Tame the Primitive Brain: 28 Ways in 28 Days to Manage the Most Impulsive Behaviors at Work

Day 6

Moods and Emotions

Good Days and Bad Days

When you’ve seen the world shape up as I have, there are only two things you can do: laugh or kill yourself.

—John Le Carre

Today you’ll tame:

• Your temperamental nature

Greta typically had her meetings with her mentor on the first Monday of each month. Always, it would go the same way: Within five minutes, the discussion would digress into a complaining session on the part of her mentor, who would carry on about how futile business was, and the barriers she needed to overcome that week, raised by the annoying people she had to deal with. As far as Greta was concerned, she gained nothing from these interactions, and the relationship seemed pointless to her. She also worried that one of the annoying people her mentor was grousing about was herself. All in all, she felt a bit picked on.

Greta’s mentor had another mentee, Boris, so Greta decided to ask him about his experience with their mentor. “Fantastic,” Boris told her. “She really focuses on what I need from the work and the organization, and how I can best go about getting it. Our meetings are always very positive.”

“Maybe she just hates working with me,” thought Greta, despondently.

The first Monday of the next month Greta’s mentor was away on business, and when she returned midweek Greta asked to see her that day for a session. She told herself that she would be brave, and during the session broach her concerns by asking, “Do you have something against me?”

This session, however, ...