I am the outdoor Christmas lights guy in my family. My daughters and wife take care of decorating the inside of the house, but I’m on outside duty. Each year it seems that they want to start decorating earlier and earlier. We had an intense meeting this year and compromised that we could start on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Seems like it’s going to be a challenge moving forward if they are looking to start earlier again.
This year I had an excessive amount of string lights where multiple sections just did not work. I found that 50%-75% of the lights on the string would work, yet there was a section out. How frustrating! And looking to replace that one bulb that’s out? Not for me.
This situation got me thinking about work and our professional lives. What are the things and who are the people that are knocking lights out on your string. How do we counteract and work through those challenges?
Just like hanging the Christmas lights, there are those that you can depend on that will always be there 100% and then there are those that usually have issues that you have to deal with. It’s part of life.
Here’s a couple strategies that I like to use:
- Focus on the lights that are working, not on the ones that aren’t. Is there a way to distribute the lights or use them in a different manner. Maybe if you design how you’re putting the lights, you can hide the section that’s not working.
- You can spend the time to try to find where the problem is and fix it. Replacing the bulbs could light that whole section back up.
- You can just not use that string of lights. Either
toss the whole thing or throw it back in the bin for the following year.
These situations come up in our professional lives as well, and we must address them. In the end, the outcome you want is a beautiful Christmas light set up, and a well run, highly functioning, organizational team made up of adults, looking to do great things in the world.
Sometimes our lights go out. Sometimes people aren’t at their best. How can we still make it work for the outcome we’re hoping for?
Keep hanging those lights in your life and keep doing the things to help make a positive impact on others, even when there are sections out.
Keep rolling friends. Keep surviving and thriving!
