3 words that'll change your life
(MoneyWatch) It happens every day. Your boss, a customer, somebody needs something done yesterday. No, they don't need it done now. That somehow fails to convey the unbelievably critical sense of urgency of what they need done. Nope. Today's not good enough. You actually have to go back in time and get it done before you were asked.
Not to dump this entirely at the feet of management. Panic-stricken employees are forever bursting into their bosses' offices with emergencies, demands and requisitions they can't live without. If they don't get it, life as we know it will cease to exist. The sky will fall, the earth will stop turning and the dead will rise from their graves.
All hail that holiest of all business acronyms: ASAP.
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- 10 things you should learn to say
If everyone would just learn how to say one thing, organizations would be more effective, the workplace would be less stressful and businesses would be more successful. Try it. It'll free your soul and blow your mind. Say it along with me: "Tomorrow's another day."
Here are five examples of how learning to say, "Tomorrow's another day" can improve your and your team's performance, not to mention lower your blood pressure:
1. Most people have no idea just how unprofessional and self-destructive it is to allow their own little psychodramas to rear their ugly heads in the workplace. When you get the urge to go postal because you're overworked, underappreciated and you just can't take another day of it, take a chill pill, go out for a nice dinner, have a few drinks and see if things don't look a little bit less dramatic in the morning. It's a lot smarter than self-destructing.
2. Managers with a disruptive style of constant fire drills, never-ending interrupts, overreactions to relatively insignificant events and the ever-popular "strategy du jour" do nothing but destroy productivity and employee morale.
3. When it comes to problem solving, brainstorming, ideating, writing or any activity that requires the right side of your brain to come up with something unique, after you're done beating your head against a wall for seven or eight hours straight give it a rest and stop thinking about it for the evening. Chances are it'll come to you when you least expect it, like in the shower.
4. When you hit a stumbling block in negotiations, it's always a good idea to break for the day and give both parties a chance to mull it over for the evening. More often than not, one or both sides show up with an idea or a new perspective in the morning.
5. The virtues of failure is a popular topic these days. While it's true that the only way to get anywhere in business is by failing -- a lot -- that only works if you learn from your mistakes and then move on. Some people wear failure and regret like an albatross around their neck, completely unaware of how masochistic that sort of behavior is. You only gain wisdom if you learn lessons from failure, forgive yourself -- I mean really forgive yourself -- and then get on with your business. And treat others' failure the same way.
Next time you get stressed out, maxed out, burned out or just stuck, say those three words. If that doesn't help, call me. I'll get you straightened out.
Image courtesy of Flickr user of jimbrickett