Most people would jump at any chance to improve their careers, lift their spirits and make more money. Fortunately for professional massage therapists and bodyworkers, that chance comes around every time a practitioner considers taking a continuing education class.
Not every continuing education experience will have such dramatic positive effects, but every once in a while you may take a continuing education course that does result in a significant change for the better as far as your career, your attitude and your financial status are concerned.
For example, you may come across a continuing education class on a new technique or modality and find yourself responding to the course description in such a way that you know you have to sign up for the class. Some people might call this a gut instinct or intuition, and it is important to consider these feelings when they arise.
In many cases, when you have such a reaction to reading or hearing about a certain continuing education class, it may mean there is some part of you that knows you could benefit from taking this particular course. If that gut instinct turns out to be correct, you could be reaping big rewards.
To take our example even further, let’s say a massage therapists feels herself pulled in some way, shape or form toward a continuing education class on massage for hospital patients. This massage therapist may at first dismiss the feelings, especially if her current practice caters more toward relaxation and stress relief.
However, if she heeds this gut instinct and enrolls in the continuing education class, she could find her career heading in a different and possibly more rewarding direction. The great thing about continuing education classes is that even if the massage therapist finds that this new niche does not appeal to her after all, she is not locked into that path.
In this sense, continuing education can serve as an avenue for “dipping your toes” into many different niches, techniques and modalities that you feel drawn toward as a massage therapist or bodyworker. If the continuing education experience confirms your intuition, you may have a new and exciting direction for your practice.
However, if the topic of the continuing education class does not end up resonating with you, you have lost very little and probably gained some new knowledge and a few continuing education credits in the meantime. Then, you are free to go explore a new direction with another continuing education course.
Of course, the ideal continuing education experience for most practitioners would result in skills and knowledge that allow you to attract more clients, better serve your clients, earn more money, have more energy and feel more enthusiastic about your career.
However, even if you have not yet had a continuing education experience the fulfills all of these ideals, the overall result of consistently taking continuing education classes year after year should still add up to some positive trends in your practice, which often translate to other areas of your life.