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How do you feel when a co-worker, a friend or family member gets a promotion? Does a twinge of envy take over you, or do you wish them well on their way to success? Does it motivate you to strive, or get you all down and out, feeling sorry for yourself?
How we treat other people’s success says a lot about us. Most importantly, it tells a whole lot about whether we’ll in turn be successful or not. Striving to feel genuine happiness for others’ successes not only helps us to let go of the destructive green-eyed monster, but also to focus on celebrating our unique talents and opportunities, not to mention our relationships in and outside of the workplace would be greatly improved. In the corporate world where jealousy reigns supreme among colleagues (and apparently, even more among women), it can be particularly challenging to celebrate others’ successes, especially when their success may mean ours may be taking a backseat for some time.
Yet, as challenging as it may seem, we can all learn to stop hating, and celebrate our colleagues, co-workers, bosses, friends and/or family’s successes:
1. Catch the green-eyed monster in its tracks! Let’s be real, we are all subject to the occasional pang of jealousy, we’re human after all. The trick is to be aware, and catch ourselves before it gets out of hand. Be honest with yourself, and learn to recognize the signs…
2. Yes, you can fake happiness…at first! Even if you’d rather visit the dentist than congratulate your colleague on their promotion, practice by faking being happy for them. Hypocritical? A bit. Effective? Certainly.
3. Be grateful! Seeing your co-worker or friend bask in their glorious success as you sulk over not making it to the project team is not exactly conducive to grateful feelings! Yet, research suggests keeping a daily gratitude list helps in warding off feelings of envy and worthlessness that may be triggered. So go on and write down all the great things you did…
Do you celebrate others’ successes?
The Corporate Sis.
