How to Avoid Blowing Up at Work

The Management Tip of the Day offers quick, practical management tips and ideas from Harvard Business Review and HBR.org (www.hbr.org). Any opinions expressed are not endorsed by Reuters.

"When you have too much to do and not enough time to do it, it's easy to disappoint yourself and others, forget to follow through, and lose your temper.

Managing your time better, learning to say "no," and resisting the temptation to multitask are all good long-term solutions.

But what can you do now to stop the fuse from lighting? Every hour, take one minute to take a deep breath and ask yourself if in the past hour you've been the kind of person you want to be.

Have you been a good boss or colleague? Then recommit to who you are going to be in the next hour. Sometimes it only takes a small interruption to help you regain control. Why not take the time to prevent losing your cool before it happens?"

- Today's Management Tip was adapted from "A Ritual to Help You Keep Your Focus and Your Temper" by Peter Bregman.