By Audrey Fraizer
To kick off the year’s first issue of the Journal, we thought it would be rewarding to provide strategies to keep your New Year’s resolutions.
Why? Studies have found that people who make resolutions are 10 times more likely to change their behavior and, perhaps, enjoy longer and healthier lives.
It’s also our way of inviting members to make 2017 the year of contributing your talents to the Journal—printed and online. Since this is a resolution we want you to keep, we’ve included a process that will surely place you among the elite 8 percent who actually achieve their resolution.
Step 1: Make your resolution specific.
The Journal’s readers delight in the good news about emergency dispatch: how your training and people skills contribute to the outcome and chain of response. These stories are most often published in the Your Space section, and in this issue we have two articles in honor of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. Regular contributor Art Braunschweiger (The EMD Side) and new contributor Jennifer Siracusa offer their takes on the trials of emergency dispatch and the recognition the profession deserves.
Step 2: Schedule your goals and plan for the year.
You might want to schedule a deadline for an article you’d like to develop. Regular columnist Daphanie Bailes keeps tabs on the deadline, and in this issue she provides a tremendous response to the Office of Management and Budget’s refusal to reclassify public safety communication into the protective service. You could also write about an event, such as a baby delivery or cardiac arrest save. Or, if you have a great idea but would rather leave the writing to the Journal staff, we’ll be glad to do that for you. For example, in this issue we feature a couple from Victor, Colorado, USA, and it all started through a call telling us about the event from the Cripple Creek (Colo.) communication center.
Step 3: Acknowledge the sense of accomplishment.
You’ve probably heard it before: Celebrating even small successes will help keep you motivated and energized. A growing body of research associates cultivating positive emotions on a regular basis with psychological well-being, resilience, and living longer. And living longer means you’ll be here next year, and the years after next, to continue writing for the Journal.
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