Goals... Do you have any?

Recently I received some really good advice from a mentor.  We were talking about career aspirations and career goals.  The advice was simple, but maid a lot of sense... write your goals down.  It was a practice he had used for many years and he had completed all or nearly all of the goals he had ever written down.  There is something about the act of physically writing them down and having there in concrete terms that made them very real.  Like I said, its a simple notion but if you are really serious about your goals and achieving them, its an easy practice and I think you should consider it.

So lets talk a little more about goals.  Goals are a wonderful tool that you can use to keep yourself on track and keep yourself motivated.  Its a road map to get you want to go in your career.  The first thing you need to do is take some time and do a little soul searching.  Where do you want to go in your career or just in your life in general.  Once you figure out the end point you now know what your long term goal is.  Long term goals are typically goals that are the bigger plateaus in your career.  These are the bigger goals that take more time and work to achieve them.  When you decide what your long term goals are then you need to figure out what the steps are that will get you there.  These are your short term goals.  Short term goals are typically quicker and easier to achieve.  The completion of short term goals should lead you to completion of your long term goals.  An example of a long term goal would be obtaining a fire chief position.  Your short term goals would be goals that will enable to achieve this goal.  Examples of your short term goals could be a college degree or a company officer position.  The short term goals should be steps that will allow you to progress and work towards your long term goals.

I tend to be a dreamer and I really feel that you can do nearly anything you want if you work hard enough but there are some exceptions to that.  I know it is not reasonable to set a goal to be professional baseball player.  That's just not something that is in the cards for me.  The goals you set should be realistic and obtainable.  I'm not telling you to stymie yourself.  If you have a career path in mind... go for it just remember that it will take a lot of hard work and dedication but its not impossible.  Use your goals to set yourself up for success, not failure.  Make sure each goal you hit puts you a step closer to your long term goal.  Remember to set time frames on your goals and reassess them periodically.  If you are not meeting your goals then you need to sit down and analyze the situation and figure out why you are not meeting those goals.  Perhaps you set your goals too high or your passion has changed or you have had setbacks.  Whatever the case may be, don't give up.  Reassess and redirect yourself.

I decided to take the written goals a step further.  Not only am I going to write them down, but I am going to post them on this blog.  I figured it would add another level of accountability and motivation for myself.  Hopefully seeing my goals will help you with setting some of your own.  So here goes:

Long Term Goal
-To teach and lecture on a national level in the fire service.
-Bring Awareness and education nationally for LS Initiative 13 (mental health for firefighters).
-EFO designation- under consideration
-Master's Degree- under consideration


Medium to Long Term Goal
- Promotion to Lieutenant at my career department


Short Term Goals
-Have an article published in a national fire service periodical
-To teach and lecture on a state level in the fire service
-Obtain additional training in peer counseling, psychological first aid and CISD
-Attend NFA
-Develop a curriculum and on Firefighter Mental Health and present it at Fire School.
-The first step of this goal is to start with a 4 hr class
-The second step is to expand this into an 8 hr class
So here are my goals.  I feel like they are pretty reasonable.  My short term goals should set me up to achieve my long term goals.  I did add a couple of goals under the long term category that I am still considering.  I am not 100% sure on the EFO designation or the Master's Degree.  They are both something I have been considering but haven't committed to either yet.  They will take some further consideration and research.  I think that's okay though, they are things I certainly want to consider and I think by adding them to the list it keeps them on my radar.

Hopefully this post will help you set some goals of your own and I hope you achieve those goals as well.  Good luck and feel free to post some of your goals or thoughts in the comments.

Breaking Down the Stereotypes of Mental Health

When people describe firefighters they typically use adjectives like brave, strong, courageous and daring.  Conversely, when people describe people with mental health disorders they use adjectives like weak, crazy, and helpless.  While I feel that these are misguided stereotypes unfortunately there are still a lot people in this world that have negative thoughts about people with mental health disorders.  There is definitely a negative perception towards people who seek help in this area.  

Many people do not want to admit they have an issue because they are afraid of how they will be perceived.  What they don’t understand is how widespread mental health disorders are becoming.  The National Institute of Mental Health reports that 57.7 million or approx 26% of Americans over the age of 18 suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder.  1 in 4 people with a mental disorder.  That number is staggering.  The American Cancer Society reports that that there is a 1 in 3 chance of developing cancer among Americans.  The number of Americans with heart disease in 2010 was 11.8%.  Mental health disorders are much more prevalent than most would like to admit.  The fact of the matter is we can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to mental health disorders.  We need to bring awareness to mental health disorders and we need to work to bring down the stereotypes and let people, especially firefighters, know that it is okay to admit they have a disorder and work to get them help to address the problem.

So what happens when a firefighter has a mental health disorder?  More than likely they try and ignore it.  Firefighters are strong and brave so they can’t show a weakness like having a disorder like anxiety or depression.  They don’t want their coworkers to think they can’t do the job or can’t be relied upon so they hide it.  God forbid that a firefighter be human and have vulnerabilities.  I suppose a person with depression can’t be a good firefighter.  I suppose a firefighter with anxiety is a liability to his or her crew in a fire.  This type of thinking is the problem and it creates a cycle that a person can’t get out of without help.  Consider this situation... a firefighter has anxiety.  They are afraid someone will think less of them if they seek help or admit to disorder so they hide it.  They suppress their feelings and emotions.  All this does is feed the disorder more and creates the opportunity for the disorder to worsen.  We have to stop the cycle.  We need to let people know that it is okay to have a mental disorder.  It doesn’t make someone less of a person if they have a mental disorder.  

The first thing we need to do is break down the stereotype.  Once we get through the stereotypes then we can work on getting people the help they need to manage these disorders.  But first things first, we need to show firefighters that it is okay to admit to having a mental disorder and that it is okay to seek help.  It doesn’t make someone a bad firefighter or less of a firefighter if they have a problem.  So how do we do this?  I feel like the first step is to show an example from the inside.  We need an advocate and role model so that other firefighters can see that it is possible to have a mental disorder and still be successful as a firefighter.  Let me introduce you to that advocate...its me.  I have battled depression and anxiety for pretty much all my life.  It wasn’t until about 10 years that I sought treatment for these disorders.  I have good days and bad days with anxiety and depression.  There were periods of time where I thought I could battle this disorder on my own without help.  Typically I failed miserably when trying to battle this disorder on my own.  Depression and anxiety are not disorders that you can battle on your own.  In my case I needed medication to help sustain my mood and I needed counseling to work through my issues.  It was difficult for to me to admit I couldn’t do it alone.  I am typically a pretty independent person and feel like I can solve most problems on my own.  Initially, I felt weak and I was less of a man because I had to take medication and go to counseling.  I wasn’t a firefighter when I was initially diagnosed with anxiety and depression but the disorders both reared their ugly heads about a year after I started full time.  I was dealing with several issues at the time and to be honest, had I not sought help my life would be much different today.  I would most likely be divorced and no longer employed as a firefighter.  I had become a shell of myself and I hated what I saw in the mirror everyday.  Through medication and counseling I was able to get the help I needed and get my life turned around.  It wasn’t easy and it didn’t happen over night.  It was a tough process and I think I have made it through the worst of it but their is always more work to do and more steps to take.

There it is, it is out there on the table.  I have depression and anxiety and I am a firefighter.  I have a successful full time career with what I believe to be a bright future with the department.  I am putting myself out there and telling my story in hopes that I can help others.  I want firefighters to know that its okay to have a mental disorder and that it doesn’t make you less of a firefighter if you do.  I want to help break down those stereotypes and I want do what I can to get other firefighters the help they need.  Learn from my mistakes.  I don’t want others to go through what I have gone through if they don’t have to.  Thats why I am writing this article and thats why I am a part of Iowa Firefighter Resources.  We are dedicated to helping Iowa Firefighters.  Life Safety Initiative 13 needs to be promoted and we need to make sure firefighters have access to the help they need.  Look for more in the upcoming months on this topic.  For more information follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/IowaFirefighterResources or on twitter @LSInitiative13.  

Life Safety Initiative #3 Risk Management

The third Life Safety Initiative is risk management.  To me, this seems like a very easy one.  This should part of everything we do everyday.  There is so much inherent risk in everything we do that risk management should be a no-brainer but I have seen departments operate with what appears to be no real concern for the risk involved.  Honestly, that is one of the reasons why we continue to kill 100+ firefighters a year.

We face risks in life every single day.  Walking down the stairs, driving in our cars, responding to and from calls, and making entry into a burning building.  Nearly everything we do has some sort of risk.  We wear seat belts to try and minimize the risk of injury if we are involved in an accident.  We were gloves to try and limit exposures on EMS calls.  We wear turnout gear and SCBA's to try and minimize the risk we face on the fire ground.  Risk management is part of what we do.  Most of the time we don't even realize it.  To me its common sense, so why wouldn't your command staff, officers and firefighters use risk management when fighting fires?  Typically even the worst and most reckless incident commander uses some sort of risk management, it just may be that what they see as an "acceptable" risk maybe different than what you or I see as acceptable.  From the day I started in the fire service I have heard the saying "Risk a lot to save a lot, risk a little to save a little."  This is a simple and rudimentary way to exercise risk management but it is a starting point.  If there is a viable life to be saved inside a burning home then it is a risk worthy of sending firefighters in aggressively.  The issue comes when firefighters are being sent in to fully involved house fires where there is no chance of civilian survival.  We as firefighters, company officers and command staff need to be able to recognize the difference between an acceptable risk and an unacceptable risk.  In this day and age we should not be risking the lives of firefighters when there is nothing to save.  I know its not as much fun to fight a fire defensively and we all want to go inside and make the attack on a fire but seriously folks, if fire is in all rooms and on all floors and blowing out of the roof no one inside will survive.  Why would we risk our most precious resources in that situation?

We need to learn to be better risk managers.  Gone are the days when it was okay to rush into a fire with minimal turnout gear and no SCBA.  Fires are different, building construction is different.  Fires burn hotter and structures fail quicker.  We need to have a good working knowledge of fire behavior and building construction so we know what we are dealing with and so that we can properly assess the risks on the fire ground.  To make matters worse we are seeing less fires every year so we get less opportunities to practice.  This is where personal accountability and cultural change become key.  The fire service has changed.  While it is still considered a "blue collar" job we have to use some "white collar" thinking.  It is no longer acceptable to be uneducated brutes that rush into the fire no matter the cost.  Training and education are more important than they have ever been.  We need to be studying the types of structures in our first due area and then discussing what type of fires we might face.  Ordinary construction burns differently than light weight construction.  If you can't recognize the type of building you have on fire then how can you effectively fight it?  You can't.  A good risk manager will gather as much information as possible about the situation, assess the risks and then use the appropriate tactics to resolve the situation.  In order to assess the risks, you have to know what you are dealing with.  We need to be able to recognize the signs of building collapse.  We need to be able to recognize when a fire is approaching flashover.  Businesses study the markets and economy to determine what risks are involved, if they didn't then there stock holders would be upset when they make poor decisions and lose money.  Our business is firefighting and we should act the same way.  Our stock holders are our families and our tax payers.  We don't want to foolishly risk equipment at the cost of our tax payers and we certainly don't want to foolishly risk our firefighters at the expense of their families.  Honestly, we have far more at risk then any corporation.  I can handle telling someone I made a poor investment decision that resulted in a loss of $1 million dollars but I never want to tell a wife or a child that I made a poor decision that cost the life of their firefighter.  These are the things that we should be thinking of when we are making decisions on the fire ground.

To me risk management is not an option.  We must do it everyday and we must do it well.  We need to be able to assess the situation and make the proper decisions that will ensure all of our firefighters go home safely.  If your firefighters are not your number one priority then you need to reassess your risk management strategy.  Are you making the right decisions based on the risks involved?  Zero is the only acceptable number of casualties we can demand out of our risk managers.  I know things happen and we cannot always assure that no one will be injured or lost but we need to make darn sure that we are doing everything in our power to identify and control as many of the risks as we can.  We need to ensure that EVERYONE GOES HOME!!!!!