How Do You Manage Intense Transition?

Are you in a “season” of “transition”? Maybe it’s loss of job, or starting a new job, marriage, divorce, death of a loved one or the birth of a child.

It could be any number of things that have deeper repercussions than just a one-time event.

Right now Ivy and I in the middle of a long relocation process. It has been an season of intense transition. And it’s far from over.

Transition is all about navigating change. Oftentimes the many tasks involved are demanding, disruptive and on tight deadlines. Maybe you’re like me and still have many responsibilities, projects and goals outside of that.

Jesus promises peace to those who rest in Him. So from an emotional and spiritual perspective, His presence offers calm and peace of mind, even in the middle of life’s storm.

But from a practical point of view, how do we manage those seasons of intense transition?

That’s the question I posed to productivity guru Paul B. Evans of ACHIEVE who offered some super insightful advice.

You can adapt these ideas to your own situation and personality. Also, at the end of this post is the full audio recording of his recommendations.

1. Refocus

When things are closing in on you, you’ve got to refocus and ask yourself the questions:

• “What is absolutely essential?”
• “What is not going to be compromised?”
• “What has to remain?”

So first of all, think and determine what is absolutely essential.

Then be willing to cut the rest.

2. Recalibrate

When you’re in transition you may have to renegotiate your timelines, plans and even commitments.

You find new dates to get back or a new beginning date, or even just to reconsider what your next move should be.

Plan A is out the window, time to recalibrate.

3. Reengage

Is it time to re-start or recalibrate again? Revisit your motivation and purpose. Realign with your big”why”. You may need to recalibrate again even farther. But when you do, decide to reengage fully.

4 Steps To Reengage

1. Designate

Whatever remains, you still have to plan the what, where, when and why. Set the time aside when the transition will not disrupt you to think and plan. That may only be 10 minutes a day, but be intentional and grab it.

2. Communicate

In times of intense transition there’s extra emotion and there’s extra stress. There’s a lot of things that go unsaid, but not unfelt. So with your your family or significant others or colleagues  and coworkers, you need to communicate where you are, and you need to communicate the things that are not going to be compromised. Make sure that everybody’s fully aware of everything that’s going on so that you’re not out there all alone.

3. Delegate

If anything can be delegated to others, do it. Because of the intense transition, it’s now time for you to hand off and release and not remain in full control, so that others may step up.

4. Celebrate

Every day when you’re in transition,  there’s added stress, added weight and added “weary.” You’ve got to look for those things you can celebrate either personally or collectively, to say “You know, we’re still making progress! Okay it’s slow, it’s not was planned to begin with, but we’ve not quit!”

Summary

Intense transitions are circumstances that are out of your immediate control, there’s a lot of moving pieces. So, you designate your time, you communicate to all, you delegate to others, and you celebrate the small things.

Question:

What practical advice would you add to this? What has worked (or not worked) for you? Anything you would do differently? Leave a comment below or on my Facebook page. 

Here is the full audio recording from Paul B. Evans.