If you read the past two blogs, you will know that I have been talking about office dragons. I have already written about managers as perceived dragons and co-workers.
Today, I am talking about the third and most dangerous species: ourselves!! You can do more harm to yourself with negative thinking than any outside dragon. It is your thought process and attitude that controls your internal dragon. You have the power at any time to tame your dragon and put out the fire of any dragon-like qualities.
Here are some ways in which we are a dragon to ourselves. Take a minute to rate yourself as you read them.
You . . .
- Don’t focus on the job. When you don’t focus on your work, then you make mistakes, get behind schedules, become stressed and maybe you aren’t patient with others. This is something you can control, even when others have disrupted your work flow.
- Let others damage your attitude. I see this a lot in the workplace. We can’t always choose who we work with but we can choose how we respond. Don’t let other people’s negativity drag you down.
- Lack assertiveness. The problem with not being assertive is we let people walk over us. Then we get upset. Our needs are not met. If you don’t feel you are assertive, take some classes. They will do you a world of good. Assertive is about getting your needs met while being considerate of others.
- Don’t see your own potential. Then you don’t fulfill your dreams and become the wonderful person you were meant to be. Every person has a special gift to bring to the world. What is yours?
- Try to please everyone. Of course star performers want to make sure everyone is happy. But that is unrealistic to expect that of yourself every day, every hour. You will burn out. I always say, wake up with an attitude of doing your very best but be easy on yourself when you can’t do it all in the day. And remember, sometimes it’s not your job to please every person; sometimes they have to work things out for themselves.
- Take criticism personally. It’s one thing if someone is criticizing the way you look or your hair or body shape. But when you are being critiqued about your work or how you handled a situation, try to look for the lesson. I bet 75% of the working population doesn’t know how to effectively give feedback. So that means you need to disregard their body language, tone of voice, facial expression and focus on the context of what is being said. Ask yourself: “Could this person be right? Could I have done better? Should I have handled that situation differently?”
Take the Are You a Dragon to Yourself Assessment. Are You A Dragon To Yourself?