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Hey Reader!

Did you miss me last week? I had a time-sensitive work emergency that threw off my plans. Thus, my newsletter didn’t get sent out. Plus, I had PTO scheduled for Thursday and Friday, so I was already juggling my workload in a condensed week. It got me thinking about all of you who experience the same struggles managing your schedule each week. We have goals, plans, routines and then something comes up and throws it off. Whether it’s a planned thing like PTO or an unplanned emergency, the way we handle these is going to determine our success.

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​How do you handle the planned and unplanned
interruptions to your routine?

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For me, what helps me stay focused - not get overwhelmed or be too hard on myself - is my clear and compelling vision. This is my reason why. My main driving force of why I do the things I do at work.

My why as a leader is to develop a strong, sustainable, high performing team. When I’m trying to decide between competing priorities, I choose the one that will best add value to my vision. For instance, when I’m out of the office it provides opportunities for my managers to step up. When dealing with unexpected emergencies, I get a chance to demonstrate composure and set a good example for my team. Specifically last week, I was also able to tap into some newer team members' skills to give them an opportunity to perform.

Because my vision is about my team, it’s so much easier for me to delegate, to give people autonomy, to let them take on new opportunities, make mistakes, and challenge them.

What is your why?

Your clear and compelling vision at work. It doesn’t need to be the same as mine, but you do need to know specifically what you’re working to accomplish if you don’t want the planned and unplanned interruptions to disrupt your success.

Does this resonate with you? Reply and share your thoughts.

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Check it Out!

Check out my YouTube channel for more helpful tips!

​Are you feeling stuck? (8 min)

​Career goals in progress (10 min)

​How do you relieve work stress? (3 min)

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What Would Jovita Do?

Remember that difficult convo with my boss I told you about two weeks ago? I had to address the bad behavior of a colleague. Here’s how it turned out.

As I mentioned, I scheduled a follow up meeting with myself, my boss and this person to address what happened. Since I had already informed my boss, I knew he would also be prepared to speak up in the conversation if necessary. During the meeting, I was direct but used a kind tone. I kept it to the facts and didn’t get too far off track into hypotheticals or speculation. I wanted my colleague to be receptive as well as share things from his perspective of how we got here. The bad behavior is simply a symptom of an underlying issue and we needed to know what that was.

Once we uncovered the struggles he was having, I laid out what the next steps would be to help him with his challenges. I sent a recap email afterwards to make sure everything was documented, which makes it a lot easier in case we needed to address this again in the future. This also ensures we’re all on the same page going forward in case expectations weren’t clear.

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Pro Tip

When you’re narrowing down your work vision, your why, make sure you’re being as specific as possible. Don’t say something generic like ‘I work to make more money.’ That isn’t going to help you when times are tough or you need to push yourself harder.

When clarifying your vision ask yourself these questions:

• How is your work vision going to help you build the life you want?
• What feelings do you want as you progress towards this goal?
• Is this strong enough to push you out of your comfort zone?
• When you say it out loud, how does it feel?
• Is it clear enough that someone else understands what you mean?