The Art of Keeping your Cool

There is an art of keeping your cool, literally and figuratively.

It has been 90 degrees and humid outside and keeping your cool at times requires air conditioning, or at least a big fan. It requires wearing the right kind of clothes and being smart about what you do outside. It requires you to think about how to keep your cool and usually you follow through with that plan. Why? Well we have been through it before.

It has been 90 degrees and humid before and time and time again we learn for ourselves how to keep ourselves cool. If you don't have air conditioning, you buy a fan or keep the windows open or go in a basement..you learn what will help you stay cool.

This past week I found myself nearly losing my professional cool. Not getting upset, angry, and out of control was tough for me this week. There was a lot going on and a lot of things that just were not going exactly as planned. People said things that were out of line, didn't respond, and seem to have their own reasons to react to situation.

During this week I had to remind myself what my professional air conditioning and fans were. Where were they located and how do I use them. I could have gotten very angry over events, but during each one I found myself saying "chill out". I made a conscious effort to not make it any hotter, rather cool down and calm down.

The Art of Keeping your Cool is not easy. If your fan breaks in the heat you have to think fast about Plan B. If there is no breeze you have to think fast about Plan B.

As much as I plan for what to do to stay cool when it is 90 degrees and humid out, I need to continue to plan for what to do to stay cool when my professional heat rises.
Learn from the past. Learn from what others are doing. Learn about your own behaviors that increase others professional heat. All of them will help you master the Art of Keeping Your Cool!