Seeing and dealing with employees as human beings with real lives is often overlooked in busy workplace. People with high emotional intelligence can do this in a professional manner, and maintain appropriate boundaries. Another aspect of EQ is knowing and being sensitive to how employees are experiencing you as a manager. Part of EQ is teaching managers to be sensitive to how they’re coming across to others.

The fourth aspect of reducing workplace conflict is setting up behavioral consequences to be used with truly uncooperative employees who are unwilling to change. Despite using all these recommendations, there will be a few employees that just won’t change because they’re unwilling or unable. That means a manager must explain a consequence, which is an action or sanction that states to employee likely outcome of continuing problematic behavior. It will take skills from three previous points to do this in a non-threatening way.

Is there ever a place for anger in workplace? Yes. When people can say, ‘Wait a minute. I’m not happy with this; I don’t like what’s going on,’ and they turn that anger into a positive action, then anger can be seen as a kind of motivator. Sometimes when we’re in a position where we recognize that we are upset about something, and we use that to our advantage, we can make that work for us, and in long run, actually work for company.

As employees, more we can learn to speak up, to be able to say what our needs and our wants are in a healthy way, and not let it fester to point of rage or explosion, we can use our anger as a motivator to help us take action.

Employees can also change their attitude toward their job while putting up with unpleasant aspects of it. One way to reduce conflict and to be happier is to find a way to shift our perspective and our vision of why we’re there.

I’d like to close with a story that’s going around about janitor at Carnegie Hall who had been there for 20 years. He’s 45 years old. He was cleaning up restroom, and a guy in a business suit went up to him and said, ‘You seem to be an intelligent fellow. For 20 years you’ve been cleaning toilets. Why don’t you do something with your life and get another job?’

And janitor said, ‘What? And leave show business?’

It’s all in how we view situation and perceive what we’re doing that determines our satisfaction and fulfillment on job.

But, I kept it moving by regularly writing something. If I got stuck in one chapter, I would work on another incomplete chapter. Sometimes, I had a to-do list for parts that had to be written, and at other times I just scanned through unfinished chapters looking for something to catch my eye.

And, it worked. I couldn't spend more than a few minutes browsing before I would have a new idea to write out. Of course, that new stuff didn't always survive later revisions, but much of it did.

In addition, rejects often led to other, better passages. The original passage might be lost, but if it led to something that did work, then time spent on it was worthwhile. On some occasions, when idea wouldn't fit, rejects ended up being foundations of standalone articles.

If you still find yourself stuck after looking at your to-do list and browsing work you've already done, you can do a couple of other things. Taking a walk works for many people, including me. Simply getting outside and taking my mind off issue often helps, as does thinking about issue as I'm getting ready to go to sleep.

You can also look for ideas in other places. Take a trip to a library or bookstore, for example, and let yourself -- and your mind -- wander. Don't go in with a plan in mind; simply go in and browse books and magazines, anything that catches your eye, even if it's not even remotely connected to what you're writing about.

You can also use rewriting as a spur to starting again. I've often found that a door opens and new ideas emerge when I revise, simply because I've changed my focus.

Finally, and assuming project doesn't involve a boss or client, it sometimes makes more sense to take your time than to charge ahead. If you get satisfaction in seeing your work improve with each new set of revisions; if you are or want to be a professional of some kind; or if you're enjoying yourself too much to want to finish, then enjoy process and let finishing wait for another day.