Identify the positive people in your life. Just like negative people can rub off on you, a positive person can brighten your spirit. Seek out positive people to keep you balanced. It’s difficult to look on the bright side when you’re surrounded by negativity. Commit to controlling your emotional reactivity and staying true to your values, despite your circumstances. When you act in a manner that isn’t consistent with your usual behavior, accept responsibility for it. Or, after being surrounded by negative co-workers for hours, an optimist may find herself convincing others that the company’s future is doomed.Īlthough it can be tempting to say, “She makes me so mad,” blaming others for your conduct gives them more power. A normally calm, mild-mannered person may resort to yelling when he can’t take one more second of negativity. Sometimes certain pessimists seem to have the power to raise our blood pressure, for one reason or another. Negative people can bring out the worst in us if we’re not careful. Make a conscious effort to reduce the amount of mental energy you expend on negative people. The more time you spend dreading, fretting, worrying, and rehashing, the less time you’ll have to devote to more productive things. Pay attention to how your thoughts change when you’re faced with negative people.
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Or, rather than think about how to improve your performance, you spend more time thinking about how upset you’ll be if that unpleasant co-worker gets a promotion. Perhaps you’re so distracted by your colleague’s know-it-all attitude that you can’t contribute productively to the meeting. Negative people often influence what we think about. Take a deep breath and decide that you’re going to make it a great day, despite what others say or do. Create a mantra, such as, “I’m going to stay positive today despite the people around me,” and repeat it often to help you stay on track. Make a conscious effort to choose your attitude. But allowing a negative person to dictate your emotions gives them too much power in your life. Their pessimistic outlooks and gloomy attitude can decrease our motivation and change the way we feel. Spending time with negative people can be the fastest way to ruin a good mood.
Negative people should get the least of our time and energy, yet we often give them the most attention. Take back your power by limiting the amount of time you spend talking about, thinking about, and worrying about unpleasant people. Similarly, instead of spending your commute thinking about how much you dislike that person you have to work with, turn on the radio and listen to music that reduces your stress. Rather than complain about people you don’t enjoy, choose to strike up conversations about pleasurable topics.
Combine that with two hours of venting to a co-worker after the meeting, and you’ve just given that person five precious hours of your time.ĭon’t allow negative people to steal your time and energy. It’s easy to spend two hours dreading a one hour meeting with a negative person.
Negative people can monopolize your time – even when they’re not with you – if you’re not careful. Here are five strategies to take back you power and reduce the detrimental impact negative people have in your life:
Whether you spend two hours complaining about that boss you don’t like, or you let an angry customer ruin your day, it’s important to regain your personal power. Sometimes, we unknowingly give toxic individuals influence over our thoughts, behaviors, and feelings. It’s important to recognize when these negative individuals intrude in your life in an unwelcome manner. Or maybe it’s a colleague whom you avoid at all costs. Perhaps it’s that vendor who causes you to grit your teeth. Negative people can also cause problems for us on an individual level.
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