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Things Could Be Worse One of the greatest illusions in our world is that we actually get to a place in life where we have our act together. Over the years, I’ve been asked what it is like to be enlightened, or to “have my act together,” or to be a Zen master? I confess I have no idea what any of those are like; and, that although I am an admirer of the Zen arts, I am anything but a master of them. Perhaps the closest I come to “enlightenment” is having the ability to let go. Too much stress in our lives is caused by simply not letting go of a problem. We sit on grudges, bite critical words back from our lips and swallow them down into our gut, where they sit forever – or until our unsuspecting spouses, friends, or children jump on a nerve or two. Heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, insomnia – all of these common conditions have a single prescription: reduce your stress level. Sure, that’s easy for the doc to say. For all of us who’ve heard that advice, how many have actually gotten specific direction? There are all sorts of ways to manage stress overtime: taking up a sport, seeing a therapist, yoga, petting a cat, etc. What if there’s no space to assume the lotus position, your cat’s at home, you’re fifteen miles from a tennis court, and your appointment with Dr. Murphy isn’t until Tuesday? What do you do when, as you’re about to finish off your to-do list, your supervisor decides to take a four-day weekend and drops half his workload on your desk? How do you respond? When I have a high pressure situation, I try to remember a story which saved some very stressed-out people. It goes like this: Things don’t get much worse than being stuck in an elevator for two hours with fourteen other people without air conditioning. My friend, Margaret, was a college student when she got stuck in that elevator. She was trying to keep several folks from panicking while building maintenance repeated over the intercom that the elevator repair people were on their way. “The first time they used the phrase elevator rescue team,” Margaret recounts, “I thought we were going to lose several elderly women who were already complaining of breathing problems. That’s when I came up with this line which got them all giggling: “Things could be worse. One of us stuck in this elevator could have a gas problem.” “That encouraged me to keep those one-liners coming until the rescue team could open those doors.” Take Aways: · When your stress level hits its limit, remember a sense of humor, like Margaret’s, can be a release valve. It helps make light of a situation, no matter how tough things look. · Sure there are times to be serious, but not as often as you think.
Formats Book Details Using anecdotes and lessons from a variety of tough jobs and life experiences, Burns leads you down a path which can add to your strengths and help overcome your weaknesses….. He uses humor to make many of his most important points. In a chapter entitled, “A Naked Fat Man” he tells how a master salesman gets his inspiration from making important sales calls on the telephone while he has nothing on but his watch… Other stories remind you of the importance of family and friends. Still others demonstrate the need to give something back. Excerpts from the introduction by Marion A. Ellis, Pulitzer Prize Winner and author Sherman Burns has been an executive coach, speaker, and writer for more than twenty years. He specializes in organizational interventions with individuals and teams. His clients have varied from Fortune 100 companies to small family businesses.
About the Book
Burns hacks through the thickets of clichés and catch phrases, through the jungle of jumbled and jaded jargon. He brings these stories and experiences to you straight from the heart and the mind, sometimes with a feathery touch and sometimes with a punch in the gut. They get your attention. Many of the stories have simple Take Aways which invite you to consider, then perhaps use your own conclusions in life and work…
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