A More Pragmatic Approach




Nora Benson was a classic overachiever. As a project manager at a mid-sized marketing firm, she believed success came from controlling every detail. Her email folders were color-coded, her to-do lists were laminated, and she could plan a meeting faster than most people could say "calendar invite." But on a Thursday morning in May, her carefully constructed routine unraveled like a ball of yarn in a kitten convention.


It began with the printer jamming as she tried to print 40 client reports. Then the client moved their presentation an hour earlier. Her assistant called in sick. And to top it off, her oatmeal exploded in the break room microwave, splattering blueberries across the ceiling tiles.


Nora stared at the oatmeal carnage. Her right eyelid twitched.


"Deep breath," muttered her coworker Javier, walking past with a yogurt and an air of unearned serenity.


That was the moment. The moment Nora didn't snap.


Instead, she sat down with a cup of microwaved water and watched the blueberries drip.


Something clicked.


Later that day, she found herself in a client meeting with a half-finished slide deck. She smiled, admitted the short notice, and suggested they use the time to talk strategy instead.


The client loved it. "Honestly, it's better this way," they said. "We don't need 40 slides. Just solutions."


Pragmatic move #1: Admitting a limitation and pivoting to conversation instead of panicking over perfection.


Back at her desk, Nora noticed the growing mountain of emails. She typically responded to everything within the hour—but today she flagged the critical ones, set a 30-minute timer, and replied only to messages that truly needed her.


Pragmatic move #2: Prioritizing by impact instead of trying to please everyone immediately.

Javier passed by again. "You didn't alphabetize your lunch containers today. Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm trying a new thing," she said. "It's called not self-combusting."


The next day, she dropped her phone in a puddle and missed her bus. She shrugged and walked to work, arriving late and windblown—but relaxed.

At the team stand-up, instead of pretending everything was under control, she said, "It's been a week. Let's each drop one task that's not actually essential."


The team looked stunned, then relieved. One by one, they offloaded useless meetings, unnecessary reports, and a cursed Excel sheet titled "Final_v17_REAL_final_THIS_ONE."


Pragmatic move #3: Encouraging realistic workloads, which boosted morale and reduced burnout.


Over the next few weeks, Nora noticed something strange. Her stress headaches vanished. Her sleep improved. People started coming to her not just for schedules, but for advice.


Her new motto? "Done is better than perfect. And calm is better than caffeinated panic."


On the last Friday of the quarter, she walked past the break room microwave, still bearing faint blueberry stains. She left them there. A quiet monument to the day she let go of control.


Moral: A pragmatic approach—focusing on what's effective over what's ideal—not only reduces stress but can turn chaos into calm, and pressure into perspective.



--
--
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com
https://pairsmathgame.com
https://philshapirochatgptexplorations.blogspot.com/
https://bsky.app/profile/philshapiro.bsky.social

He/Him/His

"Wisdom begins with wonder." - Socrates
"Learning happens thru gentleness."
"We must reinvent a future free of blinders so that we can choose from real options."  David Suzuki


--
--
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com
https://pairsmathgame.com
https://philshapirochatgptexplorations.blogspot.com/
https://bsky.app/profile/philshapiro.bsky.social

He/Him/His

"Wisdom begins with wonder." - Socrates
"Learning happens thru gentleness."
"We must reinvent a future free of blinders so that we can choose from real options."  David Suzuki

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