How to Deal with Jealousy at Work

In our society, we are taught that we need to be better than everyone else since our childhoods. This competitiveness can sometimes follow us in our professional lives, making us jealous of those seemingly doing better than us. Jealousy can drive people to act foolishly, making things bad for themselves and worse for their team. So here are some strategies we can use to quell the thoughts of jealousy at the workplace.

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1. Acknowledging jealousy

We can't fix something unless we don't know what's broken. If we despise someone's happiness and good fortune, we should immediately understand what it is. Understanding that we are jealous of someone is the first step towards getting rid of it.

2. Wishing them good luck

It takes great courage to wish good fortune to someone we already think of as too lucky. By hoping for their prosperity, we stab at the heart of our jealousy. We may wish them well without meaning it at first. Doing it enough times, though, will help us want the best for them for real.

3. Turning jealousy into envy

There's a fine line between jealousy and envy. While jealousy means wishing for someone's downfall, envy means desiring to do better than them. Although both these emotions are two sides of the same coin, we can clearly see that envy is positively reinforcing. By switching our sights away from someone's destruction and setting them on self-improvement, we can channel our energies into achieving great things.

4. Focusing on our strengths

Not everyone is made equal. And it is futile to think we can do everything someone else has done. It’s important to know that not all of us have the same strengths. We should also understand what worked for one person may not work for us. The best practice is to focus on and refine what we can do better than anyone else.

5. Seeing the bigger picture

At a workplace, each person is part of a team working towards the same goal. Our jealousy towards someone may compel us to sabotage them, even if it disrupts our team's progress. We need to keep our personal feelings aside when working towards a common goal. Impeding a team member's progress out of jealousy will disrupt the work of the whole team. And the team's failure would be our failure too.

6. Working on self-confidence

Jealousy often stems from our insecurity. We wish for someone's demise because deep down, we believe that we can't be better than them. To eliminate jealousy, we first need to work on building our self-confidence. We can do this by tracking our progress, forgiving our mistakes, and building up the skills and knowledge needed for success.

7. Changing our circle

Sometimes the emotions of people in our circle can rub off on us. Hanging out with jealous people can make their enemy our enemy. There's no need to hate someone who hasn't wronged us. If people in our circle are affecting our emotions negatively, we should try changing their attitudes. Just a simple, friendly talk can do wonders.

Although we may encounter difficulties with envy at work, changing our perspective and focusing on nurturing and growing our talents can help shift our focus from external influences to inner transformation. We may not be able to control every aspect of our work lives, but we can certainly make adjustments and focus on those people around us that help us achieve our goals. By working on our confidence, and seeing the big picture, we can allow ourselves to reach full potential despite distractions or less than ideal office circumstances.