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President’s
message
 Is AASV a priority in your
professional life?
Last Saturday, my youngest daughter, Dena, got married in a
wonderful outdoor wedding at our home. Now anyone who has had a
wedding at their home knows that the work load preparing for it
gets multiplied several times over a traditional church service.
Somehow, everything that needed trimmed, fixed, touched up, or
replaced, and was not a big priority, now needs to be addressed.
For the past 4 to 6 weeks, making sure that our home looked the
best that it could became a high priority.
Dena has been living in San Diego, California, for 2 years (yes,
she is the person to blame or thank for my pushing San Diego as a
great site for the 2008 AASV meeting after Columbus, Ohio, canceled
the event). So when she comes home, I always try to make spending
time with her a high priority – but this week was more
special.
She was marrying a guy that I absolutely think the world of, and
I wanted to enjoy the experience as much as possible. So work,
hobbies, and writing the article for this issue of JSHAP
would have to wait as I enjoyed Dena and Dan’s wedding.
Anyone who has had the privilege of walking their daughter down the
aisle for their wedding understands the emotions involved in that
short walk. You tend to remember all of the great moments of
growing up together. It is one of the greatest moments in any
father’s life. In the end, I knew that I had made the right
decision, and at least for a week, my priorities were in order.
Monday brought me back to the realities of life. Several issues
that I had ignored at work needed my immediate attention. Bless the
journal staff for waiting for my article, but writing it now became
one of my highest priorities. I have always attempted not to use
the excuse of being too busy when I become tardy on a task.
Instead, if I am brutally honest, it just wasn’t high enough
on my priority list. We all have 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to
spend our time. How we prioritize our time is our own decision. One
of the most difficult decisions that most professionals face every
day is trying to balance a busy professional, personal, and family
life. Sometimes it would be much easier if we could have a few more
hours a day, but that just doesn’t seem to be an option. The
burning question that seemed to follow me everywhere as I was
thinking about this article centered around this magical balancing
act. How can I prioritize my life so that I give my clients and my
business adequate time, but still have time to spend doing the
things I enjoy?
When I decided to be a candidate for vice president of the AASV,
I spoke to my partners, my family, and current officers to
understand the level of commitment that would be required and was
encouraged by everyone to get more involved. I knew that it would
require a time commitment to do the job right, but I also felt that
this association and industry had given me so many opportunities
that it was time to try to give something back.
The issues that are affecting our profession and our industry
today are not going to go away. Animal welfare, antibiotic
resistance, PRRS, PCVAD, influenza variants, global demand for
pork, emerging diseases in other countries, attracting fantastic
students into the swine veterinary profession, and career demands
for swine veterinarians are just a few of the many issues that
continue to demand our attention. We need the brightest and best
swine veterinarians in North America to be actively involved in
this association to address and solve these problems facing our
industry. But once again, this prioritization problem enters the
picture. Most busy swine veterinarians question whether they have
the time to donate to an organization that relies on volunteer
members to fill important roles.
On Saturday night, at my daughter’s wedding, I think I
answered my own question. Do I have enough time to make AASV a high
priority in my life? As I looked around at all of our
family’s friends in attendance, I realized that many of them
were people who were associated with my business. All of my
partners at Audubon-Manning Veterinary Clinic, employees who for
years have been the heart and soul of our business, clients who now
are our best friends, partners in industry, veterinary classmates,
and members of AASV were all in attendance. These are not just
people I work with every day, these are my best friends. Better
yet, most of these people are also my family’s best friends.
My involvement in my clinic, with my clients, in my profession, and
in this association have not taken time away from my personal life:
these entities are my personal life. By making my profession
a high priority in my life, I decided that being actively involved
in the AASV was also a priority. So when you get approached to help
serve this association, realize that the commitment will require
some of your time and may force you to change your priorities. Also
realize that sometimes the fringe benefits of being active in your
profession and in an association such as AASV are more rewarding
than we can explain.
--Daryl Olsen
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