Changes

Changes
I’ve been through a lot of changes lately. Most of them have been welcome and good. I’m happy with my life - I feel confident, I know myself, I have love in my life and it shows in so many areas of my daily life.
I am a fairly adaptable. I have accepted some huge disappointments in the past with calm and a reasonable faith that things will get better. But I’ll tell you, I read somewhere that it’s not the big setbacks in life that get to us, it’s the little things. Today, I’ve seen enough to believe that that saying couldn’t be more true.
I freaked out today over a situation that has been plaguing me for a little while now. I felt that I could no longer endure the situation and that I was alright to vent openly. As I sit here and write, I still feel upset, but I’m reminded of something that my mother used to say to me often, and I’ll tell you what that is.
I was prone to emotional excess when I didn’t get my way as a young girl. I wasn’t allowed to be disrespectful toward my parents, and if I ever ventured out of pocket I was quickly put back in my place. With that said, when I would go off the deep end, my mother would remind me that I needed to learn how to control myself. My response to that was to get even angrier until she walked away shaking her head. Now that I’m older and well past the tantrum phase, I see great wisdom in those words. Today, I was quick to anger, and in many ways, rightfully so. But the way I handle myself in the midst of that anger is of monumental importance to my success.
Today I had to deal with two difficult customers. One that signaled that she is no longer doing business with me, and one that I must admit I wish would no longer do business with us. The first customer is leaving just when the relationship seemed to be going well. It turns out that she has a different point of view on the matter. Although, I am disappointed, people change and must go on their way. This is a change that can and evenutually will create opportunities for me to find better customers and improve my skills to keep them satisfied. With the second customer I have endured the kind of changes that are not healthy and add no value.
The customer in question wants me to alter my service to the point that it is no longer recognizable. My first response to this request is to send the customer packing and sever all ties. Unfortunately it isn’t as easy as that -- I have investors that feel that this customer is important enough to entertain his ideas, and well, we are providing a service. Customer satisfaction is important, right? So we’ve gone through several changes to please this customer, and every time we come back with what appears to be a solution, he keeps moving the bar, changing the rules. Not only is it aggravating, it is a complete waste of time. My frustration and anger reached a boiling point, and I’m ready to take a stand. Now, at this point, I could make a bad situation worse and just go buck wild. Well, okay, maybe not buck wild. I don’t even know if I have it in me to go buck wild, at least not in the way I imagined in my meeting today. In reality, I have a few options left to explore before I throw in the towel.
I do have other parties involved who feel the same way I do about the customer and I can leverage their involvement to our mutual advantage. I can also stop giving this matter more attention than it deserves. The customer most obviously has another agenda, and is maneuvering to complete its fulfillment. The more attention we give it, the more we get manipulated in making this the most important customer when the return is minimal to nothing. Either way, I am the one that has to maintain a cool head, the one who has remain in charge of the situation, and the one who decides what makes sense for both the customer as well as the company.
Managing change is sometimes difficult but it doesn’t have to be impossible to bear. I am learning more and more everyday to keep the petty stuff in perspective and save my energy for the bigger things, like my loved ones and my health. The ability to do this can sometimes make the difference between a leader and a follower, and I prefer to lead.