As we enter a period of renewal and change, Your Clear Next Step is committed to helping our customers make their businesses and workdays even better. We will be here to walk beside you, to listen, to connect, and to aid in your search for clarity. In doing so, we are offering a free, daily Zoom call, called Daily Connections, at 1:15pm (CDT) every weekday from 3/19/2020-5/1/2020.
These calls are a chance for us to share tips and discussion about relevant topics (working remotely, maintaining consistency in uncertain times, building relationships across geography, staying motivated, staying connected, etc) and network with each other to provide help and support during this time of change.
Thank you to everyone who was able to join us today! The next call will be Wednesday, April 29th at 1:15pm (CDT). Click here to join.
On today's call...
Sinikka talked about managing our emotions.
It’s about to get contentious. Feelings will be at the surface, and passions will be running high. Let’s look at some of those feelings and what impact they might have, and how to manage them.
- Fear
- Loss
- Anger
- Uncertainty
- Exuberance
So what’s the problem?
Emotions aren’t inherently dangerous. And our feelings are our feelings – each of us has experienced a life journey that brought us to those particular emotions. But when we don’t stop to consider the other people in the room or on the Zoom or on the other end of the phone or the post, we can inadvertently cause damage, sometimes irreparably.
So what do we do about it?
We apply good, old-fashioned emotional intelligence. Remember the saying, Emotional intelligence isn’t about crying at sappy movies, it’s about knowing, if you’re going to a sappy movie, which one of you is likely to cry, and coming equipped with the appropriate number of Kleenex.
- Self awareness – Take stock of your emotions.
- Self management – Spend a moment getting mastery over your physiological response to your emotion.
- Other awareness – Look at the people engaged in this conversation with you, and consider what journey they have been on in their lives.
- Relationship management – Without judging – either you or them – find a way to walk forward together.
A few thoughts that were shared by the group:
- One participant has already seen discourse on social media about people who are concerned about upcoming changes or are excited about the upcoming changes. They have seen tensions rising.
- One participant doesn’t think that the opening up will be what people think. They want to point out that the other emotion is “don’t be disappointed.” We need to give business owners grace while they are making decisions on whether to open or not and then with the regulations if they do open up.
- One participant suggests managing personal expectations. Some could be feeling jealousy that others are doing better, feeling competition with others, or feeling disillusionment. They remind us of the phrase “one step back, two steps forward.” Stress triggers don’t mean you’re a bad person.
- One participant has seen posts about extra time and the many great things that will be accomplished, but they haven’t done anything because they have been so busy with their business. They hope they aren’t judged for that when this is over.
- One participant has been experiencing a lot of self-judgement. They have still been working, but they are going through a lot of changes. They would give their friends grace, but they are having difficulty giving grace to themselves.
- One participant shared that we shouldn’t hold ourselves to unreasonable standards.
- One participant shared Amygdala hacks. These are hacks to use to gain mastery of your emotions and move toward rational thinking. This can be done through looking at cute animal pictures, pictures of your kids when they were younger, aromas, or happy thoughts. Looking at pictures of cute animals at 3pm will release positive endorphins for the afternoon.
- One participant shares messages of hope (almost) everyday and asks what are you placing your hope in?
- One participant shared an author they enjoy, Cy Wakeman, says “stop believing everything you think.”
