At Nahid Coaching & Mentoring, one key lesson we keep coming back to is around negative behavior patterns and how they are often driven by a deeper negative belief system. For example, procrastination might be the result of a set of beliefs ranging from, “I do my best work under deadline pressure” to “I don’t have what it takes to do a good job right now” or “other people are not allowing me the time I need to get this done”. On the surface these might sound like lame excuses, but a pattern of procrastination can be very hard to escape, creating a feeling of being trapped in the habit. Regardless of how lame the “excuses” may sound, they are often real enough to control one’s behavior.
“I’m too stressed to know where to start, and before I have a chance to decide, I get another urgent interruption – this is crazy – how does anyone get anything done?” Sarah was venting as she faced 600 emails, an afternoon filled with meetings, 5 incomplete performance reviews, at least 12 issues she had promised to review three weeks ago, and no less than 2 people hovering over her desk in any given moment for a signature or “quick” question.Sarah had a reputation for being organized, responsive, and calmly able to handle crises situations, but today she felt completely overwhelmed.
Eight years ago, I heard a speaker claim that gratitude, which seems so gentle and quiet, is actually the most powerful of human emotions – in fact the one emotion that can change the world. I really thought deeply about his claim, because I wanted to know how this could be so. How can such a gentle and fleeting emotion make powerful changes, when other emotions like passion and conviction seem more inspiring? Yet eight years later, my life has become both more peaceful and more powerful. My increased power comes from confidence and it is definitely grounded in gratitude! Something as seemingly silly as being grateful for the opportunity to learn and improve when faced with a particularly irritating situation.
If you have a boss who expresses anger frequently and unpredictably, it can have you walking on eggshells all day. It might help to know you are not alone. According to a recent poll, over one third of all employees cite high stress related to a challenging boss who regularly yells at team members or behaves aggressively in some way.