Last week was my week before a vacation. Why are those weeks so bananas? Everyone who knows my email address needs 30 minutes. It always feels like three weeks of work need to be accomplished in a tiny amount of time, and everything feels urgent.
So I rushed around, accepting meeting invites, frantically trying to tie a bow on everything I’d been working on so I could simply close my laptop for a week.
Then I got a text from a friend who has a non-digital job; she was taking care of a dumpster fire at work.
Oh no, what’s going on?!
She clarified:
It’s a literal dumpster fire. The dumpster outside is on fire.
There was an actual trash receptacle engulfed in flames.
While I was calling things dumpster fires, she was navigating how to stop real garbage from actually burning.
At that moment, I realized, in the wise words of Gen Zers on TikTok, that I needed to touch the grass.
So much of our professional lives feel urgent and stressful because we accept the urgency and stress as real and necessary to do good work. But all to often, they aren’t.
No one’s lives are at risk. Maybe the email went out to the wrong segment, but nothing is literally on fire.
So how do marketers collectively calm the f*ck down at work?
1. Define urgent
When is something urgent?
What is expected of the team when something is urgent?
Shared definitions and expectations will help the team assess when something is urgent and when it just feels urgent. We should all know the difference between something that feels like a dumpster fire vs. when the dumpster is actually on fire.
2. Remember, it’s not about you
Most things that make you anxious at work truly have nothing to do with you. It just feels like they do.
The abrupt message from your boss? She isn’t going to fire you; she’s probably stressed about something you don’t even know is happening.
The ghosted proposal? Maybe they don’t hate it; it’s possible that the founder’s kid got sick, and they got overwhelmed.
The dropped calendar invite? He does want to meet; he’s just got a deadline, and the client is getting needy.
3. Touch grass
It’s August, {{ people.first-name | default: 'my friend' }}. These weeks of summer are precious. Don’t let your work consume the parts of your day that need to be reserved for rest, sun, and a good Caesar. Close your laptop, and get outside (she says, pointing to herself in the mirror).
With that, I’m logging off to cannonball into the lake.
Dock cheers,
Sarah
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