Nobody likes a Negative Nancy – So here is how not to be one!

Love your job? Couldn’t imagine working anywhere else? I bet you that no matter how awesome your job is, there is still going to be that morning when you wake up and will do almost anything to stay in bed binging on a series or spend a day at the beach. But instead, you drag yourself out of the house and convince yourself that this feeling will disappear once you get to the office.

Nobody likes a ‘’Negative Nancy’’… they walk into a room in the morning and you feel like all the positive vibes have escaped through any available exits. You sit with them at lunch, or in a meeting, and all you wonder is whether you will walk away looking gloomier than they do.

But, have you ever stopped to think whether there were instances where you were a Negative Nancy yourself?

Here are a few tips to help keep your positive vibes flowing throughout the day

Be Friends with your Colleagues

Fortunately at GO, we have enough work friends to go around. Nowadays, you end up spending more time with your colleagues than your friends and families, so it is important to grab onto those people with a positive outlook in order to keep yourself engaged and energized.

The 2013 Gallup report claimed that by making friends at work, you are increasing your satisfaction level by 50%. Proof is in the picture on the left (I promise, I’m that happy most of the time… unless they’re singing or putting on annoying accents)

Stay Away from Debbie Downers

When I mention Debbie Downers, I’m not talking about us rare Negative Nancys, who are having a one off bad day, going through a rough patch, or experiencing a personal tragedy. I am talking about those people who on every single day of the week, month, or year, drag their shadow of misery with them wherever they go.

Unfortunately, it is not so easy to distance yourself from these individuals, especially if you’re stuck sharing a desk with them on a daily basis. Try to redirect their thought process and speak to them about other topics when they start becoming negative – for example; talk to them about the specials in the canteen that day (Redirection tactics work wonders on my four year old niece).

Share the Love

Performing small random acts of kindness (or even passing a few kind words) will make your colleagues happy and boost your own positivity at the same time!

Offer to make someone a coffee, leave them a sticky note to congratulate them on their work lately, or simply have a blonde mental lapse and tell your colleagues that chickens produce milk instead of cows, to get you all snorting with laughter (which will probably also lead to the purchasing of four rubber chickens for the office – woops).

Don’t Spread Yourself Too Thin

The fastest way to start creating that sinking feeling is by trying to bite off more than you can chew! Knowing when to slow down is not an easy task at all, but it is a big contributor to staying healthy and happy!

Focus on prioritizing tasks, ask your work friends/managers for help (a support system at work is everything) and do go home at some point and give yourself the time to regain focus.

Reward your Successes

Rewarding your achievements puts you in the right mind-set to carry out the rest of your priority list or upcoming projects with that same motivation and drive.

Once completing a task, reward yourself with that piece of chocolate you have been craving, go for a few drinks with colleagues, buy yourself that bag you have been dreaming about, or treat yourself to a massage (you might not find these rewards as thrilling as I do, so you will need to come up with a number of your own).

Preferably ensure that these tasks are somewhat difficult and challenging, as you wouldn’t really want to be stuffing your face with chocolate on a daily basis, or emptying your bank account (or would you?).

Offload your Emotions

Sometimes no matter how hard you push yourself or how many tips you try, Negative Nancy hangs on for dear life and refuses to disappear, leaving you demotivated and tired (unfortunately, we all know the feeling).

In this case please do reach out to your trusted HR fellas or your loyal amigos who you feel could help snap you out of it.

Power your Language

The language and tone you choose to use in thought and spoken word, will greatly impact the way you view work, yourself, and also your colleagues around you.

You walk into your office, and you are asked what your day looks like at work. You either reply by saying that you have a long ass day, or reply by stating that it is full of opportunities, which will automatically change your mood to a negative or positive one.

To be honest, we all have days when we want to use (or actually use) every single bad word in the dictionary. But in these cases, keep focused on the constructive words and not the deconstructive ones, as it will make one hell of a difference!

Smile

Last but not least, SMILE! Smile at your colleagues when you walk into your office in the morning, smile at people in the hallway, even smile when you do not feel like smiling at all. This could feel fake, although studies show that the faster you start forcing that smile on your face, the faster your mood will shift for the better… and the plus side is you make your co-workers beam at the same time

Written by Emma Gatt 

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