Sometimes you have to take back control. When things don’t go as planned and you’re buffeted off course, you have to take control.
In my 20 years in the public sector, too often I’ve heard stories of colleague that were promised project opportunities, jobs and pay rises that never materialised. When that happens, we loose faith, trust and become cynical. But it’s often not because the person who made the promise wasn’t genuine in their hope. It’s very likely that they will have wanted the best for you, but the promise just shouldn’t have been made in the first place.
So, what do you do? You take back control
In researching self awareness it was very clear that we can’t change other people’s actions, all we can do is change our behaviour which in turn changes others’ reactions. And that’s as much as we can do. We can’t change others, we can only change ourselves.
When you feel you’re being dragged along by the rip tide, drop your anchor and take a look at the things that you control. You can swim with the tide. You can grab on to that piece of wood. You can give in and sink.
The action you take will impact the reaction that rescuer has when they arrive in 20 minutes.
Decide what you control!
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.