Being in a connected world sure does make control hard. It’s difficult to anticipate what crises or demands on our attention and time will happen next Tuesday.
The fact that people can reach us on a whim and pile on work for us is not to be lost in our pursuit of control and order.
In fact, our lack of control is something that should be acknowledged. Any feeling we have of it is an illusion. We cannot control reality or the motives and actions of others.
When it comes to our work, what can we do? We can’t grip tighter and hope that control can remedy any lack of order.
No, the best strategy is to remain open to what can come. We can control things like what we commit to, how our workspace is ordered and setting good agreements.
Then as requests or work flows into our lives, we can be ready. Being ready looks different for everyone, but at its basic level it is anticipation and focus without rigidity.
You can keep your mind ready to solve problems.
You can continue growing with books and knowledge.
You can have resources built up as part of your tool set.
You can nurture key relationships that will help you and you can help.
I think it can be a major paradigm shift for someone that tries to control their environment. The problem is that it’s hard to anticipate how people and problems will affect us.
As you are thinking about how to create more opportunity or control, then acknowledge how reality works. You can work on yourself and control your readiness. That is not an illusion. That is within your control.