Thursday, May 3, 2012

How To Deal With Negativity at Work



Sometimes there is nothing more irritating than those trite phrases like “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” When you’re having a tough time in life, your first inclination may be to tell those full of such homespun logic to go suck a lemon.
Those people don’t have to deal with an ogre boss or a long commute, you think, so they don’t know that it’s difficult to just be so darn positive all the time.
But what if there was a way to flip the switch in your life? To start seeing negative aspects of your work in a way that helped you be happier and less eaten up by guilt or stress or unhappiness?
She says that as children, we respond to the caregivers in our lives. For example, that means if you had someone in your life that was responsive to your needs – such as knowing you needed a bit more comfort when life handed you lemons – then you may feel more comfortable with yourself and your feelings.
“Negativity often comes when you aren’t honored for being an authentic person,” she says. “If people in your life have encouraged you to be who you are, then you’re honored for being an authentic person. But if you can’t be honest and you’re constantly being a fake version of yourself, then that’s when you get frustrated and negative.”

Dealing with nasty moods

Because of the difficult job market, many employees feel stuck in jobs that further sour their mood. Stein says in those cases, it can be helpful to lower your expectations. In other words, don’t expect so much from a boss or colleagues and then you’re not attaching yourself to an outcome that disappoints you and is “like a letdown every day,” she says.
If you’ve got a mean or angry boss, then Stein suggest learning not to take his or her behavior personally. Accept that the boss is in a bad mood and just let that person (read the rest here...http://quickbase.intuit.com/blog/2012/04/30/how-to-reverse-negativity-and-come-out-on-top/...)

share

2 comments:

Coolmon said...

Nice post especially the section on dealing with nasty moods.

Resume Writing said...

Negativity begets negativity. If you bring negativity to work, don't be surprised when it's reflected back at you.