Cutting Down on . . .

Activities to cut down on:
I would like to cut down on confrontational interactions with co-workers and employees. The problem is some of these activities are part of the job. When I have to council an employee on poor performance, and he or she defends their actions (or non-actions) on someone else’s back, I get irritated.

While their reactions are beyond my control, I think I can at least group these activities to minimize the number of miserable days. For example, every Tuesday is staff meeting for our department. Many of these days turn into some type of confrontation on their own in fighting (not literally) for money, people or time. I can coordinate all of those employee confrontational interactions into counseling sessions on Tuesday afternoon. This gets the multiple bad meetings into at least one day and the other 4 in the week can be the positive days.

People to cut down on:
The ex-wife. While I have at least 4 more years I will have to interact with her, every time I have to speak with her it is always something negative. I never get good news from her and when the conversation is over, I often get that burning sensation in my gut, headaches, and I’m ready to run off to an isolated Caribbean island where she can’t find me.

While I will not be able to eliminate this interaction for the foreseeable future, I can rest easy that there will be an end. In the mean time, I’ll keep the Tums, Advil and travel agent on speed dial.