This week’s message can be expressed in just a few sentences. So that’s what I’ve done.
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Almost nothing is a crisis
Some things feel big: the sudden departure of valued colleagues, an impossible amount of work, the loss of an important client, a serious error, the breakdown of a vital-seeming relationship, criticism in the media, litigation. But these are things that happen in the working lives of people who do work that matters. Whatever it is that’s going on may be big and it may be challenging. But whether it’s a crisis is usually determined by how you react to it. You can often choose to think of it as just the job, an interesting twist, something from which you’ll learn.
Of course, occasionally it truly is a crisis. But that’s rare. And even when there’s no escaping that something’s a calamity, if you can (as Rudyard Kipling put it) keep your head while all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, you’ll ride it out more serenely and successfully.
The benefits are huge. You handle it vastly better. There’s less stress around. Your anxiety doesn’t crank up your colleagues. Everyone learns from it. Unanticipated benefits emerge.
Pause before telling others—or yourself—that you’re swamped, or firefighting, or in crisis response mode. Consider whether that’s true, or whether the problem may be as much in your reaction as the—I’ll bet genuine—challenges of the work you do.
Almost nothing needs to be a crisis. And it’s so much more fun when it’s not.
I’ve overcommitted the last few months—a lifelong bad habit (but not a crisis). I’m going to follow my own advice and pause these emails for a couple of weeks. Back soon!
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Almost nothing is a crisis