Focus on what is within your control.
Folks, I woke up this morning, and I was a little bit frustrated because we’re heading into spring, and it’s snowing again. And inside I had this frustrating feeling. And then I started to think to myself, you know, this energy that I’m spending on being frustrated is taking away from me. It costs me energy to be frustrated. And I already have flowers popping up in my flower bed.
The Weather is Out of Our Control
So I’ve got, peonies are coming up, I’ve got tulips coming up, I’ve got heritage poppies coming up. They’re beautiful, they don’t last long, but they’re beautiful. And of course the tulips, I don’t know if I said tulips again or not, but it doesn’t matter. And the challenge that I was having with this is that, you know, some of these flowers are gonna die maybe, and or they’re gonna get a frost on them, and I just have too many to cover them.
It’s not worth the effort of trying to get something to cover it until the snow goes away. But then I reminded myself that, of course, we all know this, the weather’s out of our control. And I was thinking about this, about our careers.
How Much Energy Are You Putting Into Things That Frustrating You
When you look at the level of frustration that you have right now, when you look at the level of the irritant that you have right now, or you look at the level of non-responsiveness that you have from someone, or you look at the level of chasing that you have to do with an employer, or, you know maybe you’re herding the cats, which are usually the big wigs, right? It’s like herding cats, right, everybody’s got their own ideas, their own agenda, and you’re trying to get what you need to get your job done. Maybe you work in a situation where you feel like you have no influence.
My question is, like me with the weather today, how much energy and anxiety and thought are you putting into things that are out of your control in your career?
Here are Some Tips
So here are a couple of tips. The first thing that I would do is I would recognize that something is out of my control. And if it is truly out of your control, spending any time or energy on something out of your control is a waste of your time.
The second thing I would do is I would focus on what’s in your control. So create a list, and write down this is what’s in my control in this situation.
The third thing I would do is start to strategize with what’s in your control to make you start to feel better. And every time you focus on what’s out of your control, gently bring yourself back to what is in your control.
Folks, my name is Christopher Lawrence with Change My Life Coaching. If in your career right now, you’re focused on what’s outside of your control, please reach out to me. Let’s talk about getting you focused on what’s in your control and using that to influence your situation to create an even more fulfilling life.