As experienced professionals, we know that achieving your goals takes sweat and toil and there will be many frustrations along the way.  Now that may not sound like great news, but I'm delighted to say that I reckon for every type of barrier to success that you encounter, there's probably at least one way to overcome it.  Hey presto: that means there are more solutions to problems in the world than there are problems!

In any given situation, if you're not getting the outcome you want, think about what you could change to get a different result.  More often than not, the one thing you can change is how you behave, rather than - for example - expecting your staff to change because you've bawled them out for rolling in late on a Monday morning for the third week in a row or for losing concentration and grinding too much of the surface of the component so that it's now outside of your customer's tolerance.

Henry Ford made an enormous contribution to western society in all sorts of ways.  One of these contributions is his now famous words:

"Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right."

What he means by that - which must be true if you give it a moment's thought - is that if you believe you will succeed in something, you will act in a way which makes that success more likely.  If you have someone in for a job interview, the person who believes they will get the job will be more likely to dress professionally, present themselves well and give positive responses to your questions (which, in turn, makes a positive impression on you).  Compare this to what's likely to happen to somebody who doesn't believe they're good enough to get the job (I know, I've been that person!): they'll probably stumble over their words in some of the answers, maybe tell you they don't have enough experience in a particular situation (rather than adding that they're dead keen to gain such experience) and generally leave you feeling a little underwhelmed afterwards.

Which candidate would you want to have around you?

In the example of the late employee, you could try saying positive things when they try hard or they do things right; it's likely to be much more powerful than only telling them when they get things wrong.  Even in small ways, such as thanking them for trying especially hard that day as they leave the factory in the evening.  You could equally ask yourself why they make so many mistakes: could it be they're not sufficiently skilled or properly supervised?  In which case, it could well be within your power to offer them training or change how your workforce is structured.

So I'm suggesting that the person who has greatest power to overcome your day-to-day frustrations is you.  You can't change others, so you may as well change yourself.  Don't be afraid to make mistakes along the way (they're the best way to learn, after all); try something different from what you've always done when faced with a problem.  Look at what the outcome was and see if you like it better.

Over time I think you'll surprise yourself.