Career Management Alliance Blog

While at a luncheon the other day at a restaurant, I couldn’t help overhearing the tense conversation between two people about what appeared to me to be something minor. However, one of them sounded so stressed about this work-related matter that I thought we might need to call 911.

Coincidentally, when I arrived back at my office, my eye caught the title of a book on my shelf called “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff at Work” by Dr. Richard Carlson. He’s the author of the bestseller, “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff… And It’s All Small Stuff.”

As we know, work takes up a huge part our daily lives whether we are employed in large or small organizations, and no one would argue that it’s often stressful. That’s not likely to change. So, how to deal with stressful issues most effectively becomes the key question. As Dr. Carlson states in his book, it can be quite impressive how people handle major issues in work–and their lives–with courage, creativity and resilience. Yet, it can be quite another matter when dealing with the daily things … “small stuff.”

Because there is so much “small stuff,” I agree with the author that if we can learn to treat the smaller hassles with better perspective, patience and maybe even a sense of humor, it can bring out the best in ourselves and others. Wouldn’t it be nice to also be spending far less time feeling annoyed and frustrated.

Posted by Louise Garver