10 Ways to Manage Your Anger
Whenever you are angry, you destroy part of your practice.
Being irritated, exasperated, frustrated or furious hurts your production, builds up stress in the office and restricts your success. Even when you suppress your anger, it affects your judgement and morale.
Your staff and patients can sense something is wrong. Your family gets quiet whenever you come into a room. Everyone walks on eggshells around you, which is not a good life for you to live.
So the next time you are angry, try some of these solutions until your rationality returns.
1. Write down exactly what is making you so mad. Get as specific as possible. Once you find the true reason behind your anger, the solution is often obvious.
2. Meet with whomever is making you angry and ask him or her questions. The answers may clear things up and dissolve your anger.
3. Rip several pages of paper to shreds. Break something. Punch an object as hard as you can. Pull a face.
4. Write a nasty letter to whomever is making you mad. Revise it until it would really knock them down. Then tear it up into tiny pieces. Write a second letter that addresses your concerns. Do not send the second letter until you check it later to ensure it does not worsen the issue.
5. List all the ways you could solve the problem. Include unethical, irresponsible solutions. Destroy the list once you select the most responsible solution.
6. Talk to someone who is outside the scene and uninvolved (i.e., a mentor, spouse or consultant).
7. Close your eyes, take three deep breaths, count to ten, take a walk.
8. Ask yourself, “Will the reason I’m angry be relevant in ten years?”
9. Strengthen your personal ethics. Unethical behavior forces you to hide or lie about parts of your life. Your personal power is greatly reduced and you don’t need the strain.
10. Consider making a major shift in your practice or career. If your anger, stress or dissatisfaction is constant, you may need to change:
A. Who you work with: Certain colleagues, employees or patients might be opposing you.
B. Where you practice: Your space may need remodeling or your location might be wrong for you.
C. How you practice: You may be doing things the hard way.
D. If you should practice at all: Over the years, three of our clients found a great deal of satisfaction when they discovered they should sell their practices and move on to new careers.
Summary
You want a practice that gives you more life than it takes, not a practice that makes you angry!
When a practice takes more than it gives, you are stressed, financially unsatisfied or personally unhappy. You and the practice are going nowhere.
A practice that gives more life than it takes provides you with an excellent income, a great deal of satisfaction and many interesting challenges. A life-giving practice constantly improves and helps you reach your goals.
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