Keeping calm amidst the chaos

We live in a stressful world. At work, we contend with a minute-by-minute barrage of emails, chats, fly-by conversations and digital notifications. Rare is the day that doesn’t bring with it some stressful situation or fire drill. Everyone has their own approach for coping with this stress. Some people embrace it, believing that they thrive in that type of environment. Some people become frantic and flustered, overwhelmed and unable to prioritize. Some people shut down and avoid dealing with the stress altogether, hoping that it will simply resolve itself. Others don’t let it affect them, choosing instead to focus only on the priorities that matter and block out everything else. Does one of those sound familiar? Whether you love or loathe stressful situations, there is always room to improve, always something you can do to maximize your impact while minimizing energy expended. Below are some things I do to keep myself centered.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: have a system that works for you and ACTUALLY USE IT. It doesn’t matter what it is, just get things out of your head, inbox, phone, etc and into a centralized repository. Categorize those things into major buckets or topics that make sense for you. Regularly (ideally once a week) scrub that list and eliminate anything that is no longer relevant. Thats it. Simple, but not easy.

I’ve found that when we are not busy or stressed, the capturing and organizing of tasks, projects, things to remember is not that hard to do consistently. Its when things become heated and chaotic that our process tends to go out the window. We try to adjust our own pace to match that of the incoming noise and this leads to a host of problems, from minor mistakes in our work to complete misalignment of major priorities. When I find myself in a situation where I am having trouble keeping up, I bring things to a stop, get all those demons out of my head and my inbox and put them somewhere (usually a piece of paper) where I can view them in aggregate and re-prioritize accordingly.

One of the best ways to pre-empt feeling rushed and stressed is to relentlessly defend your schedule and not let anyone else dictate your priorities. Once you’ve decided what to focus on, set aside time and do not let anyone or anything interrupt you. People are singularly focused on their own agenda and have zero concern for your schedule, so it is your responsibility to protect your calendar and ensure you have ample time to get things done. I like to set aside time at the beginning of each day for strategic thinking and the days that I dial-in right away (I fail at this more often than not so expect an ongoing struggle) are my most rewarding and productive.

You are much more likely to actually be calm on the inside if you project a sense of confidence and certainty on the outside. This has the added benefit of keeping the people around you - your peers, employees and even bosses - unruffled as well. When in doubt, "act as if.” By remaining unfazed when a colleague or employee frantically describes a major problem that they need your help on, they are far more likely to approach the situation rationally and thoughtfully. After all, you can’t change the situation itself, but you can control how you react to it and what you do next. Sound like stoicism? Good catch. Regardless of what you think about Stoicism: its a fad, its some pie-in-the sky philosophical BS, those people are robots, the idea that you can control some things and not others and should focus your energy on the former is just common sense. If it helps you produce results, who cares what its called? If you’re interested in learning more, Ryan Holiday’s book The Daily Stoic is probably the most accessible introduction.

I’ve also found that having some sort of mindfulness practice is extremely beneficial. For the past year or so, I have tried to spend at least 10 minutes each morning meditating. I certainly don't always get it right, but the days in which I do this are by far my most productive and least stressful. This doesn't have to be an overly involved or complicated process. I spent a long time procrastinating getting started because I thought I needed a separate room or space, which in retrospect seems ridiculous. The truth is you just need enough floor space to sit on or a chair. Meditation can take on many forms but ultimately the intention is to shut your mind off and become aware of your body and surroundings. If you need a little help getting started, download the Headspace or Calm apps. If sitting silently on the floor isn't your thing, find some repetitive activity such as running, swimming or weightlifting where you can shut off your mind and focus on being present-state aware.

Lastly, and possibly most importantly over the long run, you must master ability to keep things in proper perspective when it feels like the current crises could not get any worse. Think about it this way: do you remember any of the problems, stresses or fire drills from the job you were doing 5 years ago? How about 10? How about high school, which for me felt like the end of the world at times? Yes, major disruptive events do happen, but even those tend to be learning moments that shape who we are to become. The next time you find yourself overwhelmed and feeling like you will never catch up, take a moment and say to yourself, “this will not even matter a year from now.”

At the end of the day, all you can do is your very best, and if you can leave the office or the gym or the family dinner table certain you've done that, you should sleep well. There is no such thing as reaching perfection, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be striving to get a little closer every day.