This is not only my question to you but maybe a statement you’ve caught yourself making once or twice? As you know I recently “revealed” that I’m in the middle of a major product launch (we typically only do 1 of these a year, but this year, it looks like maybe 4-5 of which this is the second already).

Anyways, without fault, with these launches comes TONS of stress, pressure and “trying times.” Now, before I continue, let me tell you something about myself…

I’m a ridiculously resilient and persistent person and it takes a LOT to get me to throw the towel in (I’ve honestly maybe thrown in the towel once or twice in my entire life). However, at the same time, I bottle and bottle till I suffer a nuclear melt-down.

So, I typically hold things in and try to handle everything myself until at some point, I simply “lose my patience.” At this point, in the past, I (like many others) would typically begin making harsh, rash and stupid costly decisions.

But, in the last year or so, I’ve grown quite a bit as a leader, person, businessman, CEO, etc…

I still have a very large “buffer” of what I can absorb and I typically still let it all pile up till I hit a point of being overwhelmed. BUT, it’s what I do at the point of being overwhelmed that has seriously changed.

What Do You Do When You’re At The Point of Breaking?

My new rule is to SEPARATE from the situation immediately. I don’t care how urgent things are - if I’m coming close to melt-down, the computer is shut down and I am off to do something to get my mind off whatever it is.

I make a strict policy to NOT make any decisions or call anyone or contact anyone.

Why? Because I’m typically very irritable and upset - I have a tendency to yell, get nasty and pass my negativity onto my team.

This past Friday I sensed myself coming to the point of melt-down (a small one, nothing major) - I pulled back immediately and tonight (Sunday night), I’m feeling better and making rational decisions again.

(( INSIDER PEEK - Why did I hit that?  Mostly just the stress of work-load and a few people who I just was not getting through to and feeling a bit flustered as to what to do about it. I separated mysef from thsse people and today I now have a plan of action regarding how to proceed - one that may be dramatic or drastic, but necessary and well-thought out. ))

My lesson of the day? Don’t make decisions when you’re “losing your patience” - separate and wait for that feeling to go away. Immediately evaluate what made you feel that way and do what you can to resolve it so that feeling does not come back (yes, even if that means releasing someone from your team - it’s a rough world).

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Tags: losing my patience

This entry was posted on Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 1:20 am and is filed under Managing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.