Minimizing Missteps
By preparing for missteps and disappointments like with Job Hazard Analyses, we not only stand a good chance of avoiding pitfalls, but it can also minimize the impact of those challenges we do have to deal with throughout our days so that we can spend more of our time and energy on the joy each day can bring.
I’ve mentioned a couple of times that I work for the U.S. Forest Service, and so a lot of my analogies and principles for life stem . . . see what I did there? . . . ahem . . . from tree and forest life systems and cycles. Trees are such great models that translate so nicely to human concepts. But today I’ve been thinking about a strictly human concept related to my Agency’s practices.
The Forest Service has a number of what we call JHAs or Job Hazard Analyses. The purpose of these is to draw out all the possible hazards that someone might face while performing a certain task such as trimming a tree or scuba diving in streams to count fish. People who are assigned those tasks then sign off that they have reviewed the associated JHA. This process becomes somewhat routine, but its based on a truly vitally important principle: we might not be able to control all environmental factors out in the woods, but we need to control those we can and be extra aware of the ones that are out of our control. That way, although we can’t predict when a tree might fall or a freak snow storm hits, we can be vigilant for those impacts and have extra supplies on hand just in case.
Going through this process doesn’t ensure that everybody who works in the woods will be 100% safe all the time. But it does save lives and many injuries. The thing that struck me today was the fact that very few if any of those risks that the JHAs are designed to help address are ever present from the Forest Service Headquarters or even around our cars when we pull off to the side of the road to setup for the work to be completed. The JHA is designed for when we are doing the task.
How easy is it to disregard dangers or disappointments or heartbreaks or physical or emotional injury when we are thinking about the things we have to do each day in the comfort of our homes, while sipping a nice warm beverage maybe whenever the view of the sunrise. In that environment all seems well in the world, so if we’re not careful and have some way of putting ourselves in the riskier environments we might face throughout the day, we are inevitably going to downplay the risks and focus only on the potential wins the day might bring.
For me writing things down makes those things feel more permanent and tend to be more present in my mind, so if I take a few minutes while I’m in that comfortable environment of my kitchen with that beverage at hand to reflect on some ways I’ll be able to mitigate those potential pitfalls and missteps then, when I face those scenarios in my day, I won’t have to think quite as hard at what the best course of action might be because I will have already decided. And lets face it, when we are in those challenging situations, or logical problem solving brain is often hijacked by our more primitive survival side of our brains.
By preparing for missteps and disappointments like with Job Hazard Analyses, we not only stand a good chance of avoiding pitfalls, but it can also minimize the impact of those challenges we do have to deal with throughout our days so that we can spend more of our time and energy on the joy each day can bring.