...all the clothes were ironed, the kids' letters from school were signed , their lunchboxes packed and you are finally able to look forward to the start of the new week.
And then on Monday morning your alarm clock fails and within half an hour everything is chaos.
On your way to work a taxi driver cuts in front of you and the N1 is totally blocked. You eventually reach work 15 minutes late, and at your desk is your boss, tapping his foot. He grills you with questions regarding a project that you are working on and you start to feel uncomfortable. By eleven o'clock you are urgently in need of headache tablets and start wishing that this day never happened.
But life happens all the time. Essentially we are able to directly control and influence only a limited number of things. So how then do we take our control back and not let external factors control us?
Staff Training addresses this question by using a concept/tool called the Locus of Control, which in short helps you determine what you CAN control. We use this tool in several of our workshops to help our delegates understand the extent to which they can control and influence events around them.
Using the above-mentioned scenario, if we apply the Locus of Control, this is what we walk away with:
1. Control what you can: Double check the alarm clock before you go to bed.
2. Use your influence to enforce your control by networking: Ask your housemates / spouse / family to set their alarms as well.
3. Trust that once you have done what is expected, you are not accountable for the rest.
4. Make a positive decision to internalise your control. If you let external factors control your emotions or mood it means you are giving the control away.
5. Do not waste energy and time getting into an argument with the taxi driver. You have little control over his driving. Your influence on his behaviour will go as far as reporting his driving to the authorities.
6. Most importantly: Breathe, keep the control and your days will be so much more enjoyable.
Staff Training presents over 60 workshops nationwide, contact us for an in-house quote or view our available open hosted dates here.