You know you shouldn’t but you open the attachment that wasn’t meant for you, your stomach turning.
What you see makes your heart stop.
Your face gets really hot.
And your hands start to sweat. 😨
The confidential email from HR found its way to your inbox accidentally, and you are now aware of the disparity of salary.
Nothing tangible has changed around you.
The world is still the same this moment, as it was some minutes ago before you opened the attachment.
Why has your physiology changed?
Why are you so angry/upset/emotional?
Humans are meaning making machine, says Tom Bilyeu, founder of Impact Theory (I love his podcasts).
So we will try to understand what this information means.
Does it mean:
– this reflects on me as a person, and that I have lower value than these other people? (as awesome as I am)
– the leadership team haven’t been honest and fair (which is a kinder way of saying – are they misogynistic and racist?!)
When something like this happens to me, I know that Ms Ego will react quickly, and what I’d need to do is to calm her down, so that I can extend the pause between between event and response.
This gives time to decide on its meaning to me, and my next step.
However, it won’t be to punch someone’s lights out – even if I may feel like it!