Thriving in Your Great Work-Life--Part One

Last week I spoke to a group of administrative professionals on the topic, ‘Thriving in the Changing Work Place.” These men and women have been through three years of budget cuts, staff reductions, shifitng responsibilities and reduced resources. Their managers complain of feeling like the circus jugglers, trying to accomplish everything expected of them with smaller budgets and they expect their administrative personnel to take on more responsibility. The entire system is under stress and work-life is not enjoyable for most people right now.

The past three years have been beyond challenging for many businesses and employees, and the signs of wear and tear are showing. In some businesses and professional practices, tempers are short and easily triggered, sadness lies just beneath the surface and emerges with little provocation and fear of more losses creates a stifling air of uncertainty. How can we even think of thriving in such an environment?

Thriving is a choice—the choice to exercise control over that which you can regulate. Many of the decisions that impact your business are made by others, but you get to choose how you respond to those decisions. If your clients aren’t buying the products or services they’ve always wanted, you can choose to be mad or sad about that and watch your sales decline or you can learn what problems they’re facing now and design a solution that’s in demand. If your usual advertising isn’t working, you can spend the same or even more money in the same places and hope for a different outcome or you can find out where your best customers get their information in the digital age.

The first step toward thriving is to recognize what’s within your control. Stop fretting over that which is beyond your control and start thinking creatively about how you’ll change what you can.