Don't Sweat the Small Stuff at Work

Submitted by WorkCreatively on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 07:05

Title	Don't Sweat the Small Stuff at Work
Publication Type	Book
Pub Year	1998
Authors	Carlson, R.
Publisher	Hyperion
Keywords	criticism, job loss, stress
Notes	criticism"Sometimes the criticism we receive is valuable, even helpful. Other times, it's utter nonsense. Either way, learning to see criticism as 'small stuff' is incredibly useful in our efforts to live a life of reduced stress." (p. 270) job loss"Ed worked for a bio-technology company for five years. Part of his job was to consolidate, cut costs and help his company become 'lean.' He told me something so awful I almost didn't believe him. 'I hate to admit it, but I used to get a thrill out of firing people. I didn't think of myself as a horrible person or anything like that, but cutting costs meant more to me than the effects it had on the people involved. That's how I measured my effectiveness, and that's how I was judged. The fact that these people were scared and didn't know what to do, or that they had three children to support and rent to pay, had no effect on me whatsoever. Then, one day it happened to me! Out of the blue, I was fired, or "let go" as they put it. I'm sure many people were happy and thought I deserved it. I suppose I did, but I can tell you that, painful as it was, it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me--it opened my eyes to my compassion. I'll never treat people like that again.'" (p. 196)

Work Creatively