Okay. Honestly.  Did you really blow it that badly?  Can you can fix your mistake or try something else  to move on?  There are often other options.  And, if not, you can always acknowledge your errors and make the best of it.  

Maybe it’s time you remember how to lighten up and not take yourself so seriously, from little to big things that seem to go wrong, or not as you expected.  It doesn’t take a few hours, a day, or a week from now to put it behind you, it can really take a moment..and this spoken from a woman who continues to remind herself of this daily – trust me!

When I was in Japan many years ago I noticed how the Japanese people often differed in how they react to things from the ways I’ve learned in our western culture.  For example, when I was at an outdoor music concert listening to some fun marching music, I couldn’t keep my body still while those around me sat motionless, their expressions seemingly blank, but certainly enjoying it in their own way.   More interesting was noticing when things there went awry…

I was on a train near Osaka and saw a group of young business men sitting together and when one of them stood up, he accidentally banged his head hard on the overhead luggage rack.  The other men laughed and the hurt man rubbed his painful head and gradually moved back into conversation with them.  I thought at the time that this was cruel treatment of their friend, but perhaps that was their form of soothing him, since it did bring him back into the group more quickly.  

You’ve known someone who has teased you or tried to lighten you up during a difficult situation and chances are, like me, you were more focused on being angry or wanting to hang out longer in the mire of your upset.   Scientific brain studies have shown us there are undeniable positive effects of laughter in terms of our social, mental, and physical well-being.   So what if instead, we laugh about things more and join with others in laughter? 

Forgotten how to laugh?  Check out this website:  If these babies laughing  don’t do it for you, you may need to take a course in laughter, rent a funny movie, or go tickle a baby yourself!

Most often in our busy business lives there are so many things to attend to that we invariably feel if we’re not on top of everything, we’re procrastinating, or worse – we consider ourselves unmotivated or lazy.

The truth is we’ve got alot going on and it’s more a matter of honoring our truer interests, setting priorities, being time efficient, or even letting go of things completely.

I recently had a deadline on a project I was moderately interested in completing, but I was still committed to do it. It wasn’t causing me stress when the deadline arrived, because it was actually the deadline before the real deadline.  That is, I’d set a date earlier to complete the project than when it was due.  So rather than feel as if I was procrastinating for skipping a day or two, I had given myself one extra day before I needed to begin work on it.  I used this to finish a project I was already on and enjoy some down time. 

No guilt needed for my so-called “procrastination.”

What is the true reason you put something off rather than do it now?

Today I was scanning a twelve page document to email to someone who didn’t have a fax.  On page eleven I somehow hit the wrong button and exited out of the document.  I was unable to pull up the scanned pages again; obviously my work had been erased.  I had been culling through my book shelf and pulling out dated books to get rid of at the same time and was distracted.  The joke on me was that I thought I was saving time by doing two things at once.  

But, I was getting more done, right?  Wrong.  Due to my unwillingness to sit patiently while I handled the scanning project in front of me, I lost the entire project and another half hour of my time starting again.  Both projects required similar brain channels rather than different ones, such as if one task was verbal and the other visual.  According to experts that was making my ability to focus on both a real challenge.  (Read more about how doing tasks that use entirely different brain channels can be done simulatenously: In Defense of Distraction)

So not all multitasking is inefficient.  If you’re walking to your office and notice along the way something that goes there, then it makes sense to pick it up and bring it with you.  But conducting two separate projects that divide your attention in opposing ways, is self-defeating and frequently leads to errors.  Rather than stumble into this problem again, I’ve decided to stop and ask myself if what I want to do next can simply wait a few minutes.  Or, does it have to get done simultaneously and, if so, am I willing to run the risk of error or wasted time if I can’t align my focus.

You can align your focus using your executive function, or self-control mechanism, of your brain and redirecting your attention.  But it isn’t an unconscious decision and can require hyperfocusing your energy to get both accomplished well.  Studies are being  constantly done to find the way the brain behaves best.  But it’s important to gauge the benefits or problems of multitasking for you.

Where have you found yourself redoing tasks because your focus wasn’t on it fully in the first place and how often does that occur vs. saving time and energy multitasking?

The Miracle is You: Kute Blackson, courtesy of Youtube.com 5:38 min.

Like O.J. Simpson at his trial, sometimes no matter how persistent you are to make the glove fit, your work just doesn’t fit you.

In a tough economic environment, it’s scary thinking of making major industry changes, (i.e. from a preschool teacher to a nurse), let alone changing jobs in your same field (i.e. from a piano teacher for kids to a piano teacher for adults). If you’re not in pain right now over your job and don’t have financial resources to be out of work for at least six months, I recommend you hold tight where you are until your finances will be supportive for a period of transition, you do know what you want, have the skills and talents to bring to the work, and have developed sufficient contacts to help get you the work.

But in the meantime, it’s time to find out why your job isn’t a fit for you and see if you can’t infuse it with new energy and interest to stay or begin the research process for a job change. Some key questions so you can make a list of your responses and begin to formulate a clear plan for your future action steps:

1. Was your job ever a fit for you? What are the best, the worst and the so-so parts for you?
2. Have you ever had some of the same positives (from #1) in other work you’ve done?
3. What specifically has changed and what can you be responsible for to improve your situation?

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