If you live in the Northeast, March can feel like a test of endurance.
By the time we get to March, we have survived what seems like an eternity of cold weather, snow, and ice storms. This year, we went over a month where temps didn’t go above freezing! Then we got a taste of “fake spring” (as my local weatherman calls it) in early March. You think you can get out your short-sleeved shirts, and the seasonal depression might be lifting as you begin to emerge from your home and sweaters for the first time in months.
But a day or two later, snowflakes fall again, and you realize there is still another month of unpredictable weather and the possibility of yet another snowstorm.
Layer on top of this the fact that March has no breaks from school, no holidays, nothing to look forward to, and the month becomes never-ending.
Reframing March
March (in the Northeast) is a perfect example of the power of perspective. I hear many complaining about all of these things, but what about everything we DO get to have in March? A few things come to mind:
- No school sports in the winter, so we get time as a family
- We get to do some indoor projects that would get lost otherwise
- We catch up on some good television shows or movies
- Skiing!
- Focused reading and writing time
- Cozy fires
- Prep time for taxes! (Ok, maybe this isn’t so good, but imagine if you had to do this chore on a nice summer day?)
Ultimately, our perspective is the difference between surviving March versus seeing it as a month of opportunity.
I am always saying to my son, we must look at what we DO have, and not what we DON’T have.
Every day, we have this power to reframe our perspective.
A client’s prospective shift
Last week, I was working with an executive client who was struggling with her team. She had felt a bit blindsided by a request that the team had collectively made. She wondered why she didn’t see this coming. She was so focused on what she didn’t know, and that she’d been left out of something, she couldn’t see the positive side of this experience: She had created such an empowering climate for her team that they felt they could come up with a new idea and collaborate to find alignment, without her needing to drive it!
The atmosphere she fostered also meant they were comfortable coming to her with a new and possibly difficult request. Many leaders can only hope they create this level of approachability and collaboration with their direct reports.
Once we talked about these perspective shifts, she realized that her negative perception and reaction were probably misaligned to the team’s reality. What she saw as a breakdown was actually a sign of trust.
Can you think of an emotional response you have had to something at work or at home? What could be other perceptions of the situation? How have you trained yourself to examine these various perspectives before reacting?
Responding versus reacting. It’s a choice.
Perspective doesn’t change the season, but it can change your experience of it. So try to enjoy these last days of turtleneck sweaters and snowflakes! April is here, and before we know it, there will be plenty of warm-weather things to complain about, I mean reframe, too!