The thought of letting go of control can cause stress. What if you surrender your control and someone messes up your plan? Your team fails to follow through on a project. Your staff misses the important details. Your family messes up the plans.
Letting go of control requires trust. If you struggle with letting go of control it may be because you believe no one else can do the job to your standards. You fear that if the future doesn’t line exactly up with your plans, bad things will happen.
Sales will be lost. Relationships will be damaged
The problem with this thinking is that only your plans will do. Have you ever considered that there may be a better plan for your future? If you’re so stuck on life moving forward the way you, and only you, see fit, you may miss out on opportunities you couldn’t have created for yourself.
How controlling backfires
As you’ve probably experienced, trying to control people usually backfires. If it doesn’t cause damage right away, it does over time. Controlling people find it difficult to keep others and external variables in order which causes stress that never goes away.
The people in your life will start feeling controlled which naturally causes resentment (if they aren’t standing up for themselves). When you control you are sending a message. “I don’t trust you. I only trust me.”
Let help in. Reduce your stress
If you don’t make space for others to help you (because you think only you can do a good job), you not only hold yourself back from deeper connection with others but you also keep yourself stuck in your own trap. Letting others help you will reduce your stress and help you develop realistic expectations of yourself.
We need to trust that the world won’t fall apart and come crumbling down when we step back. Developing trust is the key to more peace of mind and less stress. What has helped you let go of control? What would you have more time for if you trusted that everything would be ok?