Patients Integrate Yoga Into Cancer Care Caregiver Care Epigenetics Offers New Options for Cancer Diagnosis Working for You Calendar of Events Staying on Top

ONS Connect - April 2008

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