How to Strategically Manage Frustration at Work

How to Strategically Manage Frustration at WorkHow to Strategically Manage Frustration at Work Frustration is a tempter, an emotional trickster. It goads us with the false promise that ur feelings are worthy of the mounting fireworks display This is the last straw. Im fed up. Can you believe this guy? Frustration, with its loud, emotional appeal why not take its bait, and surrender? But what does it earn us when we do? What was the outcome when, fueled by frustration, we said something curt to our boss, rolled our eyes in a meeting, snapped at a co-worker, accidentally hung up on a customer? Indulging frustration may feel satisfying, even necessary, for a moment. Then reality sets in, and with it the immediate need to clean up after our faux solution. If our indulgence had truly solved the problem, we wouldnt need to run damage control.It usually takes less energy to refrain from indulging frustration than to enact clean-up. Spraying frustration around the office ma kes our jobs harder, it doesnt solve our problems and it makes us look bad. Frustration is part of life. Rather than allowing it to pull your strings, learn to understand and manage it. This way, you can recognize the trickster and handle it in ways that benefit you. Its hard to control what we dont understand. So observe your own frustration. Dr. Laurie Nadel , psychotherapist, business coach and author of The Five Gifts Discovering Hope, Healing and Strength When Disaster Strikes explains Frustration is not so much an emotion as it is a distorted cognitive response to a presupposition that we are entitled to get what we want in that particular moment. Therefore, I see frustration as a state that gives us an opportunity for critical thinking which is defined as thinking about how we think. I do not see it as destructiveI see it as a possibility for growth.Just because frustration can feel overbearing and outlet-seeking, doesnt mean you have to react in kind. Your self-composur e and control matter more, especially in the workplace. Reacting poorly to frustration doesnt just lead to a messy solution, it also doesnt solve the problem. Move past the urge enact regretful or rude responses-recognize those as urgings from the trickster. When you feel that urge to do something destructive, it means you need a break . You need a minute to get emotionally on top of things. Dr. Nadel explains Recognize that when you are frustrated, you are being reactive rather than proactive. If you recognize frustration as a signal that there is a situation that needs to be explored from a different angle, then you can welcome it for the opportunity it offers for creative thinking.You probably have a real problem on your hands-youve got a boss who doesnt support you or a co-worker who drives you crazy. You need real solutions. You need to think that through and to talk to your support network. But in that moment, while youre on the phone with an angry customer who wants to bla me you for everything, you need to get out of the interaction in a tidy way that benefits you. Then you can work through the bigger problem of the difficult boss or co-worker.As you feel frustration mounting, instead of indulging it, examine it. I feel stressed. This person is blaming me, and its not my fault. I worry that if I go to my boss about it, she wont have my back. So Im going to get off this call, causing as little disruption as possible. Then Im going to think about my relationship with my boss, because if she cant support me during stressful times Im not sure that this role can be a fit for me. Dont magnify problems for yourself by allowing frustration to take the wheel. Take a moment. Analyze the issues. Free yourself from the immediate, pressing situation. Consider how to solve the underlying problem. Dr. Nadel advises Frustration is frequently a reaction to our perceived helplessness in a particular situation. But we are not helpless. When we express frustration by bl aming someone else, we are missing out on an opportunity to reposition our response to that sense of helplessness. Exhibiting composure during a stressful moment, and handling challenges gracefully are impressive qualities. Dr. Nadel points out theres much to learn If we see frustration as a message that we need to explore our thinking about the frustrating issue, then we stop tolerating frustration and utilize it to our benefit.unterstellung are components of emotional intelligence that show that you understand your feelings and that you know how to manage them. Compare that with the alternative. Decide to behave in the way that benefits you, taking the opportunity it offers to hone your self-control. Teach yourself how to do so by recognizing the rewards it gives you versus the extra work it leaves you with to behave in an emotionally chaotic way. Dr. Nadel explains Every state contains information. Uncomfortable states contain a lot of powerful information about how we look at th ings. I see frustration as an opportunity to think critically and to change models of belief and behavior that are not working for us. Its a good thing if we work with it.Take the opportunity. Youre in control, not the trickster.

Why Responding to Your Boss Immediately Can Hurt You

Why Responding to Your babo Immediately Can Hurt YouWhy Responding to Your Boss Immediately Can Hurt YouThe other day, I welches struggling through some data analysis, a task Im admittedly not very good at and need to seriously focus on in order to get done, when my boss emailed asking for an update on a different project. It wasnt a time-sensitive request, but without thinking, I stopped everything so I could respond. This is a pretty common practice for me. When I see my boss name pop up in my inbox or chat window, I tend to scramble to answer her as quickly as possible. The reflex tends to be a hallmark trait of people who want to excel in their jobs. I know that my direct reports reply to my requests with speed they dont often have for others. And I myself have always replied to my bosses or anyone above them with the urgency of a 911 call. But is that a good thing?You may think a lightning-fast response to all your boss needs is helping your career, but its time to re-think that strategy. Here are three reasons you actually dont need to (and shouldnt always) respond as fast as possible. Not Everything Your Boss Sends You is UrgentThis may sound like a duh comment, but we tend to believe that everything our superiors are working on is extremely important. But in the same way that everything you do isnt urgent, neither is your managers work. And while he or she may love getting an answer from you quickly, it might not make much of a difference whether you respond today, tomorrow, or Tuesday. A great strategy to implement is something we call managing up, or letting your boss know what you need to get your job done (and done well). An example of that is to simply ask your boss if the matter is urgent or if there is a deadline. You could say something like, I saw your request for the email campaign numbers for April. Can you let me know when youd like those by so I can prioritize my work? You may learn that he or she doesnt need an update until the end of the week, in which case you can tackle it at a later time. Its Better to Show Your Boss You Can Prioritize Than Answer ImmediatelyAs a manager, its great knowing that my employees can prioritize their work and dont have to rely on me to tell them what to do and when to do it. I send my current direct report a lot of requests each day and value that she tells me shell get to some of them later because she is working on something thats more time-sensitive. It shows me that she understands our business and knows how to optimize her day to get the most important things done. Youre Hurting Your Own WorkIn the example I used above, I ended up losing my place in the data analysis and had to go back and re-start a portion of it. I ended up wasting a lot of time to answer my boss on something she ended up not needing right away. If I had waited and finished my analysis, I would have ended up saving a lot of time, while still getting her what she needed long before she was expecting a response. At the end of the day, unless your job is to be at your boss beck and call, theres no reward for replying within seconds every time youre asked for something. Thats not to say you shouldnt be hyper-aware of your boss requests or ignore them. A quick reply saying that youre on it and giving a estimated timeline of when it will be done will reassure your manager that he or she can trust you to get things done- and prioritize well. Photo of phone courtesy of Shutterstock.

Modern Applications of Tribology

Modern Applications of Tribology Modern Applications of Tribology While Leonardo da Vinci commented on the effects of friction in the 1400s, it wasnt until the mid-1960s that tribology was coined by Dr. H. Peter Jost and accepted as the term for the study and application of the principles of friction, lubrication, and wear.In the early 1960s, there was a dramatic increase in the reported failures of plant and machinery due to wear and associated causes, some causing heavy financial losses. Continuous processes made machinery breakdowns more costly and serious than ever.This trend was recognized by specialists involved in the subjects of friction, wear, and lubrication, and several research studies reported on the impact of wear, corrosion, and friction on machinery, manufacturing productivity, and costs. As a result, tribology became a mainstream field of science, and many universities offer it as part of their mechanical engineering department curriculum.The early focus of tribology was on improving operation and extending the lifecycle of industrial machinery. Today, those principles and design benefits are making a major impact in a variety of modern applications, such as biomedical, nanotechnology, alternative energies, and green methodologies. Here are some examples.Biomedical (Biotribology)The application of tribology in biological systems is a rapidly growing field and extends well beyond the conventional boundaries. Biomedical tribological systems involve an extensive sortiment of synthetic materials and natural tissues, including cartilage, blood vessels, heart, tendons, ligaments, and skin.These materials operate in complex interactive biological environments. Biotribologists incorporate concepts of friction, wear, and lubrication of these biological surfaces in various applications, such as the design of joints and prosthetic devices, the wear of screws and plates in bone fracture repair, wear of denture and restorative materials, wear of replacement heart valves, and even the tribology of contact lenses.NanotribologyThe commercialization of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)/nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS), such as disk drives and other magnetic storage systems in the early 1990s, along with the development of new materials with nanoscale thicknesses, have presented new tribological challenges.The emergence of sophisticated scanning probe technologies and computational techniques has given rise to the field of nanotribology for investigations of processes at the atomic,molecular, andmicroscopic scale. Nanotribological studies are helping to develop fundamental understanding of surface interfaces in micro/nanostructures used in a variety of modern applications.Some of these applications include chemical and biodetectors, advanced drug delivery systems, information recording layers, molecular sieves, systems on a chip, nanoparticle reinforced materials, and a new generation of lasers.Wind TurbinesWind turbines continue t o hold promise as a viable alternative energy source. While they have made gains in reliability in the past decade, they are subject to tribological problems that are difficult and costly to repair and can drastically reduce their expected lifecycles. Two key areas of concern are reliability of gearboxes and turbine lubrication.To address these problems, there have been extensive studies of lubricants, which are used in wind-turbine gearboxes, hydraulic systems such as the blade pitch control, drive train brake subsystems, and bearings, to improve turbine reliability in extreme environments.Green TribologyThe concept of green tribology was also introduced by Jost, who defined it as, The science and technology of the tribological aspects of ecological balance and of environmental and biological impacts.There are a number of problems that can be addressed by green tribology. The specific field of green or environment-friendly tribology emphasizes the aspects of interacting surfaces in relative motion, which are of importance for energy or environmental sustainability or which have impact upon todays environment.Nosonovsky and Bhushan suggested the 12 principles of green tribology as the minimization of (1) friction and (2) wear, (3) the reduction or complete elimination of lubrication, including self-lubrication, (4) natural and (5) biodegradable lubrication, (6) using sustainable chemistry and engineering principles, (7) biomimetic approaches, (8) surface texturing, (9) environmental implications of coatings, (10) real-time monitoring, (11) design for degradation, and (12) sustainable energy applications.They further emphasized three areas of green tribology (1) biomimetics for tribological applications, (2) environment-friendly lubrication, and (3) the tribology of renewable-energy application.Tom Ricci is the owner of Ricci Communications.In the early 1960s, there was a dramatic increase in the reported failures of plant and machinery due to wear and associat ed causes, some causing heavy financial losses.