For the majority of my professional career, I was plagued by two overwhelming deficiencies – I was a terrible procrastinator and whenever something went wrong with a project, anything went wrong, I was struck by a paralyzing fear and panic that precluded me from taking any meaningful action to correct it let alone bring it to my customer’s attention. Of course, my procrastination was often the cause of these issues and they also carried over to my personal life. Approximately six years ago I experienced a life-changing event and, for whatever reason, my procrastination and fear disappeared practically overnight. I really can’t explain it other than to say that it did involve a “spiritual awakening”. The benefits soon became apparent in many ways.
Prior to this, if something went haywire with a project, I was consumed with: “How and what do I tell my customer?” “Will I lose the deal?” “Will they yell at me!?” My fears were generally far in excess of reality, however, there were a number of major opportunities that I had to literally scramble in order to salvage. The worst part of all remained my fear, the panic, and my paralyzation. Continue reading “On Being The Bearer Of Bad News”