Trust In People’s Cores

Lives are unstable and crazy things happen. People can react in unpredictable ways to unpredictable things. Too much dwelling can quickly transform a person into an unrecognizable Mr. Hyde. The last thing you should do when friends or family react unpredictably to an unpredictable event is react unpredictably yourself. Take a moment to breathe, step back from the situation and wait for the dust to settle. A single event alone cannot transform a person completely (though it certainly can catalyze a chain of behavioral change). Trust smart people with strong souls to undulate back onto their original paths. Have faith that spontaneous decisions or wild moves are a temporary lapse in character and not a complete restructure of people’s cores. Do what you can to help them find their way back home, but be careful taking the reins on an unpredictable situation. Human ambition and emotion should not be lured back into a cage – boxing the beast may be more dangerous than letting it run wild and tire itself out.

In crazy situations, stand by with support and love. Have patience and trust that a person will remember who he or she originally set out to be.

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Spread the Love

You would be surprised by how much easier and richer your life gets when you spend every waking minute spreading the love to other people. Give your time, help people with problems, smile, listen, hug, support, and genuinely care about others. Lend a hand anytime you can, and always put yourself second. Sounds like a lot of work, but the rewards are priceless. And timeless.

Why Stress If It’s Not Your Fault?

Perhaps harsh survival advice, but It is not worth hurting yourself over the failure of others. If someone else makes a mistake, why give yourself a heart attack? It is not your fault, so do not pretend like it. And it’s not your responsibility to clean up another person’s mess, whether you know how to or not. So relax; offer a helping hand, and take comfort in the knowledge that you are doing everything that you can to help. Do not stress.

If his or her failure effects you or makes your job harder, it does not resolve the issue to get upset. Anger, frustration, yelling, pouting, and blaming do not smooth things out at all. Stress is almost as unhealthy and contagious as the flu. Your stress will snowball into other people’s stress, which will only come back to hurt you more and make the situation worse. Objectify the problem, take new obstacles at face value, forgive the mistake, and move forward. Do not stress.

If the mistake was made under your leadership, then it is your responsibility. That is one of the risks of leadership, and you need to be prepared to handle the failures of your staff. That said, it is also your responsibility to facilitate recovery from said mistakes. Losing your cool will lose you the upper ground over your problems. Stay focused, think through the situation objectively, realign resources as needed, and act. Decision making is math, not drama. Do not stress.