I’m going to be entirely frank with you – there’s absolutely nothing like the heart-pounding stress that comes with your company announcing major reorganization and layoffs. One day things are typical, you’re focused on your projects and envisioning your future with the company, and the following day you’re sitting in an all-hands meeting where HR is mentioning « efficiencies » and « optimizing » while all attendees is trying to breathe normally and not make eye contact.
That was my situation about six months ago. Our organization had been purchased by a larger corporation, and with that came the inevitable restructuring. For weeks, we were in this terrible intermediate phase where nobody knew who would remain employed and who would be « reassigned. » The uncertainty was totally incapacitating. I’d awaken during the night with my pulse pounding, replaying every decision I’d done at my job, questioning if I had performed sufficiently to show my importance.
The most difficult aspect was how it influenced my productivity. I am passionate about my employment – I’m a project manager, and I generally experience immense satisfaction in keeping things organized and advancing. But throughout this time, I was finding it hard to pay attention on anything at all. Every message from Human Resources caused my stomach to sink. Every private executive meeting plunged me into anxious thoughts. I was bodily at my job, but emotionally I was entirely overwhelmed.
That’s when I commenced participating in baseball games again. I’d played them casually in university but hadn’t really thought about them in many years. I suppose I was searching for something – anything – that could give me a sense of control when my work existence seemed totally unmanageable.
At first, it was just something to do in my midday pause. I’d bring my meal to my workspace and play a few innings instead of having my meal in the staff room with colleagues, where every dialogue seemed to circle back to the realignment speculation. The games were this ideal refuge – engaging enough to distract me from my worries, but not so demanding that I couldn’t return to my tasks afterwards.
But what I found was that these games were delivering something I badly wanted: a awareness of authority and regularity. In the contests, if I made good strategic decisions, I would typically succeed. If I implemented ineffective choices, I would be defeated. The consequences made sense, and they were directly tied to my actions. This was such a clear distinction to my employment condition, where my job security appeared totally haphazard and unrelated to my true productivity.
I started developing these minor gaming practices that supported in planning my daily routine in this disorganized phase. I’d play for 15 minutes in the beginning of the workday prior to starting my tasks, which helped calm my anxiety enough to truly concentrate. I’d participate again in my noon break, which provided me with this cognitive refresh in the middle of stressful days. And I’d sometimes play for a short period after work, which helped me decompress instead of carrying all that work anxiety home.
What’s truly fascinating is how the tactical planning from the matches started helping me manage the employment conditions. In baseball games, you have to think several moves ahead – you’re not just focusing on this delivery, but about how this turn at bat connects with the bigger inning strategy, and how that fits into the comprehensive match strategy. I started applying that identical tactical planning to my employment condition.
Instead of simply waiting to see what happened with the reorganization, I began considering more tactically about my position. What abilities did I have that would be most significant in the realigned organization? What projects could I take on that would prove my importance? How could I present myself as someone who should absolutely be maintained, no matter what transformations occurred?
The contests also showed me something truly beneficial about managing indefiniteness. In the sport, you can implement all the correct strategic actions and still fail because of circumstances beyond your power – a bad call from the umpire, an incredible play by the other team, just simple misfortune. But the contest teaches you to focus on what you can control – your strategy, your execution, your behavior in response to whatever takes place.
I commenced adopting that perspective to my professional circumstances. I couldn’t manage if my position would be terminated, but I could influence how I presented myself each day, the standard of my performance, how I helped my coworkers who were facing this tension too, and how I got ready for various potential results. This focus on what I could control, instead of being concerned about what I couldn’t, was amazingly strengthening.
The contests also became this important social outlet through a period when workplace relationships were stressed. Everyone was stressed and anxious, and normal workplace dynamics were completely disrupted. But I found that some of my colleagues were also baseball game fans, and we commenced having these relaxed dialogues about approaches and preferred teams and competitors. These conversations felt normal and human when all other aspects of my job felt tense and uncertain.
I remember one unusually challenging week when speculation was spreading that our entire department might be eliminated. I was eating with a colleague, and we started talking about baseball games. We ultimately engaged in this really engaging conversation about pitching strategies that lasted nearly an hour. For that hour, I totally forgot about the realignment. It was like this emotional escape from the tension, and when I returned to my job, I felt refreshed and better able to handle whatever came my way.
The social element of digital gaming was also surprisingly helpful. I began competing against other individuals via the internet, and I ended up connecting with this network of consistent gamers. We never mentioned job-related topics or individual matters apart from the contests, but there was something reassuring about these regular interactions with people who were just there to play and have fun. It was this minor zone of typicality in a period when everything else felt uncertain.
In the end, I did make it through the reorganization – my job was altered a bit, but I maintained my employment. And honestly, I think those baseball games played a major part in helping me navigate that period successfully. They prevented me from entering a entire pattern of stress, they supported me in planning more strategically about my circumstances, and they offered the psychological escape I required to remain effective through an extremely difficult period.
What I discovered from that situation is that often the most effective method for managing overwhelming uncertainty is to identify something small that you can influence. For me, that something happened to be baseball games. The contests provided me with a feeling of control when my career situation appeared totally outside my power, and that sense of agency was exactly what I needed to maintain concentration and efficiency through the reorganization period.
I still engage in those matches frequently, even though the reorganization is completed and things have settled down at work. They remind me of that challenging phase, but also of my capability to deal with indefiniteness and maintain concentration when challenged. And honestly, the strategic thinking and pressure handling abilities I built through playing have enhanced my work performance, too.
Occasionally the tools that help us during our most difficult periods come from unexpected places. I never would have guessed that baseball games would become such an important part of my workplace strength equipment, but here we are. And I’m grateful for every inning that supported me during that demanding phase.
