If you ever find yourself saying... - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

If you ever find yourself saying... - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog There are some negative phrases weve heard so often at work, that we may suddenly find ourselves saying them. They represent a frame of mind that is cynical, despondent, helpless and victimized. Research shows that what we say reinforces what we think. Say something often enough, and it becomes how you see the world. Thats why we have to watch out for these pessimistic phrases. If you ever find yourself saying them, stop and ask yourself if it actually represents the truth or if maybe its more of an automatic verbal uttering. Some pessimistic phrases to avoid Heres a partial list of phrases to watch for. Do you know any that belong on the list? Its not my dream job, but its only for a year ONLY A YEAR? Dont you realize that a year is 12 months? 200 working days? 1600 hours? Say this instead: Its not the ideal job, so I didnt take it. Hes a jerk, but he gets results! Yeah, HE gets results everybody else gets demotivated, bullied, harassed and stressed. Go read The No Asshole Rule by Bob Sutton. And his excellent blog. Say this instead: Hes a jerk, so we fired him! Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Murphys law. The safe haven for pessimists everywhere. Too bad it aint true. Say this instead: Things may go wrong then we fix them! My boss doesnt motivate me. Listen: No boss ever motivated a single employee in the history of employment. Motivation is an emotion your motivation exists inside you, and youre in charge of it. Say this instead: I motivate me. I hate my job but so does everyone else. Hating your job may be a common enough thing today but so is adult onset diabetes. That doesnt mean you dont do something about it! Say this instead: I hated my job. So I got a new one. or I hated my job, so I fixed it. Theres no such thing as a free lunch Except that there is. Plenty. The world is a generous, forgiving and nurturing place, and sometimes you get exactly what you need exactly when you need it.If youre open to it, that is. Say this instead: Can I buy you lunch? Whats wrong with people today?! If every single person you interact with seems incredibly annoying the problem may be you. Say this instead: Hmmm I seem to be easily annoyed today. Im stuck in a dead-end job. Riiight. Youre stuck. Theres no way out. Because three men in ski-masks show up every morning and force you to go to work at gunpoint. Say this instead: I am where Ive chosen to be! And if I want, I can choose to be somewhere else. Lets not get carried away! WHAT?! There is nothing better than being carried away by a great idea, nice people, a fun meeting or a good conversation. Say this instead: This is wonderful! Its too good to be true! Funny how you never hear people saying This is too bad to be true. Say this instead: This is great. I love it! Whats the catch? Sometimes there just aint no catch. Say this instead: Thank you! You cant trust people. Nonsense. Most people are nice, honest and loyal. Are you gonna treat them badly because of the tiny percentage of cheaters? Say this instead: People are great! The worst thing about these sayings, is that if you keep repeating them, you make it so. If that is how you see the world, then your choices, your speech and your actions will reinforce this view. Thats why its worth replacing them with something more true. What about you got any more pessimistic workplace sayings we can flush out and replace? If you enjoyed this post, Im pretty sure youll also like these: Four Fantastic Phrases at Work Make Love Not War at Work How to Handle Chronic Complainers Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related