🧯 Putting Out Fires 101

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Hey there! Welcome back to The Flow by Flocus. If you’re new around here, welcome! 👋  You can catch up on our previous editions right here.

This week: Are you “putting out a lot of fires” right now? What this popular productivity saying really means, plus, how to hone your fire-fighting skills so you can extinguish every blaze!

🧯 What “Putting Out Fires” Really Means

Ever heard that saying, “I’ve got a lot of fires to put out right now”?

It’s a common way to describe several stressful, pressing, or important things happening all at once in our lives.

But no one actually talks about how to put out those fires. Or tells you that they come in all shapes, sizes, and intensities.

A real fire can range from a tiny candle flame to a vast wildfire.

And, if you “play with fire” — or do something risky or potentially dangerous — a candle flame could grow into a roaring blaze that engulfs everything in its path.

That’s why it’s so important to know the different kinds of fires you’ll fight throughout life, as well as how their “size” changes the best course of action for putting them out.

Let’s explore 3 of the most common sources of life’s fires, plus how to fight each one properly.

🔥 3 Types of Fires You’ll Put Out in Life

Before you can even think about dashing for the fire extinguisher, know that the source of the fire will usually determine the best course of action for addressing it.

Most of the “fires” you’ll put out in life will fall into these 3 categories:

❤️‍🔥 Internal

These fires are all about you — your mental self-talk, your emotional state, your vulnerability factors.

Anything in your mind, body, spirit, or surroundings that feels imbalanced or at risk would count as an internal fire.

🧨 External

This is the stuff that involves other people, including everyone from your inner circle to folks you don’t like or want to associate with.

Conflicts with your friends, partner, or boss are all examples of “external” fires. So is life admin — all the tedious things you have to do just to make it through life.

🎇 Inherited

Like family heirlooms, inherited fires are passed down to you from others, or dropped onto your plate. You didn’t start any of these fires, but you’re responsible for extinguishing them and cleaning up after.

Being the one to fix someone else’s mistakes, or the person who picks up the slack at work, school, or home are both examples of inherited fires.

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Now, here’s how to put out each type of fire in your life!

🚒 How to Put Out Each Type of Fire

Once you know what started the fire and where it’s coming from, you can forge ahead with tackling it. How to do it right, in 3 steps:

🥽 Step 1: Spot the fire

That old saying, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” also holds true for our metaphor. Anything that’s “on fire” in your life will give off some kind of sign — whether it’s “fogging up” your focus and concentration, causing unpleasant sensations in your body, or affecting your ability to care for yourself.

Consider some of the fires you’re currently fighting. What signs are they giving off? How much are they impacting your comfort, wellness, and routines? Once you’ve got a good idea, you can move to the next part.

📐 Step 2: Size the fire

How big is the fire right now? Are there any factors in your internal, external, or inherited environments that could change the winds to make it spread, or put it out altogether?

These are just a couple things to consider when assessing how urgent or emotionally significant your “fire” is. Thinking ahead to risk factors can help you get ahead of them in step 3.

If you’re not sure how “big” a fire is, try this guide as a starting point:

1. 🔥 Flash fire: An intensely hot flame on a short fuse. It might burn badly in the moment, but it’ll pass and heal over quickly. Response: Take a breath, don't react immediately, let it burn out as best you can

2. 🔥🔥 Smoldering fire: These are the fires that keep going (and growing) due to risk factors. You may have tried and failed to put them out in the past, or accidentally added fuel to the flame. Response: Adjust process, set small goals to fix systems

3. 🔥🔥🔥 Wildfire: A major stressor that needs time and help. Response: Seek support, make a plan, step back before acting

👩‍🚒 Step 3: Respond to the fire accordingly

Just like you wouldn’t bring a glass of water to a raging wildfire, calling in the fire brigade for a flash flame would be a waste of time and resources.

In other words, different strategies work better for different kinds of fires (both literal and figurative ones). Using the wrong strategy could even make things worse.

Once you know how big a fire is and where it’s coming from, you’ve got 3 options:

💨 Let it fizzle out

Best for: Most flash fires, smoldering fires that no longer serve you

To let a fire fizzle out, you need to walk away and refuse to feed the flame. Pay attention to ways you might be (perhaps unintentionally) keeping the fire lit.

Example: Blocking the person who left a rude comment on your social media post

🍲 Let it simmer

Best for: Smoldering and wildfires that need extra time and support

You might need to let some of your bigger fires simmer for a hot minute before you can put them out. You may also need to recruit some professionals to help you. Things might heat up in the meantime, unfortunately — but that’s a necessary part of the process.

Examples: Searching for a new job while still working a role you’ve outgrown, preparing to move to a new city

🧯 Extinguish it ASAP

Best for: Most internal flash fires, smoldering external fires that impact your life

Know that some internal fires, like grief and trauma, are too big to put out immediately, so give yourself some space and grace. While you may also feel an urge to put out any external fires involving your favorite people ASAP, practice patience, too, and respect any boundaries in place.

Examples: Overcoming negative self-talk, taking steps to repair a fight with someone you love

🪅 Flocus Picks

A curated list of things worth sharing.

• The 1 Question to Ask Yourself When You Feel Lost (The Flow Archives) — A simple prompt to get you unstuck and back on track

• How to Keep Cool Under Pressure (Article) — This blog post from Calm teaches you how to lower the temperature when your fires are burning too hot

• lofi snow (playlist) — The perfect playlist when you need to chill, both literally and figuratively!

✨ Flocus: Your Personal Productivity Dashboard

Flocus gives you one calm, central hub to keep track of what matters, and let the rest simmer or fizzle out. Use it to organize your tasks, set priorities, and create the mental space to breathe between life’s flames.

Go to Flocus

What’d you think of our take on this topic? It came to us after a long day of (unsuccessfully) battling a smoldering fire, when we really needed to just let it simmer.

To give you the most valuable, helpful advice, we’re proud to include our real-life epiphanies, even if they’re not always “positive”. Tell us what you think in the replies — we read them all!

Until next Sunday,

Flocus Team