“My days are torn apart by meetings, phone calls, voicemail, and e-mail upon e-mail. Then, my boss walks by.” She described having enjoyed the challenges of her career, but now things had gone so far over the edge that she was contemplating leaving her company.
She felt like she was drowning. The work of her own projects was mounting. Then her manager would walk by and lob a simple 5 word “request grenade” into her office which exploded into incredible complexity. She'd have to reprioritize all projects yet again to respond to this latest "simple request."
The grenades kept landing.
Her frustration was mounting.
“Overwhelmed” might be the simplest way to describe her view, but adding to work stress were the stresses with family, kids, activities, the house … need I say more?
“Trapped” might be a better name for how she was looking at the situation.
This story is a composite of many people I’ve known and worked with in the corporate environment. Stress can certainly be an excellent catalyst causing us to look at how we are living our lives and our values. Unfortunately, too often, people make life changing decisions from the perspective of “trapped” because they can’t see anything else. They only see a limited set of choices … quit or …
Recently, I’ve worked with a number of clients who have felt stuck, trapped, overwhelmed, or stressed. A powerful, fast exercise lets them see and even experiment their "stuckness" from as many as 5 or 6 different angles. They get the opportunity to choose how they want to look at the issue and make productive choices that serve them best.
One client couldn’t see her way out of her dilemma. With this process, we explored 6 different ways of looking it. We discovered an approach that let her take control of her time and move forward in an effective, empowering way.
Another felt he was paralyzed because he couldn’t get traction on a major project. After looking at just three perspectives, found one that really worked. It broke the log-jam that had been keeping him stuck in “inactivity” for days.
Learn more about how to looking at issues from multiple angles.
If you want to experience what it's like, give me a call. We can do a quick 15 minute "round the wheel" exercise to see how it works for you.
Comments