Year after year, Forbes does a story about the most stressful jobs and least stressful jobs in America. And year after year, event planners continually make the top ten and often the top five.
I don't equivocate what I do to those that run into burning buildings, fight for our country, or put their lives on the line to ensure public safety. In fact, one my biggest motto is "We're not saving lives." I just try to keep a good perspective about what I'm doing compared to others. And yet, the measurement that is used to determine the stress level is travel, meeting deadlines, and working in the public eye, it is no wonder this profession continues to make the list each year.
Here's to the event planners out there! We may not be physically saving lives, but we certainly know how to tackle a job full of pressure!
What causes stress in your job? Do you think it should make the list of most stressful or maybe least stressful in the future?
I don't equivocate what I do to those that run into burning buildings, fight for our country, or put their lives on the line to ensure public safety. In fact, one my biggest motto is "We're not saving lives." I just try to keep a good perspective about what I'm doing compared to others. And yet, the measurement that is used to determine the stress level is travel, meeting deadlines, and working in the public eye, it is no wonder this profession continues to make the list each year.
Personality
If you've ever met an event planner, you know that the details are everything to them. Event planners are obsessive people that relish in thinking of every "what if" scenario. We strive to make sure that everything goes off without a hitch during our event. We pride ourselves on having everything in place.Everything that can go wrong...
Event planners live every event on edge because it's possible that we didn't think of everything. It's also possible that some outside factor will affect our planning drastically. Thus, everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. As much as we try to control the controllable, we still take the brunt of client frustration if something is not to their liking, even if it was outside our control. I had a saying I lived by when I worked for Study Tours at Rider:"It's not my fault, but it is my problem"
I had to remind myself of this everyday. I worked some amazing clients and I have worked with some straight up unreasonable clients. In either case, issues came up were often not my fault, but it was mine to fix.
One chance
When you're running an event you have just one chance to make an impression and one chance to get it right. Then... it's over. Everyone moves on and you're remembered as the person that put together a solid event or a disastrous one. Even if you're doing the same event year after year the pressure remains. In fact, doing the same event year can often create more pressure to go bigger and better. It is a challenge to outdo yourself next year, and the year after that, and so on. Talk about pressure!Act as if
Someone once told me to "act as if." This meant act like nothing is wrong and that everything is under control. I took this very seriously and thus, you will rarely see me sweat. I bet most event planners you know are calm, cool, and collected under pressure. What's our secret? We wait to scream it out in the bathroom later. Just kidding! I think that we just take our jobs seriously and want to maintain a professional demeanor. It's not the job we do is difficult. It simply requires us to wear a lot of hats and look good doing it.Here's to the event planners out there! We may not be physically saving lives, but we certainly know how to tackle a job full of pressure!
What causes stress in your job? Do you think it should make the list of most stressful or maybe least stressful in the future?