Your department has faced some tight back-to-back deadlines. Everyone has been putting in overtime
and is under tremendous pressure. You have been assigned to complete an analysis by Friday at 5 that is needed to
finish other aspects of the project. At your coworker’s request, your manager is now asking you to have your analysis
finished by Thursday at noon. You are unsure if you will be able to have it completed by this time given your schedule
and the other obligations that are also on your plate.
Feel & Accept
You are feeling incredibly overwhelmed at your current work pace. You are aware of enormous pressure
to subvert your need of a more reasonable pace in order to satisfy the group’s need to pull together to complete this
important endeavor.
In addition, you are feeling some resentment towards your coworker who has added more pressure onto
yourself in order to alleviate some of his own, and a mild anger at your boss for allowing this to occur.
Process
While processing this event, you realize the outward chaos of your working life is a reflection of
the inward chaos you have been carrying for many years. Chaos, you discover, is a comfortable place for you as it allows
you to avoid deep inward probing and difficult spiritual progress, which can be scary at times. As long as “they”
(out there) are in constant need of you, you are not required to contemplate your inner existence and complete your
true spiritual work.
Discover & Accept
You are now in a position that you are able to accept that you invited/created the chaos you found
yourself in at work. You see this chaos in a new light, and it thus looses the negative charge you once placed upon it
and the anger/resentment are no longer very important.
Plan
As you have discovered, the root of this problem had very little to do with your work environment,
and everything to do with your inner journey. You commit to taking 30 minutes each day for quiet contemplation in order
to reduce the need for chaos in your life.
As for the immediate issue at hand, you think of a compromise with your boss: you can commit to have
the analysis complete by Thursday at 5:00 while asking to be excused from some meetings in order to make the schedule
more manageable. In addition, you can offer some of your services to your coworker upon completion of your analysis to
lighten his work load before the project deadline.
Act & Accept
You stop by your boss’ office for a small chat. You explain that you had based your time management
upon the 5:00 deadline on Friday. You offer your compromise, and the boss accepts.
You know that your coworker may not be 100% happy with this new decision, but you accept this. That
is his reaction and has nothing to do with you.
