Self Improvement Articles by Richard Butler

How to Overcome Difficult Work Situations

It is well know that your attitude in the work place plays an important role in how smootly your work day

progresses. As a coach I stronly believe that your attitude can make a huge difference. How you think in the job

and about the job is very important.

To begin let's take an example

Ann's boss usually says hello to Anne, however this morning the boss does not say hello. Anne wonders why that is.

"Ah must be the documents I completed yesterday. The boss has to be annoyed with me, I made a mistake in the

figures, she's going to fire me, I used to get on really well with her. Now after all the work I have done and she

thinks I am not able to do my job. All I did was make one mistake, I'm never going to work my but off again for

her"

Interesting conversation that has gone on in Ann's head but what has happened? Ann has made an assumption, based on

the boss not saying hello. No matter what question you ask yourself you will get an answer. In this case it was a

negative question - why did she not say hello. Your mind now goes into overtime finding negative answers to help

you understand the reason why.

What if the boss was engrossed in a problem of their own, and simply was too busy thinking to say hello to anyone?

However Anne has decided it was personal and now this has begun to affect the way she thinks about her job and how

she does her own job!

Rule number one at work never don't assume or read into any communication

If you feel you did a good job think about this and say it's not about me. They did not say hello because it was

about them - something going on in their life. Obviously if you have been missing deadlines then your boss may be

annoyed with you.
Most people I have worked with can't take a compliment without wondering why the person said it.
When people are given a compliment some will accept it but the vast majority of people wonder what's behind the

compliment!
They ask questions like:
Hum I wonder if they really mean it?
Or
What do they want from me?

From now on you should begin to take the communication as it is meant, do not interpret or question the intention

behind it. Remember when you ask yourself a negative question you will find negative answers to back up your

negative thought.

Rule number two at work don't dwell on the problem, find a solution to it

Has this happened to you? You get into trouble with your boss or they have words with you and you begin to dwell on

the problem. The more you dwell the worse you feel, you begin to think of all the negative things that could

happened based on what the boss said or did not say. You begin to replay what happened who said what and the whole

problem gets bigger and bigger!

Remember the mind is so powerful, it is an amazing tool but also very destructive. If you ask negative questions

you will get negative answers back. For example if you ask yourself why was I so stupid to do that, your mind will

come back with the answers! It will support you and give you references to support your question!

From now on don't focus your thoughts on the problem - focus your thoughts on the solution or think about what you

can