Negative energy is as abundant and free-flowing as water. Unfortunately, you can find it everywhere—at home, at school, in public, and even at work. You can’t escape negative energy because it’s everywhere and comes from all directions, but you can certainly redirect it. Knowing how to redirect energy, especially at work, is very important since your job is probably the place you find the most negative energy. This doesn’t necessarily have to be bad. Many people find they can use negative energy to motivate them at work. Here are a few ways that you can keep negative energy from bringing you down at work.
1. Avoid negative people as much as possible.
There are some people who just never see the silver lining even when the entire cloud is silver. These people can be toxic to your mood at work. Do your best to avoid these types of people. You have to work with them, so you have to encounter them at some point, but you can limit your interactions with them.
2. Practice positive thinking while you work.
We have all been there—thinking about how much work we have left or about how much longer we have until lunch time. Maybe you think about how much you don’t like working with your coworkers, or maybe how tough your boss is. All of these thoughts create negativity within your work environment. You should turn these thoughts around and try to spin them in a positive way. Think about ways to impress your boss, or the good qualities of your coworkers. Think about how having a lot of work to do ensures that you keep a job or maybe even get some overtime pay.
3. Exercise during breaks.
Exercising releases hormones called endorphins, also sometimes called “feel good” hormones. This is because endorphins make you feel happy. Exercising to increase endorphin levels is one of the easiest ways to not let negative energy bring you down because you will literally be flooding yourself with happiness. This doesn’t mean that you have to go to the gym and do a grueling workout. You can do some cardio exercises, such as walking up and down a few flights of stairs. You could also throw in some simple exercises like push ups, sit ups, or planks. You may not even have to wait for break time. There are some arm and leg exercises that you can do at your desk if your mood starts getting a little off. Just remember, if you are feeling some negative energy, do some exercises to get those happy hormones flowing.
4. Avoid impulsive decisions.
Neuroscientists at MIT have conducted research showing that stress can lead to risky, impulsive actions and decisions. Making these decisions can lead to more stress, especially if the decisions turn out to be bad ones. This then begins a circle of impulse-stress-impulse, and being caught in this circle can lead to a negative attitude in the workplace. The best way to avoid this is to not make impulsive decisions in the first place. Making well-thought-out, informed decisions will reduce your stress and allow you to remain confident and focused.
5. Create happiness within your environment.
Being in a happy environment is one of the best ways to stomp negativity out, but you have to understand where real happiness comes from. Real happiness starts internally. It isn’t something that someone or something can take away from you. You need to be happy with yourself before you can be happy at work. Once you have found that internal happiness, you can begin to spread it around your workplace, creating happiness within your environment.
6. Set goals and focus on achieving them.
If you go to work without a plan, or without goals, it will be easy for negativity to creep in because you don’t have anything to focus your attention on. However, when you are focused and actively working to achieve a goal, you won’t have the time or energy to give to negativity. Make sure you set attainable goals, so you don’t discourage yourself. Even if goals are small, achieving them can give you a major boost of positive energy.
7. Celebrate small successes.
As you continue to set and achieve small goals, celebrate the small successes. You don’t have to throw a party, but you could celebrate by buying yourself something nice, going to see a movie, or doing something that you really enjoy. This will give you something positive to look forward to, which will make you happy to set and achieve goals. Happiness leads to a great, positive mood at work (refer back to #5).
8. Learn to accept failure and move on.
There will be times where you may not achieve your desired goal. You can’t linger on this failure because lingering opens doors to negativity. Instead, plan to do better next time and begin to focus on the next goal.
9. If you don’t enjoy what you do, do something else.
A lot of negativity that people experience in the workplace stems from them being unhappy in their positions. If you go to work miserable every day, you can’t be positive. If your job makes you miserable, it’s time for a change. Maybe you could talk with your boss about switching to another department, or maybe you need to switch to another company. You may possibly need to switch to a different career altogether. Once you have a job that you enjoy going to each day, you will be able to have a positive attitude at work.
10. Use the negative energy as motivation.
Negativity can find its way into any job, but many people find they can use negative energy to motivate them at work. You may want to get away from that negative energy so bad, or you may want to change it so bad that you work hard to get promoted. This gets you away from the negative energy or gives you the platform to change it. You can also use the example of negative energy to remind yourself of how not to behave.
Summary
Being in a negative environment at work can impact your performance and make you miserable if you don’t know how to avoid it. Unfortunately, you can’t control other people’s moods and attitudes, so you have to learn to avoid negative energy or redirect it. Using these ten tips can help you to avoid letting negativity bring you down at work.
References:
Think Positive: 11 Ways to Boost Positive Thinking
Positive Thinking Strategies to Help You Achieve Your Goals