How Deal With Problems & Get On With Your Day

A simple method to get the negative thoughts out of your head so you can get on with your job.

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

Over the last 20 years, I have worked in a variety of workplaces; each with their own issues. Some of these issues were really bad, some were not so bad, but I have learned that the way to overcome these issues remains the same and only requires two simple steps:

Step 1: Objectively view the issue

Step 2: Do something or LET IT GO.

The Steps in Detail

If you’re still with me and want to learn a little bit more about the 2-Step Method, Let’s dive a little deeper into the steps.

Step 1: Objectively view the issue

The first thing you need to do is ask yourself: Is this within my remit to control?

By asking yourself this you are removing your annoyance from the problem and are objectively considering if it is ACTUALLY something you are supposed to be putting energy into.

Step 2: Do something or LET IT GO

If the answer to step 1 is ‘yes this issue is within my remit’ then you have two choices: Do something about the problem, or actively choose to do nothing about it, LET IT GO, and get on with your life.

If the answer to step 1 is ‘no’ then you have acknowledged it is neither your problem to fix, nor does it require any of your energy: LET IT GO.

The Benefits of Following the 2-Step Method:

Benefits of Objectively Viewing an Issue

• Energy saving: By stepping back a little bit and removing yourself from the issue you are able to objectively assess whether it is worth your energy. Typically, when something annoys us we complain about it, we think about how to fix it, we might even do the annoying thing ourselves to annoy the person back, and worst of all, we take the issue with us into our non-work lives and continue to let it annoy us! But it’s important to remember that focusing on an issue that’s not yours gives it power, your energy, and more attention that it deserves.
• Head space for next steps: If objectively viewing the issue leads you to decide that it is in fact within your remit to control you are then in a factual/objective head space to consider how to move forward rather than an emotional, annoyed one.
• Increased professionalism: By using the objective method to assess an issue you are able to professionally determine if something is worth your energy. If it is, you can professionally define a solution, if it is not, you can put your energy into getting on with your own work.
• Increased integrity: This one is linked to the point above; people tend to mimic behaviours, if you can create a culture of objectively assessing issues rather than one of gossip and complaining, you will be better viewed as a leader, peer, or colleague.

The Benefits of LETTING GO

• Career progression: If you want to succeed in your career, this happens through hard work and a drive to propel yourself forwards to something else; it does not happen by putting your energy into things that do not service this vision.
• Improved relationships: Frankly, friends and colleagues will only listen to you complain about an issue so many times before they tire of you repeating stories and essentially ranting about something while taking no action but expecting things to improve.
• Improved reputation: If you hold onto the feeling of being annoyed people will notice and you may damage your own reputation by the way you respond to things. This may be that you become known as the office gossiper, you may be thought of as grumpy when approached, it may make you teary and upset which will in turn cause you to speak more about the issue with your support people who may be tiring of the issue (see point 2 above).
• Clear head space: By either letting go of these things that are not your problem, or doing something to make changes, you will free up your head space from grasping onto negative energy, your stress levels will drop, and you might even stop thinking about work problems in your free time.

Actually LETTING GO

It is important to stress here that if you have actively chosen to let something go, you actually have to LET IT GO. You have to stop yourself when you find yourself thinking about it or getting annoyed, you have to stop complaining about it, and you have to move on.

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This article was published on August 19th, 2024 in Long. Sweet. Valuable. publication.