I love Beachbody workout videos. No I am not about to launch into some weird hygienist fitness blog. I mention this to say that for many years, Chalene Johnson of TurboFire, TurboJam and ChaleneExtreme have been household names in the Dahlseide home as my kids have watched me sweating it out to her energetic, heart pumping home workouts. I am a confessed Chalene “lifer”. I consider her to be not only my fitness coach but now in many ways she is my life coach. How does a home workout celebrity become such a mentor you ask?
Consider the many travel hours I spend in my mobile dental hygiene van driving to various mobile clinics in a 250km radius of home. I have always held to the idea that an idle mind is never a good thing. So it was only a matter of time before all the driving I was doing as a mobile clinician needed to be better spent than just daydreaming about how I would spend potential lottery winnings should I ever win. I discovered, (drumroll)…podcasts via cell phone data streaming! So who did I turn to in said podcasts? That’s right, my girl Chalene! I started listening to The Chalene Show and it was there I heard the one line that changed my life. “Make time to get smarter everyday”.
Initially, I dove into healthy living, fitness and personal development podcasts. This evolved into entrepreneurial business podcasts like Build Your Tribe (also my girl, Chalene) It is crazy to grasp but if you can think of a topic, I am sure there is a podcast out there just for that. Now as hygienists, we already do live by a code of ethics that calls for continuing education efforts to keep our practice current and evidence based. So I have now been listening to many dental topic shows as well. I have really enjoyed Shirley Gutkowski’s BlogTalkradio podcast on all things dental hygiene. She is current and brings interesting guests and is always good for lively comments that keep us hygienists on our toes.
I know that the commitment I made to tune in about 4 times a week for at least 30 minutes a day has made me a better wife and mother, a healthier individual with increased emotional intelligence and a better dental hygienist and entrepreneur. I encourage all of you to spend some time on ITunes or Stitcher and find the show that speaks to you as you move to get smarter everyday.