Insights For A Healthy Outlook At Work

It is the time of year in which many families have completed a vacation (or they are about to embark on one more quick trip) and summer's days are limited.

Technically, summer goes on until Thursday, Sept. 21, but in a cultural sense, we all know summer is over once our young people get back to school.

If you've been fortunate enough to have a vacation, or at least some down time, hopefully it provided an opportunity for reflection about life and work. Relaxation and rejuvenation are crucial in facing life's daily challenges.

A book that I read this year offered some valuable perspective in that regard.

It was by author Dan Miller and was entitled 48 Days to the Work You Love.

The title is a bit misleading, but it is misleading in a good way. The title implies that the book is about a job search or about changing jobs, and it does include plenty of information about that.

But it also includes a lot about having a wise outlook at work and about how to get fulfillment out of our profession.

That's valuable stuff.

One lesson to be learned in the book is that when things change in life or at work, we shouldn't get all bent out of shape about it.

Things are going to change regardless of how we may feel. If a person gets frustrated it won't change the fact that change is occurring.

"Change is inevitable," Miller wrote. "Our only choice is how we are going to respond to it."

He explained that in the midst of change, the people who tend to have the most trouble are those who keep looking back to the way things were. Such a perspective only leads to frustration or discouragement or resentment.

"As soon as we are able to create a clear plan for the future," Miller wrote, "those feelings dissipate and are replaced by hope, optimism, and enthusiasm. In all my years of coaching, I have never seen a person who has a clear plan and goals for the future who is also depressed. They just don't go together."

Miller added that having a definite plan, a clear sense of purpose, or a certain solidification of where you want to go will enable you to carry on in spite of setbacks or unfavorable circumstances.

I've heard it said that people will get out the way of a person who knows where he is going. To put it another way, we step aside for someone who is confidently marching along.

The same thing often happens when a person knows where he or she is going in life. In addition, moving forward with boldness has a tendency to give a person a feeling of being in control.

"If you know where you are going," Miller wrote, "you can respond to priorities rather than circumstances and create the future you want."

A good dose of optimism and confidence can make all the difference in the world.

When I first became a school principal years ago, I noticed that many of my earliest days were filled with me simply responding to one issue after another. I was constantly in reaction mode, and it was very frustrating and stressful.

I got away by myself and started reflecting on how I wanted to handle it, and then I concluded, "I am going to run this building. I'm not going to have the building run me."

And things were certainly different after that. I still had challenging days, and sometimes they occurred often, but being on top of things made it much better overall.

Author Julia Cameron, in her book The Artist's Way, wrote about taking action instead of just listening to all the fearful apprehensions one may have.

"I have learned," she wrote, "never to ask whether you can do something. Say instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow."

The German author and statesman Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said that a person should move forward on something if he or she believes he can do it. "Action has magic, grace, and power in it," he said.

So this summer if you have reflected on where life is taking you, take heart in the notion that it is probably time well spent. No one gets everything sorted out all at once. Miller wrote, "Creating proper life direction is an ongoing process."

So true. And as I said earlier, that's valuable stuff.

DAVID WILSON, EdD, OF SPRINGDALE, IS A WRITER, CONSULTANT AND PRESENTER, WHO GREW UP IN ARKANSAS BUT WORKED 27 YEARS IN EDUCATION IN MISSOURI. YOU MAY E-MAIL HIM AT [email protected]. THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR.

Editorial on 08/16/2017