What’s in your control?
That’s the first question to ask and one that seems to go out the window during stress. It’s the question you lose sight up when you get swallowed my victim-mode and every small bump feels like a catastrophe.
It’s easy to play out at work when some things might actually not be in your control. Maybe you didn’t make that decision but it sure as hell impacts you. Maybe you feel like you don’t have the information you need.
Maybe you’re like me and at the mercy of literary agents reviewing a pitch letter and have absolutely no control in when (or if) they’ll get back to you . . . never mind actually bite.
We don’t control everything that’s important to us and impacts our daily lives. But we do usually have more measure of control than we think.
Firstly, to paraphrase an old adage, we control our mindset. Our attitude. It’s overstated for a reason. How we approach problems and frustrations matters and can end up either escalating or resolving them. Asking yourself what you do have control over, owning it, and asserting that control to address problems is how problems get solved. Or how you keep your sanity and composure together.
Then, look beyond that. Do we have control in what we ask for? What we can do? Can we give feedback? Propose solutions?
It’s easy to feel like the victim, it’s hard to accept that most of the time we have a hand on the steering wheel.
With Love,
Natalie