Tag: coping

Today’s coping tip is to find a new perspective on a problem you face.

I don’t face many big problems, but I do face lots of small ones on a regular basis. One thing I’m struggling with is how to keep up with some of the changes in our products at work. They are sometimes rev’ing so fast, and a good portion of my work is non-Redgate stuff, so I’m falling behind a bit.

It’s easy to complain and try to work harder, but those aren’t good solutions. Instead, someone suggested to me that I break down the changes into groups of time, rather than thinking of them as a stream. Don’t try to keep up every week or even every month.

Instead, look at all the changes in a couple months for one product. Spend a few times in a week reading and practicing. Then take another thing the next week (or two) and repeat. I’ll always be a bit behind, but that’s not a bad perspective to talk. I will try this for a bit.

I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.

Today’s coping tip is to realize you can’t do everything; what are your three top priorities now?

It’s a few weeks before the Data Community Summit, volleyball starts, vacation planned for Dec. My priorities now:

1. precon code testing – I can talk around slides, but the code and demos need to work.
2. keynote practice – need to know what I’m saying, as my section is somewhat tight.
3. date night – I’m busy, so I need to be sure I schedule date night with my wife every week.

I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.

Today’s coping tip is to write down three specific things that have gone well recently.

Easy, as a lot of things have gone well. I’m going with some travel things, as I’ve done a lot lately. I came off 6 weeks in a row of going somewhere every week.

1. My Global Entry/Pre expired as I was leaving for a trip. I found out at the airport, and luckily didn’t miss my flight. I scheduled an interview online, it was renewed, and things worked when I got home. Amazing to me, but also it was pretty cool how well this worked.

2. I had to change some plans, and needed to cancel part of a trip and rebook part. It went really well, in fact, smoother than I expected. I’ve often had minor glitches with software handling complex things, but in this case the travel worked great.

3. I arrived late on a trip and needed a hotel for the night before a drive the next morning. I checked, and there were enough points to book a free room for a quick overnight. Love when that happens.

I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.

Today’s coping tip is to recognize that you have a choice in what to prioritize

A good one for me, especially as I’m a little stressed and overloaded with work. Prep for travel, the Summit, and a few customer things. Around a busy life schedule, I feel slightly overwhelmed.

But I control a lot of this. I have the deadlines and the demands, and I can’t abandon them, but I can put one foot in front of the other and make progress. Tackle a task and prioritize them.

That tends to be based on the various deadlines for me, and I’ll start with a few things due this week.

I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.