It’s funny–what I’ve learned they past few years for my business has seriously prepared me for parenting.
Let me start by stating–toddlers are both the hellspawn and THE most adorable things on this planet. I am not quite sure how this feat is achieved, but it’s the truth.
We are learning a lot about socioemotional developement at our house. It’s a struggle that isn’t just for the toddler–I’ll say that.
But at the core of EVERYTHING it’s the same–our emotions are valid.
The way I would respond has zero bearing on the situation, because it has everything to do with the person experiencing the emotion. Ever since this lightbulb finally popped above my head–tantrums are no longer tantrums. Okay well sometimes they are but only because I am throwing the tantrum–BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT! 😜
A lot of times the emotional response is due to bullshit or assumptions our brains are telling us.
BUT
If our brain knows the boundary and expectation the response to the item is less rejection and more acceptance because their are facts to reference.
Here’s an example from my kiddo.
HIM: “Mom, I want to play with you!”
ME: **in the middle of making dinner and my hand up a turkey’s ass getting it ready to bake**
MY BRAIN: If you tell him your are cooking and can’t play he will think you don’t WANT to play and an emotional volcano will errupt. If you tell him yes, that sounds amazing and THEN say after you get the turkey in the oven he may ask if you’re done a lot but we’ll deal with emotional bunny hills not lava geisers.
ME: Absolutely buddy! That sounds like fun, what do you want to play?
HIM: YAY! I want to play SORRY.
ME: Okay, can you get the game ready?
😲
NO BURNING LAVA. 🌋
He responded positively, engaged in conversation, was independent and got this ready to play AND I got to finish the Turkey.
I know, I know…HOW DOES THIS PERTAIN TO BUSINESS?!?!?!
When your clients asks for something that you’ve never set boundaries or expectations around, they have ZERO idea of what it will take you to complete the task–or if the request is frustrating to you. How YOU respond to their request will be the most important in how the conversation turns out.
✨ Acknowledge the request–“I’d love to work on you to accomplish…[ ITEM THEY REQUESTED ]”
✨ Establish some boundaries–“I can accomplish [ THE PARTS YOU CAN DO ]”
✨ Let them know if you need reinforcements–“You will also need to hire [ ANY OTHER PEOPLE]”
✨ Give them the timeline–“This is gonna be a lot of fun, it will take approximately [ TIME TO COMPLETE ] and my next start date is [ KICK-OFF DATE]”
✨ If it’s out of scope let them know–“This will be in addition to our current project and will be an additional [ COST OF PROJECT]”
✨ Give them an out–“Let me know if that all works for you and I can send over the invoice to save the time on my schedule”
