Corporal Jones in the UK television series Dad's Army was infamous for shouting "Don't Panic" if anything went remotely wrong in a way that was more likely to engender panic.
These were also the words on the cover of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy from the book by Douglas Adams designed presumably to stop users of the guide from overreacting as they explored the universe.
Both uses of the phrase were intended as anything but serious, However as we head into a New Year filled with its potential for excitement and challenges it occurs to me that this could actually be seen as good advice.
Rather like the test pilot who keeps calmly reporting back on the behaviour of his plane even as it disintegrates around him "Don't Panic" if rightly construed is good advice.
If you are extremely busy and are asked to take one one more task a natural reaction is the emotional one of how on earth can I do this. Help! Why me! However a calmer assessment will almost always find some way of managing the new task, for example, by delegating it or by reprioritising other work.
So make "Don't Panic" in the truer and more profound sense of its meaning a new year's resolution!
These were also the words on the cover of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy from the book by Douglas Adams designed presumably to stop users of the guide from overreacting as they explored the universe.
Both uses of the phrase were intended as anything but serious, However as we head into a New Year filled with its potential for excitement and challenges it occurs to me that this could actually be seen as good advice.
Rather like the test pilot who keeps calmly reporting back on the behaviour of his plane even as it disintegrates around him "Don't Panic" if rightly construed is good advice.
If you are extremely busy and are asked to take one one more task a natural reaction is the emotional one of how on earth can I do this. Help! Why me! However a calmer assessment will almost always find some way of managing the new task, for example, by delegating it or by reprioritising other work.
So make "Don't Panic" in the truer and more profound sense of its meaning a new year's resolution!
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