I recently subscribed to the Blinkist, an app that summarizes nonfiction books and gets to the core of the book. I highly recommend it if you enjoy learning (and being a human, you naturally have curiosities in your life, right?).
One of the books is called the Speed of Trust by Stephen Covey. It tells us that trust affects everything, especially how fast communication and events go. For example, if you trust that the restaurant prepared your food safely, you’ll have no problem eating the food. However, if you had concerns over the food safety, you will hesitate and question the chef before maybe consuming the food (or even throwing it away).
Trust is one of the most powerful forms of motivations and inspiration. People want to be trusted. They respond to trust. They thrive on trust.
You must have self-trust so others can trust you. Because if you don’t trust yourself, then who will?
The way to gain trust in yourself is by following the Four Cores.
Integrity
Integrity is gained by making commitments to yourself and following through on them. Integrity is being honest with yourself. For example, if you tell a patient that you will return to them with information, then do that. If you tell yourself you will go to 50 crunches, 20 squats, 10 burpees, and jog a mile, then commit and do it! If someone blames another person for your mistakes, own up to it and take the blame. If you commit to waking up to the alarm clock and getting to work or school on time, then do it.
Intent
Having positive motives and behaviors will point you towards good intentions. Are you listening or do you just want to “win”? In many circumstances you can increase trust if you have good intentions.
Capabilities
Developing capabilities will improve your confidence. And life is always changing which requires you to keep learning. In the health field, learning what is the latest evidenced based practice and working towards incorporating it in your practice will keep you on the top of your game.
Results
When you build a track record of your results, you build self trust. In the world of anesthesia, you are constantly evaluating your actions– how well did the induction, maintenance, emergence go? How well did the patient do? What could I do differently to improve my results?
After developing trust in yourself, you develop trust in others
You develop trust through your actions and your truth. This includes understanding yourself — your strengths and weaknesses, your moods and behaviors, your actions and inactions. By knowing yourself, you can better understand others’ critiques of you and owning it.
You will also demonstrate trust by caring about others. Giving others credit when due. Being thankful for others’ actions. Showing that you are aligned in the same goals.
This will increase your credibility. This is important especially in the healthcare field and in the OR. You trust that the scrub tech stays sterile. You trust that the circulator nurse has the room and everyone responsible ready. You trust that the surgeon is able to safely complete surgery. You trust that the pre-op nurses get an IV and come talk to you if they have any questions. The more you trust yourself and gain trust in others, the faster things move and better the outcome.
With the lack of trust, everything and everyone is questioned. Only more delays occur. And that is why it is so important to gain trust in yourself and in others.
As a side note and reference to what’s going on in the real world…
Christine Blasey Ford showed tremendous courage in speaking out about her experience with Judge Brett Cavanaugh. She was incredibly credible — she had nothing to gain and everything to lose by speaking out, and the fear that her world would shatter and none of it would matter.
On the other hand, Judge Cavanaugh may have been a credible judge with many people who backed him up. He may have had a very credible record and people trusted his judgment. However, I feel that after his hearing, the American people, or at least me, do not feel that he would be impartial. He doesn’t seem like he would have the temperament of a judge. While one hearing doesn’t seem like it should change the fate of this candidate, he is also up for a LIFETIME job as a Supreme Court Justice. In my humble opinion, I believe that there are other candidates who would be better suited for this position. If he is confirmed, I believe that the American people will continue to lose faith in its institutions. Instead of trying to work together, we will continue to divide the nation.
I feel that problem with Judge Cavanaugh is not that he necessarily was a horrible drunk as a teenager and college student, but that he denied it and lied to the Senate. I believe that our principles and values are more important than ‘which party’ sits on the highest courts of our land.