M.I. - Don't let a bad morning ruin a good career.

A bad morning is normal. Letting it steal your career is optional.

We kick off with one hard-earned gem: don’t let a bad morning ruin a good career. We have all had days where everything goes wrong before we even get to work, and it’s tempting to drag that anger and frustration straight into the building. But the mood that feels huge at 8 a.m. can be gone by lunchtime, while the consequences of what you say or do at 8:15 can last for years.

Speaking as a people manager, I get real about what happens when someone “fires off” at work. That quick “F this job” moment can turn into termination, no severance, no easy unemployment path, and a stressful scramble to rebuild income. This is not fear-mongering, it’s career reality. Protecting your job is often less about having the best skills and more about emotional intelligence, self-control, and knowing how to pause before you make a point you can’t undo.

We also get practical. If you struggle with emotional regulation, we talk about simple stress management tools: take a breath before you respond, step away for a minute, meditate or pray, and remind yourself you’re strong and this is not the end all be all. If you have PTO and you know today is the kind of day you might blow up, use it. The closing image says it best: be the boat that stays steady even when the waves hit.

If this message lands, subscribe for more morning motivation, share it with a friend who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What helps you reset when your morning goes sideways?

Transcript

Welcome And The Core Warning

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good morning and welcome to Coolin's Morning Inspirations. I'm your host, Michael Tarrell, and this morning I wanted to hit y'all with a gem, and that is don't let a bad morning ruin a good career. I know you get what I'm saying. It's been plenty of days where we wake up and everything under the blue moon does not go right. It could be you woke up thinking about something from yesterday all the way to things going wrong on the way to work. But it's a big thing, just like how they say don't bring work home, don't bring everything that has happened along the way to work.

How A Blowup Costs Work

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Because sometimes it could cost us the career of our lifetime. Even if it's not the career of your lifetime, it's still income. And sometimes we'll throw that away because of what we're going through at the moment. And the moment can ruin, I guess it could ruin a lifetime. You know, it all depends on how far you take it, because you could take it as far as you doing something that can get your behind thrown in jail. And that right there is a spiral down from something that probably could have would have probably been done with or out of your out of your mind by lunchtime. But sometimes we can't let go. We can't let go of what's going on. We can't let go of that anger. We can't let go of that frustration. And we carry it. And the first thing that's something that does not go with what you feel, you know, feel how you feel, you're ready to explode or you're ready to man, F this job. Yeah, F this job now. But when the first of the month comes, then what? Ah, I could, I could go out, I'll go out and find I I got money. I I I hear it all. I'm a I'm a manager for a you know a place. I'm not gonna say where, but you know, I'm a people manager. When certain people get upset, they have the everything to say from F this job, um man, I've been making money, I I I I could I can make money doing blah blah blah blah blah, you know, everything to say until it gets down to it, and then you really start to realize I better shut up. But sometimes it's too late. Sometimes by the time that you do, especially at some businesses, some companies, they don't play the radio. And by the time that you sit here and get all of your frustration out, by the time that you proved your point or whatever, whatever you wanna wanna uh make it out, it's too late. No severance package, it's a fire. You get fired. There's no uh what do you call it? Unemployment payout. There's no severance package, there's no there's no job opportunity around the corner. You gotta get out there and try to find all that stuff over again.

Emotional Intelligence And Daily Practice

SPEAKER_00 2:55

And sometimes people ruin great opportunities because they don't know how to control their emotions. Emotional intelligence is is big. I always talk about it because I didn't have it at one point in time. I was always the one that was ready to fire off, ready to say, you know, I don't need this job. But those are the days to where I wake up that next morning, or it might not even be the next morning, you know, the day afterwards. You like, man, I'm free. I could get back to doing what I want to do and all this other mess. But eventually you're gonna sit there and it's gonna hit you like a ton of bricks. You now have no job, you now have no income, you still have bills, you still have responsibilities. So please use today to reflect on how well your emotional intelligence is and see if do you fire off on everything, do you sit back and think about your your actions before you just spew it out? Some people do, some people don't, some people care, some people don't. But use today to practice it. If it's something that you struggle with, if you wake up and things aren't going your way, meditate and ask the most high of whoever you pray to of why is this going on, or just to say that you are strong and this isn't gonna bother me. I'm strong, I can get over this. This isn't the end all be all, or if you feel like it's gonna be that type of day. Hopefully, you have a job to where you have PTO or sick days and use one, but don't go in today thinking that you could wear your attitude on your shoulder and give it to everybody and then not be no consequence. Maybe you work at a job to where they just need you and they're not gonna say nothing, but I'm sure that they'll slowly try to find your replacement. Maybe, maybe not, but I'm not gonna sit too

Peace Like A Steady Boat

SPEAKER_00 4:49

long on it. I hope that this helped you. Peace is is is a wonderful thing, you know. Um, being like a ship in the ocean, you know. You sometimes you ride on big boats and you can't even feel when there's major waves. That boat holds steady. Be that boat. No matter what wave comes at you, you hold steady. I always know God got me. So sometimes, yeah, man, I go to work and and and the weight of the world is on my shoulder, but I try not to let it affect me. Sometimes people be like, man, I see something's not right with you on your face, but you can't tell by my action. Sometimes, yeah, like I got things that's on my mind. I'm human. There's things that that are bothering me, and sometimes it has nothing to do with the job. But my job helps me day to day, not really day to day, but it helps me get to where I want to be in life. And the last thing I want to do is disrupt that. And so a lot of times I have to think about things before I say it. Now I'm human, and it can be hard sometimes, but all in all, practice makes perfect.