Ever had one of those days?
Let's add up the stress points for today using a scale of 1-10 (10 being high stress):
It's Monday - 2 points
Not enough sleep - 4 points
Running late - 3 points
Behind on a few projects at work - 5 points
Wondering if we will start re-training the admin soon - 5 points
Computer won't work in new meeting room - 2 points
Can't have agency meeting because computer won't work - 4 points
Fellow employee explains, through tears, that I'm the meanest person on the planet - 10 points
Fun lunch with understanding, super-wise friend - 1 point (talked about the situation)
Residual stress from earlier encounter - 8
Total points: 44 out of a possible 100
Giving a grade to each situation helped clarify everything. A few incidents had high stress, but taken as a whole I see that I was below the halfway mark for the day. So I think I'll just quit feeling sad and worrying about how to fix this. There's always tomorrow . . .
It's Monday - 2 points
Not enough sleep - 4 points
Running late - 3 points
Behind on a few projects at work - 5 points
Wondering if we will start re-training the admin soon - 5 points
Computer won't work in new meeting room - 2 points
Can't have agency meeting because computer won't work - 4 points
Fellow employee explains, through tears, that I'm the meanest person on the planet - 10 points
Fun lunch with understanding, super-wise friend - 1 point (talked about the situation)
Residual stress from earlier encounter - 8
Total points: 44 out of a possible 100
Giving a grade to each situation helped clarify everything. A few incidents had high stress, but taken as a whole I see that I was below the halfway mark for the day. So I think I'll just quit feeling sad and worrying about how to fix this. There's always tomorrow . . .
This awarding points to stress situations can be really useful. For example, you know when you're grumpy or annoyed at someone and it's not about the person, some things that happened earlier sort of brought you in that space? When you do a quick list of those things and award the points, you can pivot into a better space much easier.
Let's say you jaw someone off for being rude. You notice your aggression and get a bit annoyed with yourself. Then you ask what happened today that caused me to be in a bad mood? 10 pts for forgetting to take out the trash on time, 5 pts for getting bills etc. Once you have established the why and validated them...it's much easier to stop beating yourself up about feeling groggy and move to a more improved mood.
And you also neutralize whatever anger you directed at the person you snapped to. Am I making sense?
Love the points system...thanks for the idea!
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You're making perfect sense! And I love how you found a way to use the points in a more proactive way to facilitate an early shift.
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