Pick one, any one — the tsunami in Japan; the rebel uprisings in
the Middle East, Libya, Egypt, and other places; the political
issues and controversies right here in the United States;
foreclosures, unemployment, and the economy; family, work, home,
childcare, healthcare issues; or even the insanity and
ridiculousness of Charlie Sheen’s antics
Pick one, any one of the above and probably any of the many
other things possibly going on in your own life right now. It can
literally seem overwhelming, especially when you consider the
magnitude and impact that each may have locally, nationally,
globally or right inside your own home.
Sometimes we feel like the person just spinning plates, juggling
and performing magic acts all at the same time just to get through
each day, just to get through life. Come on, let’s face it, it’s
hard, so hard.
Many emails I am receiving lately come from folks asking for
advice on how to deal with the burdensome situations surrounding
them, their families or their friends coupled with all of the
worldwide devastation. So what do we do, how do we manage this
monster amount of craziness, disaster, devastation and seemingly
unavoidable collisions with the influx of information and our own
feelings?
We need to find a way to compartmentalize when and where we can.
Easier said than done right? Wrong.
Listen, with the never ending stream of content and information
coming at us on our phones, TV’s, computers, radio, and newspapers
it hard to avoid the events as they unfold, sometimes even in real
time. For me, I have worked hard on compartmentalizing what I want
to see and hear and what I will search out on my own. And then
determine how I will choose to respond or not respond to each.
What’s important at this time and moment in my life and what is
not. How I will deal with my personal situations and how I will
manage my work and the people who report to me. How I receive and
digest current local and global events and what they mean to me
personally. I compartmentalize.
If you don’t like the word compartmentalize, how about buckets
or brackets. Place each one of the things that are weighing heavy
on your mind and heart and bucket them. But the point is that we
distill down the enormity of all that is happening around us, focus
on that which is the utmost of importance to our personal
relationships and personal reality. Not reality TV, but our own
reality.
How many times have you heard someone say something like “the
world has gone crazy?” or “the world has gone mad?” Well maybe it
has, but guess what, we don’t have to allow that craziness to
control us, we can control it.
I would love to hear how you compartmentalize or determine how
you deal with it all at gotonorton@gmail.com and if you
can work on “bucketing” the information overload, it will be a
better than good week.
Michael Norton, a resident of Highlands Ranch, is the former
president of the Zig Ziglar organization and CEO and founder of
www.candogo.com.