Last week was probably one of the most challenging weeks I've ever experienced. And as crazy it was, surprisingly, I am feeling grateful. Grateful that it's over!
The week was packed with back-to-back meetings and much to do on the home front and that is not so unusual. We are all dealing with trying to juggle work, family and social calendars. Midweek, I was one of a few producers on a huge event in the film industry. An event we have been planning for several months. And as all events go in the entertainment business, there is always so much stress and pressure leading up to the day of the event. Not to mention the immense pressure the day of the event.
We all deal with stress on the job. Whether it be a boss or someone we have to answer to. And others we feel responsible for, knowing that they are looking to up to us and counting on us to step up and lead if need be.
Except for a few snags that night, the event went well. Amazingly, we pulled it off and have received very favorable feedback from some of the attendees.
But, what I am most grateful for from this most recent experience is that I am learning that no matter how much stress and pressure one can be under, that it is in those moments, those opportunities, that we all have a choice. We can choose to allow ourselves to be overcome with worry and negativity OR we can face those stressful moments and say, "No, I'm going to keep my cool. I am going to stay focused. I decide how I should respond when things go awry. I won't let anyone take me where I don't want to go."
It works. It really works.
I have seen it happen before, be it in a business setting or at private event, in front of a crowd of people, where a person will snap, attack, criticize, blame, and just plain go off when things seem like they are falling apart. (Like last week at the event.) They take it out on everyone around them or anyone that they can make their scapegoat and in my opinion, that's taking the easy way out. That's way too easy. And it is these same people who will take ALL the credit when everything turns out well and make no effort to thank those who helped make it so. Sadly, we all know the type.
Well, as a wise old sage once told me, the real measure of a person's character is not how nice or cool people are when things are going well but rather how well do they respond when things aren't going so well.
No, I haven't mastered this level of coolness. I still have my moments. But, I am feeling exceedingly grateful and thankful that life is giving me MANY opportunities to put this teaching into practice. Almost too many.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Another IKEA Story
Today my husband and I went to IKEA to buy ONE thing - a computer chair.
Seems simple enough, does it not? Ha!
We get there and the first obstacle we face is trying to FIND the area where they have the desks and chairs on display. Well, we are lost almost immediately and so I go up to ask a worker very politely where the area is and she gives me THE HAND. That's right, the hand and says in a firm tone, "I'll be with you in a minute." Fair enough, but out of the corner of my eye, I see my husband walking around aimlessly and decide to join in on all the fun he's having. So I just walk off and leave the worker alone.
I figure, "What the hell...we are smart people...we'll find the area!"
So off we go reading signs and looking around corners. In and out of one section, then another and I can smell the cinnamon rolls and we comment on how we are getting hungrier by the minute. We try a section that looks familiar from our last visit, but no luck, just more signs and lots of people who seem to be lost too.
Finally, we find the area and pick out the chair we want right away and then it occurs to us, "So, what do we do now?" (So much for us believing that we are smart people anymore. Now we are really looking just ridiculous!)
Well, we figure out that you are supposed to write down a merchandise number and of course my high techie husband says, "Dianna, I can take a picture of it...modern technology?!" You know the tone, the one that makes you feel like YOU'RE the idiot!
Something inside me tells me to write the number down anyway and sure enough, the reflection on the plastic covering and the light from the camera make the numbers unreadable, but my husband decides, he still wants the shot. He is a director and they have to get the shot!
So off we go to check out and we walk and walk and and we walk some more but, we CAN'T GET OUT!! We walked for what seemed like miles.
As we are walking I mention to my husband that this HAS to be what hell is like. And we both comment on how the store is designed like this on purpose to get people to buy more items on their way to the checkout counter. Well, we tell each other, we are not falling for it.
After several minutes, the hunger was really setting in, the frustration was mounting and we had no idea where we were so we finally asked a sales attendant and sure enough we were going the wrong way.
So, we are just about to get to the checkout line and my husband spots the area rug section. "Oh no!", he says, "I'm falling for the store's trick!" And of course I follow him in there because I see an area rug on sale. Luckily, Earnest checks his handy dandy high tech phone where he has the dimensions notated of the two areas in our home needing rugs, stored on his cell phone and none of the rugs will work, so we manage to escape and get out of there quickly.
We are finally at the checkout counter and Earnest looks around and says, "Where do we get our merchandise? Everyone at the counter has their merchandise. Where did they get theirs?" And of course there are long lines. Many long lines.
So now we are really looking like we have never shopped there and we haven't. So off we go to try and find our merchandise and the light goes off in my teeny tiny brain and I remember, "The numbers I wrote down. There was an aisle number and a section number. Maybe we are supposed to go there to pick it up?"
We both look around. We look up and behold right before us in big bright red, are signs with aisle numbers on them. Even numbers on one side and odd numbers across the way. Can this get any more ridiculous?
Sure enough we find the aisle and the section and on a bottom row, there is our chair all boxed up.
Then Earnest very innocently asks, "Are we just supposed to grab it? That's it? In that little bitty box?"
"I think so," I answered as I checked the numbers I had written.
So we both do this scan. You know the camera shot where the camera does a 360 degree pan and makes one complete revolution and comes back to the starting place. Sure enough, we see other people are pulling items off the shelves and retrieving their merchandise. So we make our move and we rush to the checkout line.
I walk quickly toward one line and Earnest toward another. I try to get him to come over to my checkout lane and he refuses. As I walk back towards him, I notice that he is pointing up at a sign that says, "CHECKS & ATM ONLY". "We're paying cash," he whispers. I can read his body language and by now, he just wants to get out of the store as fast as he can.
As we are nearing the line, I turn to Earnest and by this time, I'm laughing and I say, "No wonder they say in the commercial, START THE CAR!...by the time anyone FINALLY gets out of here, their car batteries are probably dead!"
Hey, but the chair was cheap! And it wasn't even on sale.
Yeah, we will probably shop there again.
Seems simple enough, does it not? Ha!
We get there and the first obstacle we face is trying to FIND the area where they have the desks and chairs on display. Well, we are lost almost immediately and so I go up to ask a worker very politely where the area is and she gives me THE HAND. That's right, the hand and says in a firm tone, "I'll be with you in a minute." Fair enough, but out of the corner of my eye, I see my husband walking around aimlessly and decide to join in on all the fun he's having. So I just walk off and leave the worker alone.
I figure, "What the hell...we are smart people...we'll find the area!"
So off we go reading signs and looking around corners. In and out of one section, then another and I can smell the cinnamon rolls and we comment on how we are getting hungrier by the minute. We try a section that looks familiar from our last visit, but no luck, just more signs and lots of people who seem to be lost too.
Finally, we find the area and pick out the chair we want right away and then it occurs to us, "So, what do we do now?" (So much for us believing that we are smart people anymore. Now we are really looking just ridiculous!)
Well, we figure out that you are supposed to write down a merchandise number and of course my high techie husband says, "Dianna, I can take a picture of it...modern technology?!" You know the tone, the one that makes you feel like YOU'RE the idiot!
Something inside me tells me to write the number down anyway and sure enough, the reflection on the plastic covering and the light from the camera make the numbers unreadable, but my husband decides, he still wants the shot. He is a director and they have to get the shot!
So off we go to check out and we walk and walk and and we walk some more but, we CAN'T GET OUT!! We walked for what seemed like miles.
As we are walking I mention to my husband that this HAS to be what hell is like. And we both comment on how the store is designed like this on purpose to get people to buy more items on their way to the checkout counter. Well, we tell each other, we are not falling for it.
After several minutes, the hunger was really setting in, the frustration was mounting and we had no idea where we were so we finally asked a sales attendant and sure enough we were going the wrong way.
So, we are just about to get to the checkout line and my husband spots the area rug section. "Oh no!", he says, "I'm falling for the store's trick!" And of course I follow him in there because I see an area rug on sale. Luckily, Earnest checks his handy dandy high tech phone where he has the dimensions notated of the two areas in our home needing rugs, stored on his cell phone and none of the rugs will work, so we manage to escape and get out of there quickly.
We are finally at the checkout counter and Earnest looks around and says, "Where do we get our merchandise? Everyone at the counter has their merchandise. Where did they get theirs?" And of course there are long lines. Many long lines.
So now we are really looking like we have never shopped there and we haven't. So off we go to try and find our merchandise and the light goes off in my teeny tiny brain and I remember, "The numbers I wrote down. There was an aisle number and a section number. Maybe we are supposed to go there to pick it up?"
We both look around. We look up and behold right before us in big bright red, are signs with aisle numbers on them. Even numbers on one side and odd numbers across the way. Can this get any more ridiculous?
Sure enough we find the aisle and the section and on a bottom row, there is our chair all boxed up.
Then Earnest very innocently asks, "Are we just supposed to grab it? That's it? In that little bitty box?"
"I think so," I answered as I checked the numbers I had written.
So we both do this scan. You know the camera shot where the camera does a 360 degree pan and makes one complete revolution and comes back to the starting place. Sure enough, we see other people are pulling items off the shelves and retrieving their merchandise. So we make our move and we rush to the checkout line.
I walk quickly toward one line and Earnest toward another. I try to get him to come over to my checkout lane and he refuses. As I walk back towards him, I notice that he is pointing up at a sign that says, "CHECKS & ATM ONLY". "We're paying cash," he whispers. I can read his body language and by now, he just wants to get out of the store as fast as he can.
As we are nearing the line, I turn to Earnest and by this time, I'm laughing and I say, "No wonder they say in the commercial, START THE CAR!...by the time anyone FINALLY gets out of here, their car batteries are probably dead!"
Hey, but the chair was cheap! And it wasn't even on sale.
Yeah, we will probably shop there again.
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