I do believe I’ve made up my mind on this but I wanted some other insights on it.
I’m someone who believes education needs an ROI unless you’re on track financially and have the luxury of studying something just because you love it. I’m a nurse and work in senior leadership overseeing programs at multistate hospital/health system. I have an MBA from a cheap no name school bc I could do it without debt and I needed a masters to advance.
I love my job. I am loving supporting and growing othe Nurse leaders and future ones. So I’ve been seriously considering a DNP (Doctorate of Nursing Practice). It’s quickly becoming expected for nurse executives to have a DNP. Or if you want to teach university of course. So I thought of all the reasons to get one or not. I love my free time, being there for my kids (I’m single), but to wait for them to be out of the house is 10 yrs, there’s never a good time for these things, and the list goes on one way or the other. Income could go up with it but not much.
Before I took this job, I was considering doing a side job as a nursing career coach, public speaker, etc. My plan is to be able to retire or do what I want at 55. And I realized tonight, I was considering all the reasons to follow that defined path for my career. But forgetting about this other future that would make me fulfilled in a different way, adds income without cost, and will probably better support my goals.
Anyway, I’m open to other perspectives but I wanted to share how quickly we can be steered from our goals by a seemingly admirable plan.