Long Perspective

I’ve been working on some stressful projects recently.

Assets needed to be delivered yesterday, files aren’t cooperating, vendors are rescheduling and making me scramble.

I’ve been realizing how much a long-term view can reduce moment-by-moment stress. For example, the email I need to return “ASAP” is stressful now but I won’t remember it next week. Or the difficult client is frustrating me now, but next month I’ll forget all about it. Big failures pale in comparison to the longer storyline of a business. They become part of the process!

Even intimidating career considerations hardly carry the weight that friends and family do.

When I get stressed about little things and big things, I find a lot of comfort in asking myself how I’ll view this experience in one day, one month, and one year. I often find that stress melts away, as I remember all the other negative experiences that weren’t so bad in hindsight, or that turned out for the best!

The obvious argument against this would be that dismissing stress gives you a lackadaisical disposition to your work and its outcome.

But I haven’t found that.

I’ve discovered that it helps wipe the stress off the table, look at the time and resources I do have, and make the best decision from there. Because it’s all going to work out in the end.