It is that time of the year of celebration, cheer, and care. However, it's also a time of high stress and anxiety for many. If you think hard about what causes us to feel stressed, the fundamental trigger is things are not going as planned. Let me explain that with real-life examples. They typically fall into one of the three categories.?
- For instance, I have to complete my final exams before the end of this week for my master's program. The University calendared the dates four months ago, and professors gave us take-home tests two weeks ago. So, ample time to plan and prepare to complete them on time without stress.???- Known & Planned.
- We got an invite to a baby shower party. We bought gifts and reached the venue on time. To our surprise, we did not see the hosts there. We double-checked the address and tried to call the host. After a little while, we discovered they had to rush to the hospital as the baby decided to come out early.????- Known &?Unplanned.?
- Let's say you are on a clock and driving as quickly as possible to reach your destination on time. Suddenly the car stops in the middle of the road. You could not figure out what happened or how to fix it. Your plans get upset.????-?Unknown &?Unplanned.
No matter your philosophy about planning things, I hypothesize that everyone will have some plan for the day, either in their head or on paper. That plan goes awry when one's day gets hit with more "Un's." As we cannot add more hours to a day, it leads us to feel frustrated & stressed.
Let's see if I can help you relate to these situations at the workplace.?
- It's that time of the year when everyone is writing performance feedback for their peers or evaluations for their staff. The calendar is set way in advance, and each task has an allotted duration to complete on time without stress. - Known & Planned.
- Let's say you made plans for the evening, finished your work on time, and headed out. As you step out, your phone rings about a system outage. As you are the front line of support for the system, you get on a call and spend the necessary time resolving the issue. Your plans get upset - Known &?Unplanned.
- We have been working with a tech giant for more than four years and have built an innovative and award-winning solution. The giant decided to stop supporting that product abruptly, without notice. We got less than a week to find an alternate???-?Unknown &?Unplanned.?
However, the key is to keep calm, reevaluate, and swiftly get back to a workable plan. The urgency & criticality of the unknowns will impact some or all of the planned stuff. And it's OK. My mantra has always been one must always have a plan, and plans can change. :)??
Stay safe, Stay healthy, and Stay blessed. Thank you and have a great weekend.
