Earlier this week, one of my colleagues was going into a big presentation. Armed with the confidence of many successful previous events under his belt, he assumed he had it under control. At the last moment, jitters and panic set in and the first call he made was to me.
Despite the early hour and the tone of his voice, I knew the important thing to do here was to calm him down and solve the problem. One of the greatest things I have learned on my journey in life is to remove myself, my ego, from the situation, especially when it comes to stressful situations where my feelings ultimately don’t matter.
This is a great skill to have if you are hanging with your kids, in a work situation, or anytime emotions run high. With these six steps in mind, you will be able to handle anything that comes your way.
1) Assess the situation. Will tossing your emotions into the situation add fuel to the fire or calm the flames? It’s serious high road time. Take it.
2) If you don’t know it already, determine the DO. Remember, eyes on the prize: moments of panic are never learning opportunities. Put out the fire first.
3) Find clarity and then send up flares. In this scenario, I knew I was going to have to ask for outside help. But without clarity, reaching out would only create more trouble. Find what is fixable (most things are) and then call experts into action.
4) Remain calm. Your energy will determine the outcome.
5) Redirect their attention. Once the fire is out, check in on something else (this works especially well with my boys, a quick talk about their latest video game obsession or Lego creation saves buckets of tears).
6) Return to the DO. Double check next steps. Reassure, compliment, rebuild.
We can hone those instincts, hunters, and use them in our lives every day. When you can get above and clear and remove your ego from any situation, you are on your way to hitting your targets, as well as helping the ones closest to you on their hunt for success.
