DECOMPRESS

M. Need to decompress

C. Go for it

M. I’m super angry

C. Why?

M. Because m***f’’ing M never got back to me. I have no f’ing idea how much he’s going to charge. F*** him!

C. Why does this bother you so much?

M. For one, I’m the f’ing customer. I can’t imagine treating a customer like this. It lacks professionalism and professional courtesy.

C. What else?

M. I’m afraid he’s going to charge me a ton and then I have no choice but to pay him because he has the product hostage.

C. Is there anything positive about this situation?

M. Well, I suppose there is. PM will be updated with a great new look and be approved to be on the A/X in just a couple of weeks.

C. Tell me more. What’s so great about this?

M. Well I’ll finally have a viable and marketable product.

C. If memory serves, you were very excited about the description, right?

M. That was a long time ago, but, yes, I was.

C. I think it will be helpful for you to revisit and update the description. I know it’s a lot of work, but I believe it will help you get re-energized about PM and its market potential.

M. You’re probably right, but that’s part of the problem. I’m overwhelmed by how much work I still have to do. These are all major and very time-consuming and energy-intensive projects. I feel like I’m always way behind. It feels like the more I do, the more I have to do.

C. Go on

M. Take the last two days, for example. Yesterday, I spent 4 hours on top of another 4 hours I spent on the weekend working on one f’ing page. One f’ing page!

C. How did it come out?

M. It came out great. I created it for a presentation I’m supposed to give this week, but I haven’t heard back from the person to whom I’m supposed to give it.

C. Go on

M. DJ said he was going to set up a meeting with CL this week. CL has yet to respond. He also didn’t respond to an email from AK that I was copied on. I’m sick and tired of getting zero response from CL.

C. Tell me about what you worked on today.

M. I created a great brochure. I worked on it for something like 5 hours.

C. You’re happy with how it turned out?

M. Yes, it’s outstanding if I may say so myself.

C. Really?

M. Yes. I can’t believe I was able to create a brand new program and describe it fully and in a very compelling manner on one page. I am very pleased with this.

C. What are the positive implications?

M. Well, the good news is that this is going to be for a client project. Once built, I have the opportunity to replicate this across 100’s of S clients - at least, that’s the theory.

C. You really have produced a lot of great work lately.

M. Thanks, but I’m beat. It is a bit of a gamble because it’s not clear if or to what extent ST is going to use these new offerings.

C. Is that what’s gnawing at you?

M. Yes. I see so much potential but f’ing CL won’t engage and that’s frustrating the **** out of me.

C. Go on

M. I feel completely rejected

C. I’m going to go CBT on you and say that you’re catastrophizing this situation. Yes, CL has not gotten back to you, but he hasn’t gotten back to DJ or AK either or so it seems.

M. Okay. Fair enough.

C. Moreover, the feedback you have gotten from DJ who is CL’s peer has been super, super positive, right?

M. That’s true, but CL is the ultimate decision maker.

C. Didn’t you get some encouraging news from MB?

M. Yes, I almost forgot. He mentioned he was hearing good things, which was encouraging.

C. I know this has been very intense work and that you’re fried.

M. I am. Layer on top of this everything that’s going on in the world. All the yelling. All the lies. All the protests. All the deaths. All the layoffs. The fires. The hurricanes. The shootings. So much negative news. So much uncertainty. I cried “uncle” today and decided to stop watching the news. My brain is tired of getting assaulted every night. Also, I’ve been nervous about N’s issue. N needs to get surgery. This frightens me because of my love for N.

C. Yes, it’s a very stressful time. But, please count your blessings. There are so many people that are 100x worse off than you.

M. That’s true

C. Do me a favor and give me three things you’re grateful for.

M. Okay: 1. That I have deep love in my life 2. That I have a roof over my head 3. That I will have a “new” car that is going to look like new next week after the body repair work 4. That I do have some near term income opportunities 5. That I will be joining ST as a consultant 6. That I have created two great service offerings for ST 7. That I will have two “new” products next week. 8. That PM will finally be listed on A/X 9. That PW has set aside a big budget for our services. 10. That we have a deal with FB for the service product I created today. 11. That SL confirmed we got approved for the LM and that we don’t need to worry about the F/C. 12. I’m losing weight

C. You cheated. That’s more than three!

M. Yeah, I wanted to see if I could get to a dozen

C. Great. Did this help?

M. Yes, I’m still beat, but this definitely helped. I’m talking to MP later today, which should also help.

C. Great. Okay. Take care.

M. Thanks again

C. You bet