Practice Makes Progress I grew up with the idea that practice makes perfect. So insidious, this idea that anything can be perfect. How would anyone know when they have arrived at perfect?   My daughter’s elementary school works with the idea that practice makes progress. I am grateful that she is enmeshed in this framework. Progress...

I am not a huge believer in the validity of personality categorization – although I find the tools endlessly fascinating. That said, people are very different from one another in ways that feel categorizable and that can inform how we show up in work and in life. When I was a psychology undergrad, one of...

The article Burnout: Modern Affliction or Human Condition has stuck with me long after reading. The Mayo Clinic calls burnout “…a special type of work-related stress — a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity.” Similarly, the article There is a name for...

I love chasing that internal ah-ha moment that comes from challenging my internal knowledge status quo. Small and large learnings have such potential to lead to a more evidence-based approach to our jobs and our daily life. This is why I am so enamored with our diversity of podcast options – favorites include the Ezra...

I find the fallibility of our human brains very humbling. For me, this is a good reminder that we all need to anticipate our own irrational thinking and build space in our daily lives to make up for these errors. These mental errors influence our ability to make decisions and to make change happen -...

One of my perennial thoughts, aside from my perennials, is health care measurement. I appreciate reading how others approach this as in the recent Cancer Journal: What is health? – a piece by a contributor to the Incidental Economist who happens to also be undergoing treatment for cancer. He talks about three factors – longevity,...

In times of uncertainty, I like to turn to the words and guidance of others. The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr once said, “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.” This past year I have...

I like to start each new year with a (very) short jump into the Sound. Polar bear plunges are organized across the world and across our country on the morning of January first – from the Atlantic, to the Great Lakes, to the Pacific. In years past folks would be packed shoulder to shoulder on the beach, waiting for a whistle to...

2020 has been defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, a national reckoning with racism, and our community-wide psychological response. Like our partners across the state, the Foundation for Health Care Quality has been shaped by adapting to the challenges of the year. We continued our focus on using data to drive improvement, educating our community, developing...