(By guest blogger Linda Pool, CSR, CCRR – @lindakpool (Twitter)

          This morning I accompanied my parents to the hospital where my father had a fairly routine surgical

procedure.  He was checked in, through pre-op, out of surgery, out of recovery, and into his own room by

 10:00 a.m.

          Shortly after arriving in his private room — complete with a breathtaking view of Torrey Pines Golf

Course and the beautiful, glistening Pacific Ocean — his nurse arrived and began charting.

                 “How old are you, Norman?”

                 “81.”    

                 “Can you walk on your own?”

          I snickered out loud, eliciting a look from the nurse.

                 “Yes, I can.”

                 “Can you feed yourself?”

                 Now I laughed out loud. 

                “Yes, I can feed myself.”

                “Are you incontinent?”

 I groaned.

                 “No, I am not.”

            It occurred to me these are routine questions asked every patient of a certain age.  While my father’s

physical age is easily 20 years younger than his biological age, the nurse could not make any assumptions and had

 to ask every question on her list.

           I began to think of my dad and his fitness.  He goes to yoga twice a week, works out at the gym three

mornings a week, and never misses an opportunity to go for a walk or quick bike ride through his neighborhood in

the afternoons. 

             The light bulb went on, and I made the connection between our physical fitness and our professional

fitness.  You may work on your physical fitness regularly to keep in shape, but how often do you work on your

professional fitness? 

            If you had to answer a list of questions regarding your professional fitness, how would you score? 

Would you be able to answer “yes” to the following questions?

           Do you attend seminars regularly?  Do you surround yourself with smart, forward-thinking colleagues

who support you and keep pushing the envelope towards greatness?  Do you understand how your office works and

 the job of each person on staff?  Do you keep apprised technology and what is new and exciting?  Have you mastered

your CAT software?  If there is something you don’t know, do you know the resource to give you an answer or point

you in the right direction?

                               Clearly, my dad would win a presidential level fitness award, deservedly so.  At the age of 81, he

understands physical fitness is something to be maintained, and he doesn’t take his excellent health for granted.  He

has worked hard to get where he is today.

           What would your PROFESSIONAL fitness level be?   Would you score in the presidential level, or would you fall

 short? 

            I hope you aspire to hold a presidential level of professional fitness, feeling the hunger to be a

 better court reporter, never satisfied, always looking for areas of improvement.

            Let’s make 2010 the year we improve our professional fitness.  What will your professional workouts

 consist of to get you to the next level?  Is this the year you will write realtime?  Master medical malpractice? 

 Patent law?  Technology cases?  Is this the year you learn the Windows device manager settings so YOU are in

control of a successful realtime connection rather than crossing your fingers and holding your breath, praying that it

works?  Is this the year you replace those old realtime cables for a StenoCast wireless system?  Is this the year you

finally resolve those same conflicts you edit through in each and every job?  Is this the year you test for a particular

certification you wish you had?  RPR?  CRR?  CCRR?  RMR? 

                              I could go on forever, but I think I’ve made my point.  Let’s reinvent ourselves in 2010.  Let’s begin

our workouts to take our professional fitness to the PRESIDENTIAL level.  There will be challenges.  It will be

hard.  But as Tom Hanks’ character, Jimmy Dugan, says in one of my all-time favorite movies, A League Of Their Own,

“It’s supposed to be hard.  If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it.  The hard is what makes it great.”