The Key to Staying Sane in a World of Incompetence

According to Intuit TurboTax spokesperson Ashley McMahon, millions of U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) stimulus payments were sent to the wrong accounts.  My reaction?  I’m not surprised because, unfortunately, we live in an era where incompetence rules the day.

At first, I thought it was just me having uber high standards.  But when a woman turned to me in the Target return line last week and said, “Why is everything so difficult?  It wasn’t like this years ago,” I realized that it’s not just me.  Every day I encounter people in business who are unresponsive, give me wrong information, don’t follow through on their word, act entitled, and refuse to take accountability for something they own.  And that’s just the start of the list.

But there is a silver lining in all of this and that’s what I choose to focus on in order to retain my sanity.  Nowadays, if you are responsive, competent, responsible, a hard worker, intelligent, and accountable, you stand out in a positive way and people want to do business with you.  That’s the reward and it’s a big one, as it impacts one’s reputation and level of success in business, and defines one’s character.

Although I continue to work on it, patience is not my virtue.  For this reason, my 2021 motto is, “Everyone is doing their best and the world is a great place.”  Because if I do not repeat this to myself hourly, I’ll go off the deep end.  The world has changed.  And for people like myself, who have ‘Leave it to Beaver’ values, the change is not for the better.

JILL, WHAT CAN I DO?  The only person you can change is yourself.  Short of lowering your standards, you can try what I’m trying – brainstorm a motto for 2021 in an effort to stay positive and give people the benefit of the doubt when you face an unpleasant situation.  It has only been two weeks, and I already know that it beats the alternative of being disappointed, upset, and frustrated.  We can do this.