How Not to be Seduced by Drama and Gossip
Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Are you part of the problem? Do you get jealous when a coworker gets promoted, does a great job on their project, or closes a knockout sales deal with gusto? Do you start your conversations with, “Don’t tell anyone, but…”? Do you spend your time at home rehashing circumstances at work? Simply put: Cease and desist, immediately, if you nodded to any of these.
Don’t be seduced. You love praise, recognition, and approval from your boss, coworkers, and company—except there’s one small problem. When you seek positive reinforcement from an external source as a replacement for your own self-approval, self-praise, and self-recognition, you are slowly giving yourself away. This might start to affect your health and wellbeing. Are you on the other side offering praise and recognition? Do you offer freely or with strings attached? Pay close attention to whether or not you are being seduced by what others think or say about you at work—or if you’re passing judgments about others. Remind yourself that you are not your job, what your boss thinks about you, or your accomplishments.
Seek the root cause. Consider jealousy, gossip, and drama to be symptoms of a larger problem: inability to change and fear of the unknown. Change leads to limitless possibility and should be approached with excitement rather than fear. Albert Einstein said, “No problem can be solved from the consciousness that created it. We must learn to see the world anew.” Take a step back from your situation and observe what’s really going on. Acknowledge your participation in the scenario. Are you perpetuating or resolving? Take several deep breaths and use your powerful intellect and intuition to plot your way forward with harmony as your goal.
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-Laura Newberry-Yokley, Holistic Leadership Coach