Closing General Session to Promote Working to a Different Beat

To wrap up Emergency Nursing 2022, motivational speaker Justin Jones-Fosu plans to use his time during this year’s Closing Session to share practical, resource-based ways to bring meaning to one’s work and life each day. His presentations focus on the power of rhythm and positive routines.

“I see so many people spending so much time and energy on things we can’t control that we waste our effort, our energy and our mind capacity,” said Jones-Fosu, founder and CEO of Work Meaningful. “When we lean into taking ownership of how we craft our day and the things we can control, it allows us to be more productive. It allows us to have a deeper sense of meaning and to get more out of our work and lives each and every day.”

Among the tools Jones-Fosu will share are a meaningful day template and his three-rhythm model, which incorporates perspective, task and relationship rhythms.

“The conversation is going to be on working to a different beat,” said Fosu, who describes himself as a family man, business speaker, social entrepreneur and meaningful work researcher. He combines more than a decade of leadership in Fortune 500 companies, real-life experience and research to help global organizations create new rhythms of sustainable excellence, profitability and engagement.

Routine can help establish a sense of individual purpose. Jones-Fosu recommends starting off with a pre-work routine he calls a “catalyst habit” to elicit positivity for the rest of the day, no matter what time of day your schedule begins.

“What I wouldn’t do is come in and say, ‘All right, what’s the first emergency?’ I would identify a routine,” he explained. “Even if it’s something you do in your car before you even get to work, whether it’s the motivation of music you listen to that pumps you up or five minutes of meditation that are meaningful to you. When we start there, it allows us to start with something you can control.”

Having an energizing catalyst habit has shown to have a positive effect on mindset, he said.

“It’s you taking ownership,” Jones-Fosu said. “When you are able to take ownership of how your day or your shift begins, it’s more empowering for how you live out the rest of the day, no matter what else happens.”

He cautions, however, that some actions can have the opposite effect. Checking email, social media or the news at the start of the day have been shown to hamper productivity. 

“They saw a correlation between those who watch negative news and a decrease in their productivity versus those who didn’t,” Jones-Fosu said.

He encourages individuals and teams to develop the habit of focusing on the positive events in their lives. This could include asking team members at a start-of-shift meeting to share good things that are happening on their personal or professional journeys.

“That starts people off with a dose of dopamine, releasing some of the good endorphins that set the foundation for the day,” Jones-Fosu said.

The Closing Session begins at 11 a.m. in the Mile High Ballroom. All Closing Session attendees will receive a commemorative print edition of Emergency Nursing News as a keepsake of ENA’s first in-person annual conference in three years.