p>Before you react to a stressful interruption, stop, take a deep breath, compose yourself and then think of a creative way to address the incident. “Sometimes, the most important thing that you need to be doing when confronted with an issue is to simply sit and think,” says Jeff Davidson, author of Breathing Space.

Once, when an audience member snapped a flash photo of Katherine Hepburn during a play, she paused for a few seconds and then stepped out of character as she moved to the front of the stage. She stared at the person and said: “How rude! How utterly rude!” and then immersed herself in the character again, taking everyone’s attention back with her.

Key: “She was the master of the strategic pause,” Davidson says. “She dealt with an acute stressor as it arose.” And by taking action she not only eliminated the further interruption but also allowed herself and the audience to put it behind them.

– Adapted from “Become the Master of Your Domain,” Jeff Davidson

Embrace ‘Good Enough’ Curb your perfectionist tendencies by embracing the principle of GEMO – the letters stand for “Good enough, move on.” fter all, you always could do more, but maximum productivity requires you to recognize when continuing to plug away on a project isn’t offering enough return on your time invested.

In some cases you can return to the project later, after you have cleared something else from your to-do list or gained fresh perspective. Other times, you just need to move on.

– Adapted from “Finding GEMO,” David Zinger