Picture waiting an extra half hour for your food at the restaurant; mornings where you’re running late and your keys are missing; getting stuck in traffic on your way to an appointment. Do you feel stressed and impatient yet?
Event planning is consistently ranked as one of the most stressful jobs. While these daily stressors are certainly unwelcome and unpleasant, event planners deal with even more – What do you do if the speakers blow? If the caterer forgets the vegetarian option? Or if your team arrives a half hour late?
The long answer: spend a lot of time developing your backup plan.
The short answer: be patient. It’s not easy to be patient, but if you take a look at these tips for tricking yourself into developing patience, you’ll find that you not only feel less stressed, but your events run more efficiently.
1. Understand your triggers. When you exercise self-awareness and reevaluate whether or not your response is justified, you can take steps toward rerouting that response. Practice self-control by forcing your brain to focus on something else.
2. Take an exercise break. Sometimes the best thing you can do for your body is to take a 10 minute running, walking, or biking break. This will burn off any accumulated stress hormones and clear your mind, making it easier for you to return to your task patient and anger-free.
3. Count to 10. This advice has been around for years and with good reason; this is a great chance for you to reset your mind and refocus. It also gives you 10 seconds of silence, and sometimes when you’re frustrated and impatient, it’s best to take that extra time before speaking.
4. Issue a warning. If you can feel yourself becoming impatient, tell the other person. Explain that you’re starting to get frustrated and explain why. If it’s because of something they’re doing, this gives them a chance to modify their behavior. The opposite could also happen; by saying it out loud, you could realize that your annoyance is misplaced and that you need some space.
5. Ask for help. Whenever you’re starting to feel overwhelmed, it’s easy to feel frazzled and impatient. Take time to review your to-do list and decide which tasks can be delegated to others on your team.
If you’re looking for equipment to help your Orlando event planning team, feel free to contact Fun Planners at 407-955-4949. For more tips, tricks, and more, visit our blog and our catalog.
