I need to remember to take a moment before I wade into situations. Does that sound familiar?
I get a kick out of working at speed, but when a few weeks (make that months, says my conscience) of stress is added into the mix, I can often speak too soon, or too passionately. My emotions are incredibly useful - for me. I work in a creative job and without them, my drive would go. But my colleagues don't need to know what I'm feeling about what's going on - they just need to know what I suggest we do about it.
So how does someone who has an emotional connection to their work stop themselves from jumping off a the deep end, and reacting to what they think is going on, rather than what is actually happening? By taking a beat. A moment. Make a cup of tea. Take a five minute walk. Wait until after lunch to reply to that email. And if it's got you really, really, REALLY riled up, wait until tomorrow. Seriously.
So now my challenge is how to remind myself to do this. How to jump in when I've just pressed reply and take those fingers off the keyboard. At the moment I'm trying a coded post-it (so colleagues who already think I'm a bit emotional don't now think I'm down right crazy) but suggestions are welcome!
I discovered a trick recently to de-stress in the middle of tense meetings. I hate when people check their email on their phones during a meeting. I think it is rude and I won't give into that behavior. Although, I have found that if I feel my blood pressure rising, if I get out my phone and look as though I'm checking my email like everyone else, I can flip through pictures on my phone instead and it calms me down.
ReplyDeleteLooking at pictures of friends, loved ones, and vacations almost automatically reminds me that what's going on in the present isn't really that important.