Keeping Calm in the Eye of the Storm: Dealing with Overload and Stress
Sometimes as the saying goes “when it rains it pours.” Too many things, whether good or bad, happen around the same time. Now you are caught up in the storm, the proverbial hurricane. Your emotions start taking hold, you get angry or emotionally distraught. Not only are the circumstances pressuring you, but you are being watched and harassed to make decisions that may affect others. These people could be your family, other relatives, friends, colleagues, or your management team or your other reports.
It is imperative that you handle this turmoil of simultaneous events before they escalate even further. You need to make a decision and the next chess move. Here is how to handle extremely stressful hurricanes:
Remain Calm and Level-Headed
Stay in the eye of the storm where it is the calmest. Take yourself outside the situation and drama and observe events as if I you are an outsider and not caught in the midst of things. Look at the situation objectively.
Don’t Be Reactive
If the situation permits, decide not to be reactive but to be proactive. Come up with a temporary solution that could be enacted before coming to a final solution to give yourself more time to look at the possibilities. Think ahead about not only solving the problem now but ways to avoid this situation in the future.
Be Open to Suggestions, Do What is Right for All Concerned
Sort through the possible actions and commensurate results and determine what is the right and fair thing to do so that little or no fallout occurs. Regardless of others opinions, don’t let them sway you to take sides or actions that are not in everyone’s best interest.
Prioritize
Make decisions and take the appropriate actions in a prioritized way so that one by one everything is under control and ceases to be an issue. Bend like a palm tree in a wild tropical hurricane but stay firmly planted in self-awareness—don’t allow get carried away by the torrential wind and rain.
Stay Focused and Release all Anxieties.
Stay focused on your actions and the results they produce and release all anxieties, knowing that your timeline may not coincide with the timing of the unraveling of a sequence of events that you can’t control.
Be Prepared to Change Course
The outcome of your decisions will play out and the storm will subside. Be diligent about tracking and observing whether you are on course to make your next move or if you need to reassess and revise your plans. Deal with any unexpected damage quickly so that it does not worsen. Pat yourself on the back for each success.
Stay intact and act rationally when a myriad of challenges come your way. The more you practice these strategies, the better you can stand these challenges whenever they arise.
