Why You Should Avoid Negative People
One of the greatest challenges people in the workplace face is avoiding bad vibes. Nothing can turn an enthusiastic mood around more quickly or throw a wet blanket on the creative fires on the job than a solid dose of downer energy from someone you work with. In fact, it should be viewed as the number one work hazard to avoid at all costs.
Just as toxic radiation is poison to our health, negative energy is also disastrous to human beings. Don’t be misled into thinking that because bad vibes are invisible or hard to identify at their source that they’re any less deadly to your creative genius than poisonous gas—they aren’t. And don’t be conned into believing that denying or ignoring negativity will protect you from its deadly effects either—it won’t.
How Bad Vibes Affect You
Bad vibes weigh you down, irritate your nervous system, depress your mood, leave you doubting your self-worth, distract you, and make you defensive. And if you must ward off all that craziness, there will be little energy left over to actually do your job, let alone do it well.
The other day I walked past the TV as it was airing the five o’clock news. Seeing dozens of people from a local government office being taken out on stretchers by emergency workers, I anxiously asked my husband what had happened. Jokingly, he said, “The boss was in a bad mood and gave everyone a psychic attack. It took out the entire department.”
Jokes or not, “psychic attacks” (my personal expression for the effects of being derailed by negative or bad vibes) are real and debilitating. And they’re the main reason people quit their jobs, more so even than not making enough money. The good news is that you can protect yourself against negativity in the workplace. The even better news is if you’re really creative, you can actually do something to stop it.
Here Are 8 Ways To Avoid Bad Vibes At Work:
Run a “vibe check”. Recognize the quality of the energetic atmosphere at work every day. Simply testing the psychic temperature of the workplace will allow you to make the necessary adjustments to keep your own energy intact.
If you sense dissonance, take a deep breath. Get grounded, surround yourself with positive vibes, and resolve that you won’t let anything you encounter throw you off center.
Resolve to let the negativity bounce off you. Don’t take any negativity you run into personally. Commit to focusing only on your goals and intentions for the day.
Acknowledge the bad vibes. Recognize them in some way, if only to yourself—but be discreet and subtle. You don’t need to announce them to the entire office. This will only spread the negativity you want to clear even more.
Be kind, loving, and patient with those around you because they need it. Focus on work, and if negative conversation arises, listen neutrally and compassionately if you can’t gracefully get away.
Observe, don’t absorb what’s going on around you. If you can unobtrusively escape, do so. Your feet are two of your most powerful defenses against negativity. Turn them in the opposite direction of the problem and leave.
If you can’t make a run for it, surrender and accept the situation. Give the bad-vibe dispenser (BVD) your complete attention for a full five minutes. Encourage this person to complain, gossip, attack, and whine to their heart’s content.
Just listen, breathe, and stay neutral—don’t engage, resonate, or rescue. When the five minutes have passed, ask with complete sincerity if there’s anything you can personally do to help right now. If you hear, “Yes, there is,” and you can help, then do so. If you hear, “No, not really,” then say, “I’m sorry. I really hope it works out.” Then go back to work.
The most challenging thing about negativity at work is that it feels politically dangerous to acknowledge that it even exists. Let alone point it out. Like the elephant in the middle of the room that everyone pretends isn’t there, the person spreading bad vibes is rarely confronted by others for fear of being accused of harassment.
But denial is no protection, and neither is pretending that you don’t feel anything. Although it’s a noble effort, denying or ignoring negativity in the workplace is not a sound strategy for protection—after all, the bomb will still tick, taking everyone down by the minute. Until you acknowledge that there is, in fact, a problem, you can’t solve it
