Issue 3: Not enough time.
Most everyone grumbled about feeling overwhelmed with more work than there is time, too much stuff to read and too many things to get done outside work.

Mad dashes from project to project, going full speed ahead for months on end and cramming in more activities into 24 hours had people ready to short circuit, asking, "What's the meaning of my life?"

Granted, many companies downsized and technology has made you more accessible to the demands of the workplace that never sleeps. But the problem is not time. It's choice.

If you want more meaning and control in your life, you must understand and accept this fundamental resource you were born with-free will. Without that, you'll blame your company, your boss or co-workers for your out-of-control life.

Accept your free will, and you'll have the strength and determination to reflect on what kind of life and career you want, then set boundaries with others (including your employer) to help you get it and make choices accordingly.

Along with that, here's a source to help with information overload: Managing Workplace Chaos: Solutions for Handling Information, Paper Time and Stress (Amacom). If you take the time to read it, you'll see how to read up to ten times faster and recall the information and how to make your office space more productive.

If you're struggling with the time/choice issue, get help. Because things aren't going to slow down. And you're not getting more than 24 hours in a day.

Issue 4: How to have real, tough conversations.
Just about everyone is afraid to speak up when an opinion is contrary to the boss's, emotions are high or something feels at stake. Workers repeatedly asked me: How do I ask for a promotion? What if she doesn't think I deserve it? How do I deal with a slacker or co-worker taking undue credit? How do I tell my boss to quit micromanaging or that he's made the wrong decision? How do I tell an employee his performance stinks?

Most people avoid these conversations. Speaking up could make things worse. Or hurt someone's feelings. People say things they regret later or get defensive trying to express their point of view. So they don't have conversations that need to be had so things can get done in the most productive, safe and effective way.

Few people know how to have frank and respectful conversations. Yet strong careers are built on the ability to talk openly about high-stakes, emotional and controversial topics, say the authors of Crucial Conversations (McGraw Hill.)

High performers, they say, know how to stand up to the boss without committing career suicide. You don't have to choose between being honest and being effective or between candor and your career. "People who routinely hold crucial conversations and hold them well are able to express controversial and even risky opinions in a way that gets heard."

They do it by finding a way to get all relevant information out into the open through, "The free flow of meaning between two or more people." And it's learnable.

Do yourself a big career favor: learn it. People with differing opinions aren't going away. The stakes will continue to be high. And eventually, you'll have to stop hiding behind e-mail and really talk to people.

None of these issues will disappear in 2003. Make and keep a resolution to get a coach, get a good book to help you--or both. You're been fretting enough about the things you don't control. Now do something about the things you can.

© by Andrea Kay