You just heard that your coworker is getting a promotion. While you are happy for his career progression, you cannot help feel the unpleasant emotion after knowing about his success. You might think that you have worked just as good as him or even better but he is the one who get promoted, not you. No wonder, this makes you feel a little jealous of his accomplishment.
Career envy is something natural and sometimes inevitable, especially in today’s era of social media where you can obsess over what is everyone doing at work. Harvard Business Review found that career envy can affect every age group of people in their careers, from an entry-level to big time CEOs. While feeling a little bit envious of someone else’s achievement is natural and can be a good thing to motivate you, it needs to be managed so the feeling of discomfort will not lead to a worse situation such as stress, chronic anxiety, or other mental illness.
You might feel that twinge of envy but you should not let it consume the happiness of your own achievement. Alternately, you can turn your envy into motivation that will push you forward. Here are 4 simple tips of converting career envy into positive encouragement.
01 Have peace in yourself
Envy is an intense thing. It often makes you want to give in anger and punch the person right away to vent the emotions. Before this really happens, you should be able to control yourself – set peace in your heart and mind. It is important to take a step back before anything gets worse. One of the easiest ways is to practice deep breathing exercises to help you calm down when the negative emotions are mounting. Deep breathing can help you calm your mind and regain your balance.
02 Focus on your goal
Sometimes, you notice other people’s achievements and forget your own. It can be the number one reason why you end up feel jealous of a coworker’s success. You should remember that your path is different from everyone around you – nor would you want it to be the same, because there is a likelihood that you cannot handle a follow up career of their achievements.
So instead of focus on everyone else, try to be more focused on your own goals and what you have achieved as it can give you a little relief. You should also focus on your interests, skills, or hobbies that helps you lead to career satisfaction in a long term.
03 Reach out to more people
If you already have peace in mind and heart, instead of gruelling with career envy, you can reach out to more people in your industry. Meeting more people is crucial to build a support network that can help you progress your career. Therefore, you should not feel bad about them because when they are ahead of you, you can network with them. This can also give you beneficial such as improving your skills or acquiring new ones.
04 Stick to your plan
Career jealousy also gives you positive impact that can motivate you to be better. Every time you resent a co-worker for their success, do not be carried away by this emotion as it can ruin your entire career plans. Instead, you should prove that you also deserve that position even better by giving your best performance and working diligently. There is nothing better than balancing your plan with a hard-work.
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