Administrative Assistant's Update - sample

5 Administrative Assistant's UPDATE By Rhonda Scharf Choices are your friend. There may come a time in your life and with the people in your life when you realize something has to change. Maybe it's your job, perhaps it's your sister-in-law, maybe it's the upstairs neighbour in your condo. But if you keep going along the path you are going along you just know it will cause you too much pain, grief and stress. We have choices to make in life. Times when you have to decide to ac - cept a situation, change it, or leave it. Accept the situation the way it is. Emotionally detach yourself from it (thereby removing all of the stress the situation causes). This is the "let it go" approach to dealing with your situation. Just let it go. Accept that it is what it is, and decide you aren't going to worry about it anymore. Letting go and detaching I have accepted that it snows in January in Ottawa, and I don't give it another moment of thought. I have accepted that politicians don't always do what they say they are going to do. I have accepted that my mother-in-law is chronically negative and I am not able to make her positive. Once you let it go, you have de - tached yourself from trying to make the situation better for you. It's not personal, it's not you, it just is. Let it go. Try to change the situation, so it works better for you. You've prob- ably already tried to do this. Tried to make the situation tolerable or to deal with it in some way. You attended a seminar on dealing with difficult people, you read books, you searched the Internet for advice. You formed an action plan, a strategy and had an end result in mind. Walk away from the situation entirely. In the case of a person, this means leaving the relationship. Quit your job, change departments, no lon- ger work with this person ever again. Move. It means leaving the relation- ship and the family that goes with it. You can say hello when you see the person in the future, but the relation- ship will be similar to what you would have with a stranger. You leave the relationship emotionally. A choice that's right for you When you give up, you choose to either accept the situation or leave the situation. Accepting and leaving are not the same as quitting. By choosing to ac- cept or leave, you are making a choice that is right for you. That isn't quit- ting. Quitting implies a lack of choice. When you choose to accept or leave, you are making a choice. You have chosen what is right for you. I ended a friendship I had with someone who became too high-main- tenance for me. She moved into the category of a difficult person because it seemed that I could never be the friend she wanted me to be. It didn't matter what I did, it wasn't enough, or it wasn't right. Middle ground doesn't work I tried for a very long time to find the middle ground in our friendship. I was never successful. I thought about accepting her the way she was, giving her what she needed and not worrying about what I needed. I was unable to do that stress-free (because I couldn't emotionally detach myself). I tried to find a middle ground (change things) and wasn't being successful. So, I left the friendship. I gave up on it, and I'm okay with that. What I didn't do was continue the friendship, complain about her high- maintenance personality and continue to be stressed during our time togeth- er. It wasn't worth it to me. I decided to walk away. That was the right choice for me. Go ahead and give up on your relationship if that is the right decision for you. Look for another job if that is what you need to do. Move if there is no fix for your living situation. It's a smart person who knows when to stop pushing forward and try another path. You have choices. Don't be afraid to make them. Rhonda Scharf (HoF) is a certified speaking professional and president of ON THE RIGHT TRACK Training & Consulting. www.on-the-right-track.com Decisions, decisions, decisions Some choices are harder than others Rhonda Scharf Credit: Gwoeii (Shutterstock)

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