How to Overcome Diversion

Diversions can come in all shapes and sizes. Some only happen for a split second and some stay around for a while. Some barely leave a dent and some can actually hold you or the organization back and cause you to have to start all over again. Like something breaking that needs to be fixed is a minor issue, but something that affects everyone on a personal level can put a major halt on something that needs to get done.

I talked about an example of a diversion in our Monday Mojo email this week; we send out Monday Mojo emails every Monday morning to help you start each week with a motivational message (if you want to receive those yourself, you can go to www.lhln.org and sign up for our email list). Let's say you are having a meeting with a group of people and you are all having to make a very important decision, if someone in the group gets too emotional about something or even reacts in an extremely negative way, it affects everyone in the room and can cause everyone to either focus on that one person or to react that way themselves; which eventually hinders you and the group from making any sort of headway or progress towards the whole reason you were meeting in the first place.

There are three different ways you can overcome diversion: pick a phrase, take a deep breath, and/or think of something you are grateful for.

1) Pick a phrase.

What has helped me personally whenever something happens that either gets in the way or initially puts me in a bad mood is to automatically say, "You've got to be kidding me." When I say this (either in my head or out loud), it gives my emotions the chance to catch up with my brain and I am more likely going to react and/or respond in a much better manner as opposed to if I went off of my initial emotions and possibly said something I would later on regret. Saying your chosen phrase gives yourself the pause you need to process what is going on and to handle it in a more civilized manner.

2) Take a deep breath.

By taking a deep breath, you are not only calming your body, but you're also calming your mind. If your body and your mind are calm, any initial thoughts and/or emotions where you were automatically angry, frustrated, or agitated are not as prevalent and you are able to focus more on how you want to handle the distraction instead of letting your emotions control you. The physical release of your breath after inhaling in a sense releases the negativity you feel, as well. You inhale in a rage and exhale with acceptance.

3) Think of something you are grateful for.

When we take the time to think of things we are grateful for, it always calms us down and immediately changes our mindset to be more positive. When our mindset is more positive, we are more likely going to react and/or respond to something in a calm and rational manner. When you think of something you are grateful for, you automatically focus on what is actually important to you in life and something that halts or hinders your plan can seem so small in the grand scheme of things.

You can do all three of these things if you'd like or you can also just focus on doing one - each one on its own will give you the chance to regulate yourself and control how you want to react / respond to any diversion you are dealing with. Don't let any sort of diversion get the best of you. People are looking to you as their leader to keep things on track and to hold everything together.

I hope these tips help you in your leadership journey and that you pass them on to others! That's what my company (LHLN - Leaders Helping Leaders Network) is all about! Not only learning yourself, but teaching others in order to help them, as well.

Like we always say, "Learn It. Live It. Give It."

- Dean