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Find yourself constantly getting frustrated with your coworkers and spending a lot of energy trying to get your point across? What if you take a step back from those disagreements and choose which hills you are willing to die on more intentionally?
Steps to take to get distance from emotionally exhausting issues at work so that you can preserve your sanity:
1. Take notice of when you have strong reactions in meetings, when reading emails, or even in casual conversations at work.
2. Ask yourself why you are having such strong feelings about this issue.
3. Place the current issue in context with the broader goals you are working towards at work.
4. Assess whether or not this issue is worth the emotional exhaustion it is causing you.
- Consider how putting so much emotional energy into this issue will detract from the energy you have to put into other projects.
- Are there things or relationships in your personal life that will be sacrificed because you’ve depleted your energy on this issue?
5. Decide if you want to die on that hill today or if you can professionally state your piece and then honor the distance between you and the issue.
Remember, you are not your issues. The way you let issues consume you could reflect how much you care about them, but it could also cost you in other areas of your work and life. Maintaining your sanity and keeping heathy boundaries may actually be doing more to further your cause because you are no longer inconsistently and unintentionally appropriating your energy reserve.