Working With Physical and Other Challenges - Part 2

We've been discussing working with physical and other challenges. Last time we tried to break this down into some general categories, including some examples of each. After one more personal example, we'll get down to the best ways I know to deal with working with physical and other challenges.

So here's the personal example - and it's something going on even as I'm writing this post. 

Maybe a week ago, I woke up at night with extreme aches in the area below my chest, above my knees. Couldn't get to sleep after that. Finally took some Advil - something I only do under extreme circumstances. Got a smidge more of sleep. Then it was morning. 

Between the aches - by now pretty persistent - and the lack of sleep, it wasn't my best morning. Indeed, this has dragged on now for almost a week. When will it ease up? I thought that was happening yesterday. Alas, when night came, it was back to the Advil - either that or lose a few hours of precious sleep. 

Add on the whole C-Virus Mess we're in. Through it all, until last week, I've been feeling fine. When this hit, I did wonder - briefly - that maybe I'd gotten COVID. And while I'm not 100% sure it's not that, it's not a concern. Aches aren't a stranger, and the rest of my faculties have been OK. So I'm just getting down to work each morning, pushing through the day best I can. And with the end of the week looming, looks like everything that needed to be done this week gets done. Can't complain.

Which brings us to he best ways I know to deal with working with physical and other challenges. Here go some of those "best ways":

You don't need a special plan for this. If you already have your ducks in a row on the job, that will likely serve the purpose of helping you negotiate a work day with physical, emotional, even spiritual challenges. Having your ducks in a row includes knowing everything you either planned to do, or are expected to do at any given time. You can't know what you planned to do without a plan, so that's the first best way. If you typically don't have a plan, now's a good time to address that - before the next physical, emotional, or spiritual challenge shows up. And one or more of these almost certainly will.

As for what you're expected to do, it's mostly a function of being an employee. And if you're thinking that's something every employee knows, think again. I know people who are clueless about what their employer expects from them - or darn near clueless. Yeah, they get reviewed and critiqued. And a constructive review can be a good source to know exactly what your boss expects from you. But having had several rounds of reviews at several companies in the past, I can tell you it's not always the case. If so, you need to, figure it out yourself, both on a general level, as well as drilling down to the particulars of a given week, even a given day.

With that knowledge, you'll naturally have a task list for the week and/or a particular day. So what does this do to help your through your challenge?

Well, if you've developed the discipline of getting the day's work done - as defined by your task list - then you just stick with your discipline. Does this always work perfectly? Maybe if you're a robot, or Superman. Since that's likely not the case, you may have to make some adjustments. 

In my own case, I know that if a physical challenge is especially rough, I simply get tired earlier than I might on a normal day. Experience tells me that work that requires thinking, analysis, lengthy reading/research, etc. won't get my best effort if I'm borderline exhausted. So I may need to reschedule for a later date. Since I know my list, along with the priority or each item, I can make an informed, prudential decision here. 

But that may not mean I knock off for the day. I've got grunt-type stuff that I keep in a tray that may get some attention: filing, scanning, short reading, professional journals that aren't particularly substantive or helpful, but need a quick review to glean the occasional pearl hidden in the pig-slop. This stuff doesn't take too much time and energy; and unless I'm literally totally exhausted, it's an opportunity to take what might have been down time and make it productive.

Most of the challenges I typically face are physical, rather than emotional. But in the case of the sickness and death of our son end of 2018/early 2019, it was emotional in the extreme. However, what I've just described as best ways I know to deal with working with physical and other challenges all worked. I stayed (relatively) on top of my work flow, to the benefit of my family and my clients. During the weeks when I spent my days with our son who was in a coma in ICU, my clients didn't now what was going on. They only found out after he died. I managed to stay on top of things.

(It's difficult to relay this message, but I wanted you to know that even in an extreme circumstance this stuff works. And there's never been anything I've had to deal that was even remotely as extreme as the sickness and death of our son.)

Oh, and and let's not forget spiritual challenges. But why don't we get into this next time. It's already time to get to the day's work - despite any physical and other challenges.