Remember what's important and forget the rest. Obviously, some emotions are hard to manage: The automatic startle when we see a snake in the grass is hard to control. But the majority of our daily emotions are the result of how we think about the world. In one study, researchers recorded people at the airport reporting lost luggage to an airline. Even though the objective event was the same, people responded in different ways, from anger to anxiety to good humor.
Of course, you and your direct reports may both fear that more cuts are on the horizon. And yet, there's work to be done. How do you support your team, keep them productive and also find the opportunities in the middle of such a big disruption, especially when you may face the need to ' do more with less '?
Reacting is what happens when you move through your day on autopilot. You're constantly fielding every ping, every request, every "got a minute?" as it comes in. It's like playing a never-ending game of whack-a-mole-emails, Slack messages, kid drop-offs, last-minute meeting invites-pop, pop, pop. You are so concerned with responding quickly to each one that you never stop to ask yourself whether it deserves your time or energy in the first place.