I wrote today about a client who sold his business last year for multi-millions. But when I pressed ‘Publish’ this morning, nothing happened.

My immediate response was confusion. Then disbelief when I discovered I’d lost almost all of my work. Then anger at the technology. I walked away from my desk, took a deep breath and reminded myself to focus on what I can control, my own actions and decisions.

If I had allowed myself to continue into a rage, another hour or two could have easily been lost.

Instead I chose to focus on what I can do.

My to-do list has ‘Publish an essay’ on it for today. I don’t want to spend another hour writing. But here’s a great lesson in productivity. When a problem occurs, it’s human nature to respond emotionally. That doesn’t make it useful or necessary, though.

Being angry or upset does not help you get things done.

In fact, it does quite the opposite.

So, when things go wrong and annoy you, try this:

• Take a breath.

• Stop thinking about what has happened to annoy you.

• Decide what needs to happen next.

• Then get on and do something about it!

  This took less than 20 minutes. A fast recovery, and I don’t feel (too) annoyed anymore. Task ticked off, next please.