The Empowered Nurse Podcast

Lacey talks thoughts becoming things - from failing tests and feeling bad to empowering herself by reflecting and creating positive practices in less than 10 minutes a day. In this third episode of a 3-part series Lacey shares on self-talk, affirmations, and why it’s a big part of the Empower 90 journal! 

Lacey goes into: 

• Why affirmations and positive self-talk should be apart of your daily routine
• Specifics on the Empower 90 journal and planner
• How affirmations helped her pass the NCLEX
• Specific affirmations you can use today
• And more!

Sign up for the Empower 90 Journal & Planner Waitlist here and be the first to know when it’s available to order!

Today’s episode is two of a three part series where Lacey dives into another piece of the Empower 90 Journal & Planner before it goes on sale in a few weeks! Today’s episode is all about reflection and sharing her biggest tip for self-awareness.

Lacey goes in depth on:

• Her process of intentional reflection
• How she often sees her mentees reflection process before the mentorship
• Post shift anxiety and ways to curb it
• Brain dumping and listing positive things that happened throughout your day

Reflection doesn’t have to take a lot of time! You can make significant changes in less than 10 minutes a day. Put your reflection action into practice today after listening to this episode!

Sign up for the Empower 90 Journal & Planner Waitlist here and be the first to know when it’s available to order!

Lacey is bringing back the Empower 90 Nurse Journal & Planner! The Empower 90 Journal & Planner is a 90 day empowerment practice that takes less than 10 minutes to complete each day and is the exact tool Lacey created and uses to reframe her mindset and beliefs about herself and her capabilities as a woman, wife, nurse, business owner and now mother! 

Today’s episode is one of three in a series where Lacey goes in depth to becoming an empowered nurse and focuses on how to manifest a positive end to the year of the nurse!

She shares:

• What manifesting is
• Scarcity versus abundance
• Feeling into gratitude and joy
• How to start a gratitude practice
• A challenge for you to start today!

A lot of anxiety and depression/sadness can stem from not just experiences but our beliefs about those experiences as something that is not happening for us but to us. Shifting our perspective often changes our experience entirely. Your manifestation of what you want won’t come from harping on what you don't want (pre shift anxiety and worrying about what your patient load is going to look like). When you start to feel that anxiety - shift your thoughts to the positive of what IS currently!

Sign up for the Empower 90 Journal & Planner Waitlist here and be the first to know when it’s available to order!

Lacey chats with Allie, The Debt Free Nurse. After being an RN for five years and stressing about her debts daily she decided to learn about personal finance and with that she’s been able to pay off 46K in one year, save 10k in 6 months and pay off all of her student loan and credit card debt.  

Allie & Lacey discuss:

• Recommendations and tips for new nurses when it comes to their first time earning significant money
• Five mistakes Allie sees new nurses make when it comes to finances
• How to set a budget and pay of debts
• Understanding retirement funds, company match, and benefits
• The importance of creating good financial habits such as looking at your paycheck and investing (even if it’s a small amount!)
• Why it’s important to start creating positive habits with your money right when you get started versus waiting
• High-Yield Savings Accounts
• Money Mindset
• And more!

Today, Allie is a part-time nurse, student, and continues to help nurses by providing them with an approachable way to pay off their debt. 

Connect with Allie: 

https://www.savingwithoutsacrifice.com/

https://www.instagram.com/the_debtfreenurse/

https://www.tiktok.com/@the_debtfreenurse

Lacey chats with fellow nurse and nurse mentor, Laura Wiley. Laura is a former PICU Night Shift Nurse with a passion for self care. But it wasn’t always that way. She was quickly headed for burnout until she was headed for vacation and finally had more than three days away from work to realize what she was doing to herself! She quickly developed a plan for herself to create a balanced work life and avoid the night shift hangover. 

Lacey & Laura discuss: 

• What a shift hangover is and what it feels like
• The if/then or when/then excuses we often create for ourselves that only add to our overall crummy feeling
• Why it’s SO important to prioritize drinking water, eating, and taking breaks throughout your shift
• Tips to avoid the post-shift hangover
• Being aware of the kind of culture/environment you work in and not falling trap to the negatives such as a unit that glorifies not eating, not sitting, etc.
• Taking time during your shift to step off the unit and breathe 
• Creating good habits in order to feel good and balanced

Laura is the founder of The Brightly Balanced Tracker and The Brightly Balanced Method: A 90-Day Mentorship for Burnt Out Nurses. She now helps unhappy nurses leave work at work, stop wasting their days off, and end exhaustion to create their perfect work-life balance. She loves donuts, coffee, running, and Delaware Beach.

Connect with Laura:

https://www.thebrightlybalancednurse.org/

https://www.instagram.com/laura.w.wiley/

The dreaded night shift. If you’re a new nurse, depending on what kind of practice you go into there’s a good chance you may end up working night shift at one point or another. Night shift can be draining but it really doesn’t have to be! Lacey shares all her tips and tricks that you can use too, to live your best night-shift schedule life. 

Lacey discusses: 

• How to make the most out of your sleep schedule and your off time in between shifts
• Why she wears blue-light blockers throughout her shift
• Staying hydrated and making time for movement
• How to stay awake on your drive home from work (did someone say snacks?!)
• Why you should do your bedtime routine FIRST thing when you get home
• Subconsciously triggering your body into sleep mode
• Flipping your eating schedule including the types of food you eat
• Setting boundaries

Working night shift requires becoming more intentional with some of our daily habits and routines but if there’s one thing I can promise it’s that it doesn’t mean your life is doomed! For more nightshift tips or tricks be sure to follow me on Instagram @laceymagen or visit www.theempowerednurse.org

Lacey speaks with fellow Nurse, Friend, Accountability Coach, and former Empowered Nurse Mentee, Rachele Guenette. Rachele graduated from university feeling strong and confident in her skills as a new nurse however, her bubble was quickly busted when she stepped onto the floor as a float nurse. She quickly experienced nurse bullying and an “eat their young” mentality we so often hear about in the profession. Between this and floating to different units, Rachele’s confidence quickly declined and she sensed a real lack of community. Rachele applied to The Empowered Nurse Mentorship where she gained clarity, confidence, and community on a personal and professional level and has a much different relationship and feeling towards her career now than when she first started out as a new nurse.

Rachele and Lacey chat about: 

• Rachele’s background and becoming a new nurse in Canada
• The clarity call that Lacey holds with all nurses that apply to the mentorship program
• The personal development and community that you can gain by going through the mentorship program 
• How mentorship helped Rachele embody herself as someone more than just a nurse
• Who The Empowered Nurse Mentorship is best for
• And more

For more information and to either get on the waitlist or sign up for a pre-mentorship clarity call visit www.theempowerednurse.org/mentorship.

Want to connect or have questions?

[email protected]

https://www.instagram.com/laceymagen/

https://www.instagram.com/rachele_guenette/

[email protected]

In this episode, Lacey shares an ethical dilemma that she recently experienced in her personal life that felt so similar to many dilemmas she experienced while working on the floor as a nurse. As a new nurse, you will likely have an experience where you’re unsure whether or not to escalate a situation. Maybe you’re on night shift and you’re only supposed to call ‘if it’s crazy’ or you’ve been told the situation can be taken care of by day shift staff. Or maybe, your first chain of command’s answer doesn’t sit right with you and you’re scared they may be mad at you if you escalate the issue by going to the next person in command. Ultimately, doing the right thing is NEVER overrated and could be the difference between life and death.

Lacey covers: 

• Why you should follow your gut feelings even if it ends up being a false alarm
• Why you should NOT feel bad about escalating a situation when unsure
• The importance of ethical and moral standards
• Holding true to your word with confidence and not backing down 
• How to handle moral and ethical dilemmas on the job as a nurse
• And more

This episode is sponsored by The Empowered Nurse Mentorship: https://theempowerednurse.org/mentorship

In this episode, Lacey talks about the importance of making self-care a priority in your new nurse journey. Self-care has a wide range of meaning and she dives into making it a priority from the beginning and finding out what feels good for you. We all need time to step away from our careers mentally, physically, and emotionally and nursing is no different. 

Lacey shares: 

• What happens when you don’t make self-care a priority
• Pressure and burnout
• Different forms of self-care
• Creating work-life balance
• Developing routines and scheduling self-care
• And more!

Self-care is all about doing what is good for you. For some that may be yoga and meditation, for others it may be long runs or sleeping. Lacey gives her top tips so you can build a life and schedule that you enjoy.

Lacey answers one of her most commonly asked questions from nursing students and new nurses - “What specialty should I go into?” Oftentimes, we want others to make this decision for us, or the best decision to fall into our lap but it’s so important to take time to consider your options and evaluate what you want your life to look like when deciding on a type of nursing career. The good news is you’re never stuck. 

Lacey tackles everything you need to know including: 

• Evaluating your skills, strengths and weaknesses
• The importance of having joy for your specialty
• Thinking about the feeling you want to have when arrive and leave work
• Determining your goals within the profession
• Goals and visions within your personal life
• Why many people think they want to go into a high acuity setting (and why it can be detrimental to the profession)
• And more!

Doing the personal work and understanding your WHY is going to help you make the best decision for YOU when it comes to choosing a specialty which will ultimately make you better at what you do.