Gloom in the workplace: How to change our perspective?
10 August 2012
Read by 1891 persons
Workplace gloom isn't inevitable. It's mainly a matter of beliefs. Beliefs about ourselves and beliefs about our environment. Changing perspective takes time, but it's within everyone's reach. Change how we see the world. Change how we see ourselves. And work life becomes brighter!
"How are you this morning? - Well, it's Monday..."
This phrase, heard many times in an office corridor, symbolizes the climate of resignation that sometimes reigns at work. If it's not Monday, it's the weather, traffic jams, the news on the radio, our open-space neighbor's habits, the prospect of a heated meeting...
Gloom: A matter of beliefs
We are subjected every day to a colossal amount of information. Our brain cannot process it all, so it selects only a partial quantity. This selection is unique to each individual. If we ask 10 people who attended the same meeting to describe what they perceived, experienced, or felt during that time, we will have 10 different descriptions. Depending on each person's personality, these descriptions will state a specific number of negative and positive elements.
What determines our very personal way of seeing things more positively or negatively is our beliefs. Beliefs that we have developed about ourselves and the outside world throughout our professional and personal journey.
If we are convinced that the world is bad and dangerous, the selection of information made by our brain will focus on anything that could constitute a threat: the sidelong glance of the department head, a sudden summons for an emergency meeting, a report to be done for the next day... If, on the other hand, we believe that the world is full of good things and is a source of opportunities, we will perceive its positive elements: the satisfaction of seeing a long-term project come to fruition, the creativity generated by the last brainstorming session, the market share gained over competitors...
At the origin of many of our beliefs, there are also the conclusions we draw unconsciously from our experiences. Who hasn't experienced that moment of intense solitude during a public speaking event that goes wrong? We start to stammer, to search for our words, our voice stuck in our throat, a dry mouth, sweaty hands. Shame overwhelms us. Some members of the audience crack a smile. After such an emotional experience, we may conclude our inability to speak in public. In reality, we only failed at that moment, that day, in front of that particular audience. Our brain generalized a unique experience, and we built a "definitive" belief. Because of this belief, there's a good chance that the next speech will also go badly, our brain recreating the conditions to negatively apprehend the situation to come.
Learning to change our relationship with our environment
Thus, through contact with our environment and through our lived experiences, we have developed a system of positive and negative beliefs. But this is not immutable!
We can gradually develop our ability to focus on our positive experiences. Every existence has its share of small and large satisfactions, small and large victories, which it is always possible to draw upon. Listing our "achievements" is a way to condition our positive outlook: "Without me, this file would never have been completed", "When I fought for this action plan, I helped save a job"...
We can also learn to transform daily inconveniences and obstacles into opportunities. A traffic jam? An opportunity to review the organization of one's day. A missed meeting? An opportunity to reflect on how we manage our time. A reprimand for poor results? The opportunity to rethink our relationship with efficiency and demands.
Finally, we can learn to protect ourselves from the "pollution" emanating from our surroundings. No longer turning on the radio every morning to listen to depressing news. Avoiding that neurasthenic colleague who every morning spreads his gloom at the coffee machine...
Learning to change our view of ourselves
Gloom is also, above all and finally, a matter of image. The way we interact with the world around us largely depends on the image we have of ourselves. When we believe something about ourselves, positively or negatively, we behave in a way that reflects that thing, we constantly demonstrate it to others, and it becomes a reality for them. Thus, the better our self-image, the more positive what emanates from us is, the more it positively influences the attitude of others towards us.
We have all had pleasant colleagues, constantly cheerful. Often creators of social links in the company (organizing farewell parties, year-end outings, associative projects), they arouse a natural sympathy that allows them to easily obtain the group's adhesion, or even to obtain things that others do not obtain (access to a meeting room reserved for management...).
What pleases or displeases others is the image that emanates from our person, and this directly stems from the image we have of ourselves. Working on self-esteem, developing self-love, not only allows us to change our representation of the world but also generates positive feedback from others.
Thus, by learning to love ourselves, we become the first anti-gloom remedy!
Rodéric Maubras.
Etre-bien-au-travail.fr
Posted online August 10, 2012.
"How are you this morning? - Well, it's Monday..."
This phrase, heard many times in an office corridor, symbolizes the climate of resignation that sometimes reigns at work. If it's not Monday, it's the weather, traffic jams, the news on the radio, our open-space neighbor's habits, the prospect of a heated meeting...
Gloom: A matter of beliefs
We are subjected every day to a colossal amount of information. Our brain cannot process it all, so it selects only a partial quantity. This selection is unique to each individual. If we ask 10 people who attended the same meeting to describe what they perceived, experienced, or felt during that time, we will have 10 different descriptions. Depending on each person's personality, these descriptions will state a specific number of negative and positive elements.
What determines our very personal way of seeing things more positively or negatively is our beliefs. Beliefs that we have developed about ourselves and the outside world throughout our professional and personal journey.
If we are convinced that the world is bad and dangerous, the selection of information made by our brain will focus on anything that could constitute a threat: the sidelong glance of the department head, a sudden summons for an emergency meeting, a report to be done for the next day... If, on the other hand, we believe that the world is full of good things and is a source of opportunities, we will perceive its positive elements: the satisfaction of seeing a long-term project come to fruition, the creativity generated by the last brainstorming session, the market share gained over competitors...
At the origin of many of our beliefs, there are also the conclusions we draw unconsciously from our experiences. Who hasn't experienced that moment of intense solitude during a public speaking event that goes wrong? We start to stammer, to search for our words, our voice stuck in our throat, a dry mouth, sweaty hands. Shame overwhelms us. Some members of the audience crack a smile. After such an emotional experience, we may conclude our inability to speak in public. In reality, we only failed at that moment, that day, in front of that particular audience. Our brain generalized a unique experience, and we built a "definitive" belief. Because of this belief, there's a good chance that the next speech will also go badly, our brain recreating the conditions to negatively apprehend the situation to come.
Learning to change our relationship with our environment
Thus, through contact with our environment and through our lived experiences, we have developed a system of positive and negative beliefs. But this is not immutable!
We can gradually develop our ability to focus on our positive experiences. Every existence has its share of small and large satisfactions, small and large victories, which it is always possible to draw upon. Listing our "achievements" is a way to condition our positive outlook: "Without me, this file would never have been completed", "When I fought for this action plan, I helped save a job"...
We can also learn to transform daily inconveniences and obstacles into opportunities. A traffic jam? An opportunity to review the organization of one's day. A missed meeting? An opportunity to reflect on how we manage our time. A reprimand for poor results? The opportunity to rethink our relationship with efficiency and demands.
Finally, we can learn to protect ourselves from the "pollution" emanating from our surroundings. No longer turning on the radio every morning to listen to depressing news. Avoiding that neurasthenic colleague who every morning spreads his gloom at the coffee machine...
Learning to change our view of ourselves
Gloom is also, above all and finally, a matter of image. The way we interact with the world around us largely depends on the image we have of ourselves. When we believe something about ourselves, positively or negatively, we behave in a way that reflects that thing, we constantly demonstrate it to others, and it becomes a reality for them. Thus, the better our self-image, the more positive what emanates from us is, the more it positively influences the attitude of others towards us.
We have all had pleasant colleagues, constantly cheerful. Often creators of social links in the company (organizing farewell parties, year-end outings, associative projects), they arouse a natural sympathy that allows them to easily obtain the group's adhesion, or even to obtain things that others do not obtain (access to a meeting room reserved for management...).
What pleases or displeases others is the image that emanates from our person, and this directly stems from the image we have of ourselves. Working on self-esteem, developing self-love, not only allows us to change our representation of the world but also generates positive feedback from others.
Thus, by learning to love ourselves, we become the first anti-gloom remedy!
Rodéric Maubras.
Etre-bien-au-travail.fr
Posted online August 10, 2012.
