Recalculate! When you have made an inadvertent turn that your GPS does not like, it doesn’t pout, it doesn’t utter obscenities or condemnation, it will offer a solution or stop and recalculate. Haven’t we all experienced a moment when we wish we had recalculated instead of reacting unadvisedly?

I remember my daughter (5 at the time) tugging on her mother’s apron while her mother was venting and saying, “Mommy don’t do that, it doesn’t help!”  Out of the mouths of Babes, came to mind. Another time, I walked into the workshop of a company I was helping get re-established, only to find the owner throwing tools to the floor and vocally distressed about something that had just gone wrong. He had gone Bankrupt, and I was trying to assist the company get back on its feet. My questions to him were: How old are you? What did you just gain by breaking tools? Then we discussed how often he thought this was a motivating behavior for his staff. 

The power of pause, reflection, perspective, and then action were foremost in our conversation. It was the last time he behaved in that petulant manner; the company still exists today. How do we gain perspective, in the heat of the moment? How does the question to yourself – will this matter in 15 years – sit with you?