DNP Ep. 64: How To Use Emotional Intelligence In Your Nursing Career

Sandra Pagenta: Hi, Dr. Nurse Podcast fam welcome. Today we have on Tiffany Gibson. She’s someone I’ve been wanting to have on the podcast cuz she’s just such a poignant speaker and I love what she has to say about so many things. She is the owner, CEO, woman in charge of the new nurse academy.

And this is her platform where she works with coaching, mentoring nurses, community for nurses as they are going through their careers. So she kind of creates a safe space for nurses to just come and learn about what it is they need to do for their careers. And she is well versed. She’s a board certified pediatric nurse and she’s a board certified nursing professional.

Develop. Specialist, which I think was is just really, really cool. Tons of, as she calls alphabet soup after her name. So check out her all her accolades in the show notes. Tiffany, welcome.

Tiffany Gibson: Thank you so much. I appreciate that.

Sandra Pagenta: Let’s dive in and how I always like to start is just kind of describing what [00:01:00] it is that you do and kind of how you see your role in day in, day out life.

Tiffany Gibson: Yes. So I provide an ecosystem for nurses along the continuum. To grow, learn, and have a safe space to be their authentic selves within nursing. And I do that through the lens of emotional intelligence. And that’s not how I started my business though. But that’s where we are now. And one of the things that I, I’m learning, even though I am board certified as a nurse professional development specialist, it’s that professional development is personal development.

And so as I was learning about being a business owner and doing that for me personally, I realized that it changed my outlook on how I do business and how I provide business and how I serve. And so that changed me professionally, and that’s kind of where we are now.

Sandra Pagenta: Interesting. So you began, and again, I think it’s [00:02:00] funny because it’s true.

As you start to develop other parts of yourself, other things begin to shift as well, and you begin to kind of go. Wait a minute. I’m learning all this knowledge and it’s applying in every single aspect of my life. Everything. Yeah. And it just begins to touch on everything. And so one of the things that I was hoping that as you were talking about emotional, I’ve heard you speak about emotional intelligence and I feel like it’s something that Is vital to understanding what you want out of life and what you want out of your career.

And whenever you start to become really smart and understanding, oh, this is my priorities, these are the things that I want out of my life, then you can end up shaping the other areas to fit those priorities. Right. So as you’ve been kind of owning your own business, working on that part, what made you decide like, okay, Tiffany, I’m gonna go ahead and just launch my business and I’m gonna just do this thing big time, no holds bar.

This is what I’m going for.

Tiffany Gibson: Yeah, so 2018 is when New Nurse Academy was officially created and it just started off as tutoring. I was a clinical instructor and my students wanted me to help them after school. And I wanted to be paid for my time and so to make sure there wasn’t a conflict of interest of me being their professor and them paying me, I created an entity mm-hmm.

that they can then book me through this entity and then pay me. And that had nothing to do with school and my role as an instructor with the school. So that’s really how it started. And most nurses have a second job, a, a hustle or something because our schedules is so flexible. That we have the opportunity to do other things outside of our main thing.

So that was my side thing and that’s why it started off as the name New Nurse Academy. Just I’m helping students become nurses and they’re new and I’m teaching, and so the name fits. And then as my students grew and they graduated nursing school and they became new nurses, then [00:04:00] I had to show up for them in a different, right?

So now we’re talking about like onboarding and orientation and interviewing and what it’s like to be a new nurse. So now I have to provide different coaching, and it’s no longer about NCLEX Prep. Now it’s just about like, what is your voice in this unit? How do you fit in into the culture? And then as those students.

Then was in the profession for about two to three years. They wanted to be charge nurse and preceptor and travel and do other things. Now they’re looking for me for more support. Now I have to do something different. And so with each stage that my client grew, I had to grow. And that’s kind of where I’m at now.

And so in the process of growing, I got a coach because I needed help with scaling. I am an educator. I know how to educate. I know how to speak. Running a business is not what I know. , that’s it. Mm-hmm. , that’s not it. And so I needed help and I looked for help. And my business coach is [00:05:00] also a mindset coach because to her, you can’t have one without the other.

And that’s not what I was looking for. I just wanted somebody to help me, like with marketing and Facebook ads and funnels and like freebies. I wanted that. And she’s like, I’m gonna give you that, but let’s also talk about your limited beliefs, your mindset. How are you showing up? How are you serving? What is your energy type?

And I’m like, Oh, I like this . I like this piece. And so I started incorporating what I was learning about mindset. and I, I honed in on emotional intelligence because to me, that is the umbrella of everything that we do as humans. Whether you are a nurse, whether you are an entrepreneur, whether you are a mom, whether you’re, you know, whatever.

Emotional intelligence really is that common thread in all those pieces. And so that’s what I focus on in my business specifically for nurses.

Sandra Pagenta: Yeah, so if you were to take a new nurse that’s like, Okay, [00:06:00] I’ve heard this word, emotional intelligence. What does it mean? What does it look like? How does it look?

What does it look like for me to understand my own emotional intelligence? How would you kind of start her down the road towards figuring that out?

Tiffany Gibson: So emotional intelligence is recognizing and managing your own emotions in a positive way so you can recognize and manage other people’s emotions, right?

It’s you being able to be the calm in the midst of the storm, not so that you can calm the storm, but that you can ride the wave. That is what emotional intelligence is. Right. And so specifically in nursing, because everything we do is in regards to someone else, whether we are direct patient care, whether we are management, whether we are in entrepreneurship, what we’re doing is providing a service for someone else, right?

And so, I can’t be a good manager if I don’t understand how to lead. I can’t be a good nurse if I don’t understand that the person that’s acting out is doing it because they don’t have [00:07:00] control of themselves. It has nothing to do with me personally. I cannot ask questions as a new nurse if I don’t have the confidence in myself, right?

And so that common thread is emotional intelligence. But first, I need to recognize what are my thoughts and my feelings in this. Why am I interpreting this moment like this? And then what can I do in this moment to manage me so that I can solve the moment I can? And that’s really what emotional intelligence is.

I think a lot of times we recognize what we feel, we may even recognize to why we feel this way, like we know what our triggers are, but then we center our emotions in the midst of this problem, which is not the an seated to the problem. Right. Mm. Her emotions is just our interpretation of what’s happening.

Yeah. We can choose to react, we can choose to respond, we can choose to let this person annoy me. But we can’t center how we feel in the midst of this because then we don’t get to the problem solving. [00:08:00] We don’t get to the decision making. We don’t get to the critical thinking. We don’t get to the resolution, and that’s what emotional intelligence.

Sandra Pagenta: Yeah, and it’s the understanding of yourself, right? I think it’s really sitting alone, figuring out, Hey, this is my trigger. This is why I feel this way. Giving a name to those things, and then again, instead of sitting there and either. Becoming a victim, complaining, focusing in on everyone around you, holding you back.

You can then move into the empowerment phase, which is, how do I change the situation for myself? How do I adjust the situation for me? And I think that is so big because this is, as you said, the crutch of, or why people go into, you know, I wanna start a business, but it’s like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a second.

We need to talk about. The steps up until that point and what you are trying to prioritize by starting this business. And I’ve heard you say on other [00:09:00] podcasts before that you had three domains that were really important to you and those were how you were operating. The decisions you were making out of your life.

And I think that that is, that has such a high level of emotional intelligence that I think every nurse that’s thinking about starting a business, wanting to, like, how do I get going, needs to sit in and figure out what are the goals and the priorities that I am moving towards. Begin with the end in mind and then work back from that spot.

And so I kind of wanted to know if you would walk us through how you did that in regards to your business and what those three domains were that you were like, All right, this is what I’m focused in on now. Let me walk the plan back and in incorporate my work into my life.

Tiffany Gibson: Absolutely. So I first wanna say that entrepreneurship is not an.

Root. I think a lot of people say, I’m just gonna go into business for myself because I’m tired of working at bedside, or my manager getting [00:10:00] on my nerves, or, you know, whatever the case may be. Entrepreneurship is probably worse than working for somebody else. Because you’re working for yourself and it’s 24 hours, seven days a week, and everybody is your boss, right?

So you went from having one manager to having every single client and customer you serve now, being your boss because you’re providing service to them. And the purpose of having a business is to to answer a problem. And so you need your customers and your clients to tell you what the problem is. And you know, it’s a never ending job,

And so if you are not aware of the role you play in the toxicity you’re running away from, that’s going to follow you no matter where you go. And what I’ve learned, because I’m really being into universal law, I’m really big into human design. What I’ve learned is the universe or God or source, or whoever your higher power is, is going to continue to give you [00:11:00] the same lesson if you haven’t learned.

And that lesson may not necessarily look the same every time, but the meaning and the purpose behind the lesson is gonna be the same if you have not learned it. And so while you were at work and you ignored all those flags, the yellow flag, the orange flag, the burgundy flag before it became red, and you’re like, Well, I’m leaving.

Okay, well those things are gonna show up. As an entrepreneur, you may do aesthetics really well, but you may have a pissy. And you had a pissy attitude at your other job and that’s why nobody liked you and that’s why they treated you that way. Not to say that it’s correct, but you know, cause and effects and that’s why you left.

But now you’re here and you still don’t know how to manage your emotions and you still don’t know how to talk to people and you still in negative Nancy and you still, you know, center yourself in the midst of other people’s problems and you’re wondering why you can’t scale. You’re wondering why people aren’t returning your calls.

You’re wondering why your clients aren’t coming back and being loyal to the business cause they don’t like. [00:12:00] Because you don’t, you don’t know you and you don’t see you in other people’s eyes. Right? And that’s emotional intelligence, and that is, that’s the big thing. So for me, it was first and foremost, How can I be the consummate self-aware person ever?

Like how can I get to know Tiffany on a deep level? And that included therapy that included breaking up with my boyfriend multiple times that I was going through stuff. And he was like, What is happening over here? Like, this is not what I signed up for. , call me when you get yourself together. . Yeah. And it went through mom guilt.

It went through a lot. It went me through me Leav. My job as a nurse, professional educator at the hospital and trying something different and realizing, I don’t like that. Let’s, let’s go back over here. So I, I spend a lot of my energy and my intention and my self improvement, which is domain one. Mm.

Self-awareness, self-improvement. How can I learn more about me? How can I [00:13:00] learn more about my triggers? How can I learn more about just the psychology of human behavior? How can I learn more about why these things happen? Like I, that’s why I like to spend a lot of my personal professional development in that self-awareness domain.

Then the next is the management. . So now that I know what the emotions are and I can name them and identify them and tell you where they come from and all that other good stuff, how do I manage it and what does that look like, and manage it in a positive way. Drinking a whole bottle of wine is not positive management that is masking.

But how do I sit there at the root and feel all the feels and control my controllables and, and how can I do that? Well, that, that takes a lot of work. And that takes a lot of time. And that’s, that’s where the healing is. You know, when people like, do the work. That’s the work part. Yeah, that’s the work part.

Yeah. And so managing myself also, Identifying what my boundaries are, my [00:14:00] non-negotiables are and where my integrity lies. Hmm. Because there could be an opportunity for me that I can take because it has high position hype authority, high authority, high salary. But if it’s taking away my piece, then why am I.

Yeah, right. And, and so just realizing like, this is a non-negotiable for me. I’m not gonna do it. These are my boundaries. And recognizing that boundaries are a commitment to myself. Boundaries are not rules for other people. We sometimes misconstrue that. And then realizing what my ultimate desires are, which I like to call my, my values, right?

Time freedom, recreational freedom, and financial freedom. To do what I want, when I want, how I want. That’s how I wanna live my life. And so being a nurse and the education that I have and how I wanna serve [00:15:00] nurses and how I wanna show up in the nurse community, but still be in alignment with my ultimate desires, my three domains, what does that look like?

And in order for me to have the two intersect I needed to. Unleash the tradition and the conventions of what nursing education should look like and just do it on my own, which is what I’m doing now, being self-employed, working from home. So now I can do what I want and I want how I want, right? I can consult when I want.

I can charge what I want. I can do interviews when I want and show up in the world and still prioritize family. and still prioritize me and still take trips to Bali and not have to worry about PTO being approved. Like now, I’ve encompassed what it is that my ultimate desires look like while still being a nurse.

Sandra Pagenta: Like, it just blows me away. I get emotional [00:16:00] hearing it because it is so well thought through, like you can tell you’ve done the work. I mean, that is essentially what you were describing as you were talking about how you had to kind of sit alone and figure out with, with, with a lens of self-awareness with a mirror, like mm-hmm.

who am I? Like what, what are my issues? Because my dad always said this, wherever you go there, you. Yeah. . Yeah. For every you go, there you are. And so just because you move into a different role doesn’t mean that the problems of your job disappear. They don’t. They follow you because they follow you. You are the problem.

And so, As you sit alone and you figure out like, why do these things trigger me? I do think to a certain degree, sometimes entrepreneurship looks like this out. Like, Oh, this is the out that you want for your career, and it’s not. It’s gotta be something that you scale slowly, but again, you’ve gotta. [00:17:00] Self work to figure out really what are you aiming for? What are you trying to shoot for, what are you trying to solve and how does this bring something to others that, yes, helps me achieve my goals, but I’ve gotta help others get to their goals too.

I can’t, can’t just be about me making my best life. It has to be about other things.

Tiffany Gibson: Right? Absolutely. And even if. Even if you go into nursing or entrepreneurship just for the money, let’s just say, right? Going in to chase the bag. I hate that term, but you know it’s six. Everybody’s talking about six figures and chasing the bag.

And the money. The money, the money, which is very superficial, right? But there’s still something underneath that. Why that money is so valuable to. And so if the intent is to go into nursing or entrepreneurship for the money, because you have the ability to make a lot, then I would implore you to think about what are you gonna do with that money?

Because it can’t be about buying bags and shoes and taking trips. [00:18:00] Is it because you want to experience life on a different? Is it because you wanna be able to afford tuition for your child? Is it because you wanna be able to get out of debt and buy your first home? Like there’s still a root cause behind chasing the bag.

There’s still something behind that. Did you grow up in private poverty? And so you were trying to rub two nicks together and now you have the opportunity to make a lot of money in a short amount of time, so you wanna revel. Right, And you want to wear clothes or drive a car so that other people can see that you have reached this, this whatever, pinnacle or level of success, that’s something there.

So that means you never felt validated. That means you didn’t, you weren’t recognized. That means, you know, you were always quieted before, you know, So there’s always something. It may look and start off as superficial, but there’s something there. So if the work is figuring [00:19:00] out what that root cause is, because it’s not always what you think it is, and then once you find out what your ultimate desires of life are, like your domains and how you wanna operate, then every decision that you make should fall into that.

Every yes and every no is because I’m getting closer to my ultimate desires of time, financial and recreational.

Sandra Pagenta: I love that. And one of the things that I always like to focus in on, because I noticed that one of my best listen to podcast episodes was someone who was basically just spitting out truth on business and what he was finding were the best and the worst things to do.

And little tick. Tips and tricks, but I wanted to know if we could pivot a little bit and talk about in your business, what has been the most difficult aspect that you’ve had to master in developing the new nurse academy? Again, I heard you say constantly having to revamp redetermine. What do people need from me?

[00:20:00] Okay. Let me build that so that I can solve that problem for them. You were describing that process, which is so tedious, so much work, trying to figure out the need. But even from like a business marketing, advertising, seo, Facebook ads, like what’s been the most difficult part you’ve had to, to manage

Tiffany Gibson: Literally being so arrogant that people will wanna hire me just because I’m good.

And that I, and that I don’t have to put out the work or the effort or the ad dollars to get people to find me. Right? So it’s two things happening at the same time. I don’t know, business, I don’t know, advertising, marketing promo. So I need to learn that. But then also being very self righteous and saying, I’m good.

I know I’m good. I know I’m great cause I’m an amazing educator. And so the people will find, Hmm. They’re gonna find me and they’re gonna work with me because I am what [00:21:00] they need. But then how are they gonna find me? How are they gonna find you to ? Do they even know that you’re out there to be found? Like so you can’t have one with without the other?

So also learning that I can’t do it all. I learned how to code. I did my own website. I was learning, like trying to take all these courses on how to do Google ads and Facebook ads, and I’m like, If you don’t hire somebody off of Upworks and find somebody who, this is their ministry and this is their genius, and so that it takes time and stress off of you, that you can then do what it is that you wanna do.

I can’t be a CEO of my business and still work in my business. I can’t work on my business and work in my business. I can’t do votes. And I had to learn that the hard way. Because I was stressing myself out, just trying to figure out why the D on hyperlink didn’t work and the form didn’t upload and the conversions, it’s not happening.

And I put in like, What am I doing? This is not what you wanna do. All you wanna do is just talk to people and educate. That’s all you wanna do is teach. [00:22:00] So hire the people who are good at the things that you are not good at. That is how you are gonna skill your business. But for me, , and maybe this is other nurses too.

We feel like we can do it all. We feel like because we’re so good clinically that that so good is gonna transfer automatically to business. And that’s not what transfers the skill of being a nurse and the mindset of being a nurse and the critical thinking of being a nurse is what translates into. The operations and the logistics of of business is not the same as the operations and the logistics of being a nurse.

And so I was trying to do it all. Why? Cuz it’s my baby and nobody’s gonna think about it the way I think about it and it’s in my head and I have a vision and I can do it. Girl, if you don’t go to five and hire somebody to do this graphic. Because you were spending 20 hours on canvas trying to find the right hex code and try to find the right graphic if you don’t just hire [00:23:00] somebody.

And so that has been the challenging thing. It’s like releasing control, but having control is is a trigger for me. But that’s due to, That’s due to. Past stuff that I still am going through, but understanding that and doing the work, I realize where it comes from. This need to always want to have control, right?

And not let go of the reins. Because if it’s gonna mess up, it’s gonna mess up because of something that I did, not because of something, you know, somebody else said. And no one’s gonna put in the same amount of time and effort like me and my baby. That’s not true. Yeah,

Sandra Pagenta: So that, that has been the most challenging.

If somebody can do it faster than you, doesn’t mean that they’re not putting in the same work end. But that’s the other thing too, man. It’s like I feel like, oh, I slaved over that, therefore I get like an award because I slaved. I did my own personal slave work on that. And it’s like, so the work got done either way, [00:24:00] like.

Except for the stress part that you just now wear this little badge of honor that just continues to boost up pride and ego. And you think that like, Oh, look what I’ve done. But in fact, it’s not really doing that. Just realizing, Sandra, how much control you got in your. , you don’t have a lot. You really don’t. And the more that you realize, I mean, having a baby is like the biggest lesson in. I have absolutely no control how this is going. You think that things are going bad and she comes out, she’s like, What?

I’m fine. Y’all freaking out. Ain’t not going on. And you know, I love, people are like, You look so skinny, you’re not diabetic. I’m like, I’m diabetic as I’ll get out. You have no idea what’s like, you just have no control. And I think that’s was probably one of the, The hardest lessons and probably the most humbling lesson that I learned through the birth of my son, and again, just reverberates over and over again.

I have to remind myself you are in control of none of it. It is kind of going back to what you were saying, univer like the universe. For me, it’s [00:25:00] God like. God is in control of what’s happening here.

Tiffany Gibson: The only, yes, the only thing you can control is yourself. . The only thing you can control is yourself go.

Not, not even. Not even the kids that you birth. Can you control, You can manipulate, you can persuade, you can bribe. You can wish and pray and hope and cross your fingers, but you can’t even control.

Sandra Pagenta: Yes, it’s so true.

Tiffany Gibson: You can’t, So, and, and, and I love when you said like you do all this, but it increases your anxiety and you wear this badge of honor.

And, but you know, the only person who that, who that is important to was you. Nobody else cares. No one else cares. Who does, who did it? They just want it done. No one else sees the backup honor, and you’re not getting an award for staying up 18 hours getting it done. No one cares. You did it to yourself. and we do this to ourselves and as a lot of nurses are type A alpha females, because of the control that [00:26:00] we have in that environment, we like that we literally can control that environment.

And even when the patient decompensates, we still, there’s still a sense of organized chaos and the sense of control. And then we try to bring that home or we try to bring that in our business and it’s like Uhuh, that doesn’t work over here. And, and that’s why a lot of nurse entrepreneurs don’t pass the three year mark.

Sandra Pagenta: Wow. There’s a three year mark in business, new businesses.

Tiffany Gibson: If you’re gonna fail, you’re gonna do so within the first three years. Wow. You’re gonna, and, and there’s lots of articles about that, right? If you’re gonna fail, you’re gonna do it within the first, the first three years. And so if you can make it past the three year mark, you have a higher chance of succeeding thinking it.

Sandra Pagenta: Wow. So the last question I wanna ask in regards again to business. As if you could focus in on one aspect of your business [00:27:00] and just, and say like, This one is my golden ticket. I mean, it’s just the thing that when I plug it plays, I mean, What would you say is something that you’ve noticed in your career that at least in your business, in the in, in your new nurse academy business that’s just been like, Yeah, this is, this is gold.

This one is really, really good for the nurse. That’s just like, okay, I’m kind of struggling. Like I need an idea. I need something new to kind of like. Pep stuff up, you know, pep stuff up around here, what would you recommend?

Tiffany Gibson: For me, it’s like, how do you wanna show up in the world? Right? And, and I learn through human design that everybody has an energy profile.

How you were genetically determined to just be you, your authentic self. For me, I know that when I open my mouth and I. People go, Listen, ooh, it doesn’t matter where I’m at. If I, if I can, if I have the opportunity to hold an audience, it, [00:28:00] it, everything I touch is gold. That that, and that’s probably why my social media, specifically my Instagram, I have such a really good connection with the people who follow me.

And I don’t think that I’m a creator. I don’t think that I’m an influencer, I’m an educator, but when I speak, it’s authentic. And people recognize that even if I’m talking about what I’m doing over the weekend and it’s nothing nurse related, people enjoy how I story. and how I deliver messages. And so no matter what it is, we can be talking about the itsy bitsy spider.

We gonna talk about this itsy bitsy spider, and you’re gonna love it at the end. That works for me. For other people, public speaking is not their thing. They can’t plug and play that. They’re really good with words. They’re really good with copy. So blogging, emailing, newsletters is where they shine. Yeah. I want nurses to understand that as you pivot into business, you don’t have [00:29:00] to use other people’s template to plug and play.

You see someone and you see that they’re successful, where they appear to be successful, or what success looks like for you. First of all, you don’t know what’s happening behind the scenes. You’re only seeing what they want you to see. But two, they’re showing up as their true, authentic self based on how they were created by God or the universe, or scores.

That is their energetic profile, and that’s why it hits for them. And so you can’t take somebody else’s playbook and run your own. No, you gotta figure out your own X’s and O’s. Yeah. You have to figure out what works for you. So, so that’s me. So I like teaching. I like teaching in different ways. I have consulting, I have communities, I have coaching, and that’s how I show up to teach.

And when I speak, the connection that I make with people is just undeniable. . And so that is something that I’m going to continue to do [00:30:00] in my business in all aspects. Whether it’s business to client or business to business. Put me in front of the room coach. Yeah, like let, give me the mic, coach. I got it.

Yeah, I got it from,

Sandra Pagenta: Yeah. And how did you discover this about yourself? Was it just something that, again, through that self-awareness, through that emotional intelligence, you began to read how others were reading you? Right. So a great big part of emotional intelligence, and I believe self-awareness is how you’re being perceived by others.

It’s kind of seeing how you are the thermostat in the room, How do I change the temperature when I’m in here? Right. And so as you were kind of learning about like, okay, so I’m good at this. How, how is. Reinforced, how was that made aware to yourself? Or was it just something that you stumbled upon or was it just kind of like you had a mom or a sister or a best friend that was just like, You’re really good at this and just you need to do this more?

Tiffany Gibson: I’ve always, so I’ve always been stubborn and I’ve always been a leader. That’s, that’s, that’s from the beginning.

Sandra Pagenta: Like little baby Tiff, like baby t has been like this.

Tiffany Gibson: I’ve always, I’ve always been stubborn, I’ve always been a leader. And as, and I’ve always been really big into books, reading, education, knowledge.

And so as I grew, just, just as I got older and I, and I had more knowledge and more information, I was always the person that was like, Well, let me tell you about this. Like, I always just had useless facts. That was something I’ve always had and becoming a nurse. My first degree is in public health, so my first degree is not even in nursing.

And what I did with that degree was community health education. Like, let me break this down to you on a level that you understand so you can make informed decisions. Right. And so I’ve always been kind of just educating it some capacity in some way. and it was in college. I had to take a public speaking class.

It was like a requirement. And I was amazing in that class. And that’s why I was like, Ugh, there’s something here. There’s something there. Something here. Yeah, something here. So how [00:32:00] can I leverage my innate ability for public speaking? Cause it’s innate, but then how can I hone? and, and foster it, but then use this information over here that I’m getting just in the professional world, being a public, public health educator, being a nurse, and then put the two together.

Sandra Pagenta: Yeah. Funnel it. Funnel it into my natural innate abilities. Yeah.

Tiffany Gibson: Becoming someone who, who’s doing IV drips because it’s the fastest way to six figures would not be something that I would be good at. And not because I don’t know how to insert an IV or don’t know how to mix vitamins together. It’s because that’s not what I was made to do.

My innate gift is public speaking, so yes, can I open up a storefront and offer concierge IV hydration or you know, do whatever. I probably could. I think it’s interesting. I think it’s fun. Who doesn’t wanna make, you know, $250 an hour and you know, like that’s easy. Good money, Not a lot of heavy lifting involved, [00:33:00] but at the end of the day, would I be fulfilled?

Mm-hmm. ? Mm-hmm. . So I would tell nurses what is your innate what, what’s innate to you outside of nursing? Take your nursing hat off. What’s innate? Are you the person that like shows. Early to the party so you can help set up are you the person that stays late so you can help clean up? Are you the person that’s always in the kitchen that’s cooking, cleaning, serving like you’re the hostess with the mostess?

Are you like, do, are you really good at connecting people together? Like you match made all your friends? Like what is something that’s innate to you? Then that is how you deliver the skills that you get from nursing. That’s how you marry the. So I have this education over here, which is great, but then how do I deliver?

What’s the method of delivery, the thing that I’m good at? And that’s how you put the two together. But if you, That is . [00:34:00]

Sandra Pagenta: You’re following my mind right now. Yes.

Tiffany Gibson: Again, if you don’t know who you are, if you don’t have that self-awareness, if you’ve never sat down with yourself and be like, Tiff, who are you?

Like, Who are you? Tiff. If you don’t have that, then you don’t know what that looks like for you, and so you plug and play other people’s template. You plug and play other people’s courses and you, you steal, you basically cut and paste other people’s stuff.

You never do, You never do this. Yeah, there’s a spark, there’s a flame, but it doesn’t turn into a fire. And it will never turn into a fire cuz you’ll, you, you need to wait for the other person to do something, for you to see what they did so that you can do what they did. It, it’s not a, it’s not authentic, it’s not genuine.

People

Sandra Pagenta: can read that, people can see that. And I think that’s why you draw people to you. It’s through the genuine authenticity that then people are gonna go like, Oh, this person knows themselves. [00:35:00] And that’s truly what we want, is to be known and to be loved for who we really are. And the only way that you can be known, Is to know yourself and to spend that time doing the work.

And that’s why I talk about it all the time on my podcast. I encourage nurses to meditate, to spend quiet time. Alone. Figure out what’s going on. Am I happy here? Do I like this? What am I naturally good at? What is the stuff that I do that light me up? And it’s kind of weird, and maybe nobody else is this way, but I really like this.

And I was talking to a girlfriend of mine and she was like, Yeah, I was writing in clicks questions and I really liked it. And I was like, You liked writing Incl clicks questions? She’s like, Yeah, I liked it. And it’s like that like weird admission of like, I liked this. I can’t believe I liked it. That. Go do that.

Like whatever that is, that’s for you. You gotta do it. And yeah, I think that’s just such great advice, Tiffany, and thank you so much for sharing that because I think you bring a lot of clarity for [00:36:00] nurses that are trying to get something going and they are kind of plugging and playing. Other people’s, you know, methods and they’re like, Why isn’t it working?

And it’s like, No, no, no, no, no. We’ve gotta get this, We gotta put the horse before the cart. Like we can’t just put this out there and think, Oh, this is gonna just create all this sparks and, and fireworks and it’s gonna be great. It’s like, no, no, no, no, no, no. We’ve gotta, we’ve gotta work on you. And so give me like a, like explain to me how you help nurses in your programs.

Because I think that a nurse that’s like, Tiffany, what you got for me? How are you gonna help me work through who I am to get to that core, to get to the center? Kind of describe to me what your business does and how they help and, and where people can find you and reach you and, and get this. Yeah.

Tiffany Gibson: Absolutely. So for like I’ve mentioned, n New Nurse Academy is an ecosystem at this point that provides a whole bunch of different things, But for nurses specifically who are looking to work [00:37:00] with me to grow in this capacity in their true, authentic self, I have three different coaching communities depending on where you are on the continuum of nursing.

So starting from my student nurses, Because I, a lot of times they get left out, but if we can catch them while they’re still in school, their transition into the profession will look a little bit different. And so for my, my nursing students, I send out a text message every day to help them with test taking and NCLEX prep, but it’s through the lens of emotional intelligence.

So I am not gonna sit there and regurgitate your lectures to you. I didn’t like that. I used to do that. And it does, it doesn’t serve me. I don’t like doing that anymore. So we’re not gonna talk about ABGs and we’re not gonna talk about like rhythms. No. But we’re gonna talk about like what is your mindset before taking this test?

And what is your home life looking like as you prepared to study? And what is your study style and what is your communication style? And you’re talking about affirmations and manifestation, but do you even believe that post that you reposted like. It [00:38:00] resonates with you, but does every fiber of your being believed that to be true?

Because if that’s not the case, then you’re not manifesting anything. You’re just saying words, that’s all. And so those are the messages that I send out money through Friday via text, and then they have the ability to text me back and we have a group coaching via Zoom where we go over case studies and the clinical things.

And I do wanna make sure you pass. So you know, we need to go over ABGs. We will, but I don’t wanna regurgitate nursing school. I wanna start getting you to into the mindset of being in tune with who you are, because if test taking is stressful to you, what’s gonna happen when you have like live patients to take care of?

So let’s, let’s work on managing stress now and what that looks like via emotional intelligence. So that’s one. The Text for Success community. Then the Personal Preceptor Club, which is my baby. I started this in 2019. This is for student and new to practice nurses to help them transition into the profession.

[00:39:00] But we focus on the five pillars of life, health, wealth, business, love, and. And managing those five pillars, because if you can manage that, then being a nurse is gonna be easy for you to navigate, right? Because how you do one thing is how you do all things, is what I want these new nurses to understand is you do not separate.

Who you are on the unit and who you are at home. Just because you clocked out and took your scrubs off, that person is still the same. So how you manage conflict in the house is how you’re gonna manage conflict on the unit. How? How somebody talks to you and you take that. You know, being bere by the doctor because they’re a doctor.

Someone in your home or someone bef in your life has talked to you the same way and you accepted it because they were an authority figure. Right? And so that’s what we focus a lot there. And then I have the emotional intelligent nurse group. [00:40:00] Which is for future in, in current clinical leaders. So if you are charged, precepting, a supervisor, any type of clinical leader role, we talk about how you can leverage that role via emotional intelligence.

And everything we do in that group is literally taking concepts from the business industry and from psychology and using human design to create what you look like in your role as a clinical. And so those are my three coaching communities, and that’s how people can work

Sandra Pagenta: with me. I love that. And I’m gonna tell you something.

I spoke with the seated nurse who described you as one of her mentors, and I Oh. I literally cried in that episode on air. I just like bawling cuz she’s just so in tuned with herself that it makes you vulnerable. It just like opens up your heart and you’re like, Oh my goodness. I am just Tinder. Oo. [00:41:00] Like buttery soft, gooey like, because as she talks, like you see her heart and you’re just like, This is so beautiful and I know that you have done a level of work with her.

And it shows, It shows so clearly that she is in touch with exactly what matters to her, why it matters, and how she moves through her career with that mindset. At the forefront of everything she does. And it is beautiful to watch someone again, go from a violin a clarinet and a flute to just going like, No, I’m an orchestra.

Like the whole thing works together and it is. Beautiful. And I want more nurses as they are moving through their career journeys to have that same thought process. And that’s why, again, this is not traditional for me. I normally do like career journeys. And tell me about how you got from A to B to C to D, but I really wanted you for this series of of the doc nurse podcast.

I really wanna start focus in [00:42:00] on focusing in more. The heart, the core, like, let’s get us to that spot where we are. So understanding of who we are, that as the journey is happening around us, we are, as you said, riding the waves. We’re riding the waves because we can’t control the journey. It doesn’t look like this straight, beautiful wine.

Tiffany Gibson: It’s like it’s an ekg. It’s, it’s an ag. It’s a. It is a whole ekg. And when that EKG flatlines, that means there’s no more life. And so emotional intelligence is not devoid of stress. Cause life is going to life. It’s literally how do you manage it? How do you navigate that Because you, it’s going to do what it’s going to do.

And once you have no more challenges, you’re no longer growing. And if you’re No. And if you’re, Yeah. And if you’re no longer growing, then what are we [00:43:00] doing? So you actually want a beat. You want a beat, You want that QRS complex you want. You need it down valleys because what it is is pushing you forward.

It’s progress. It’s progress. And after every valley there is a., but you don’t stay up there long cuz something else happens. Because there’s always something, there’s always something. Literally this morning I was saying to my boyfriend, like, you know, like I woke up to this message and I’m, and, and I’m trying to self-regulate, right?

Because I, emotional intelligence is a journey. It’s not a destination. And so there’s times when there, it’s easy for me to do in times when there’s not, And this morning it. A moment where I needed to be contemplative and I needed to self-regulate because I got upset because of what someone else did.

And then I had to say to myself, Well, what was my responsibility in this? Did I do everything I was supposed to do to make sure that this was clear? And I [00:44:00] didn’t? And so while I’m upset that the other person did this, really what it comes down to is it started with. And my communication wasn’t clear, and I’m upset at the outcome, but I have to take responsibility and ownership, and so I just need a moment to sit with that for a second and, and I’ll make breakfast when I’m done.

Right now I have to, I have to, I have to sit with this for a second and I have to process this for a second and then, and then I let it go and I get over it, and then I move. And that’s emotional intelligence.

Sandra Pagenta: Yeah, man, that is so good. So for every episode I do rapid fire and we’re gonna end it on that because that is just the perfect point.

And that is emotional intelligence. I mean, like, I couldn’t end it any better if I tried. It’s like Oprah MO is beautiful. So I, I wanna just do rapid fire. These are fun. Fly by the seat of your pants. Just get ready. Let’s know Tiff Gibson and just, are you. Ready. Okay. To you, what’s the best age to. [00:45:00] 35 . 35.

Why do you say that?

Tiffany Gibson: Because you’re, you’re outta your twenties, which is crazy. Yeah. But you’re, you’re, and, and, and I’m only 39 right now, but I think 35 was a good age where I was still young and I can still act like I was in my twenties, but understood like, you know, I’m mature enough to know better and to do better, and, and responsibilities are a little bit more real and I have more life under my belt.

So 35.

Sandra Pagenta: Ok, good. And what are you most grateful for in the whole world?

Tiffany Gibson: Oh, my self-awareness

my self-awareness for me to say I’m tired. Come take these kids . Like, I need to sleep. I need to sleep. Or I need a vacation. Or you know, like my self-awareness. Yes.

Sandra Pagenta: Yes. And if someone could play you on tv, who would you choose?

Tiffany Gibson: Oh my gosh. I dunno. These people,

Sandra Pagenta: Like if [00:46:00] there was like an actress that you were like that is that her right there?

I wouldn’t wanna cast her.

Tiffany Gibson: So I don’t know her name, but she plays the lead role Jax in that, that Hulu series. Aw man. I don’t remember the name. The who? Reasonable Doubt and Carrie, what she said. Carrie Washington. That’s her project and it’s the lead role of reasonable Doubt. And I don’t know the actress’s name, but I would want her to say me.

Okay. I would want her to, yes.

Sandra Pagenta: Okay. You would cast her in the role of you?

Tiffany Gibson: Yes, I would. Absolutely, I would cast in the role of you. Mm-hmm. Her name. On tv. It’s Jack Stewart and her real name is Ama Yasi. Corelli.

Sandra Pagenta: Oh and that would be who you would cast. Interesting. I have to check it out cuz I don’t know. I don’t know her

Tiffany Gibson: I, I love her presence. She’s a brown girl like me. She’s Type A, she’s a [00:47:00] lawyer. And I’m like, Yes, it’s the same. There’s some correlation between being a lawyer and being a nurse. Yes. Yes. And so I would want her to play me.

Sandra Pagenta: Well, guys, you heard it here first. Thank you for coming to the Doctor Nurse podcast.

And, and chatting with my audience today. Tiffany, it’s been an absolute joy to talk to you, and I know nurses are gonna get something out of it. So thank you so much for your time. And yeah, guys, don’t forget to enjoy the journey, the EKG journey of your nursing career. Hannah, thanks for hanging out guys.

Have a good rest of your day.