Tips for Travel Nurses – Building Good Habits in 2024

Travel nurses set big goals. While it’s great to dream big, often those goals are successfully accomplished when they are broken into a series of smaller milestones. Whether you already have a goal for 2024 or are ready to start making some, consider the following advice to maximize your success.

Easy Does It

Achieving big goals doesn’t always require difficult work. In fact, setting an easy first milestone can help you overcome any mental obstacles that sit between you and your end goal. You may notice this is true if you find that working out at home is easier to maintain than going to the gym. Many travel nurses have found that it’s easier to pick up some weights or do a spin class at home on-demand, compared to driving to a facility and sticking to the class schedule. If working out at home is difficult, try lowering the time or intensity of the activity. That can help you make a routine of it, which is always better than no activity at all.

There are many other ways you can apply this principle. Want to cook more? Meal kit services can take away the challenge of planning and grocery shopping, and once you’ve tackled the first step of doing the cooking yourself, you can add in the other aspects of the process. Want to spend more time outside? Invest in weather-appropriate clothing for where you live, so that even rainy or snowy days don’t deter you from getting some fresh air. Remove barriers, start small, and the results could be big.

Enjoy Yourself

Ultimately, your goal should be something you enjoy – like your career. Life is too short to spend your days dragging your feet doing tasks that you have no interest in. And when you work as a travel nurse in Canada, every community offers unique opportunities to enjoy your time. Choose goals that you feel pulled towards, rather than ones you really have to push yourself to do – things you ‘want’ to achieve rather than things you ‘should’ achieve. Your personal buy-in is a huge factor in determining your success, and if a goal is something imposed on you by others, you may not have the drive to succeed.

That doesn’t mean that your goals shouldn’t challenge you, but even difficult tasks can be made enjoyable. Want to journal more? Make yourself a cup of your favourite tea and light a candle when you sit down to write, making it a cozy experience that relaxes you. Training for a half-marathon? Try spritzing yourself with a refreshing face mist after each run to help your body cool down with the added benefits of aromatherapy. Trying to read more? Choose books that genuinely interest you – not every good read needs to be a long one or a practical self-improvement book.

Visual Cues Are Key

Sometimes the biggest barrier to achieving a goal isn’t its level of difficulty or your enjoyment of it, it’s simply remembering to take action each and every day. Leaving visual cues in your home or work environment can help remind you to do what you set out to do each and every day.

Want to floss more? Put your floss in a visible spot right beside your toothbrush, or put floss picks in an open jar so they’re easy to grab. Want to meditate more often? Download a guided meditation app and make sure it’s in a prominent place on your home screen. Trying to cut back on your alcohol consumption? Hang a calendar on your wall and colour in each day you don’t partake.

Accept a Helping Hand

Just because it’s your goal doesn’t mean you have to work on it all by yourself. Getting help can not only help you reach the finish line faster, but it can also help motivate and inspire you by connecting you with someone who’s a master of their trade. Help could come in many forms – a career mentor, a personal trainer or coach, a psychologist or life coach, a support group, a nutritionist or dietician, or a financial advisor. Regardless of what your goal is, there’s likely someone who’s taken that journey before and can offer you a helping hand.

If you’re a nurse looking to enhance your skillset, explore Canada and increase your pay, becoming a travel nurse could be just the goal for you! If you would like to learn more about travel nursing in Canada and what life on the road is like, get in touch with our Career Consultants who can help you build the career of your dreams.