It is one of those days where you have woken up late, the coffee machine does not work, you are rush out the door and just when you are in the car you remember that you left your laptop bag at home and the list goes on. Arriving in the office is not the end of the bad day but in fact just the next stage. You discover that you are behind on your sales forecast and a deal that you were counting on for the month has just gone south. You wonder to yourself, what else could go wrong?
I can safely say that all of us has had one of those days. Those days may look slightly different for each of us but the outcome is the same…. It is a bad day and to top it off… Your hair looks bad.
I have had my share of bad hair days and the silver lining is that the day will end at some point. It is also great fodder for jokes when the day ends. Acknowledging that those bad hair days are not one off and it will most probably happen again is a realist view. What can we do to straighten the hair just a little bit without keeling over?
Acceptance. Accept that it is just one of those days. It happens to the best of us and just going with the flow and making the best out of it. After all, being stressed and upset about it isn’t going to change the fact of what has already occurred. You can however, change the way you respond to the situation. This leads to the next step.
Respond and not react. When you react, there is typically very little thought process that goes into the action. It is usually impulsive and not well considered. It may land you in deeper trouble than you are already in. So, take a deep breath or two and think about what is the best way to respond to the situation. Think about how best you can salvage a difficult situation. Change your perspective and look for opportunities and learnings. Naturally that will lead to the next step.
Think about options and possibilities. Have a quick brainstorm or meeting session with some of your colleagues and think about options. What are some alternative actions that can be taken? What perspective needs to be changed? How can you be resourceful and creative about finding a solution?
Take a break and go for a walk. Taking a break will help you settle down and you might even find a funny side to the day. If you can’t laugh about then it just adds to the bad day. So you might as well laugh it off and start the day afresh.
If all else fails, just remember that the day will end. For tomorrow is another day and don’t forget to set the alarm!
PS: Special for March, I am conducting a special free 30-min session to help you with any questions around coaching that you might have and how coaching could be the resource you might need to help you have a purposeful year. Just click here to start the journey.
