Toxic Coworkers

Most of us understand how toxic it can be to interact with negative people. Their dreary outlook on life can drag us down. And, their pessimistic attitudes can, too often, discourage us from giving our best or taking the necessary steps to improve our future success. Toxic people can disrupt our lives and create negative thoughts within ourselves, even side tracking our own success.

Perhaps one of the most useful things you can do is to define your space and how much you are going to allow others to influence you. Often, negative people find it easy to encroach on other people by joining in on conversations--whether in person or even through social media--that are never welcome. The most effective way to eliminate as much pessimism as possible is by simply setting limits within the parts of your life to which negative people have access. Keep your sanity and create boundaries to protect yourself.

While it's important, and human, to spend some of your time helping others with their problems, it's impossible to help them win every battle. Choose whether it's more important to help your friend figure out why they are so dissatisfied with their current job, or help him get through his latest breakup. You'll exhaust yourself trying to fix all of your friend's problems or daily issues. And, it is possible that placing the negative complaints on pause for a few hours--or a couple days--can bring about a resolution without your involvement at all.

Surround yourself with people that make you happy. People who infuse your life with positivity--make these positive friends a much bigger part of your life than your negative friends. Being bombarded by a constant stream of negativity can take a toll on even the most easygoing person, so protect yourself from that potential burnout by adding quality time with those who uplift your spirits and encourage you to do great things.

Most negative people don't even realize how they are coming across. Create a positive spin on things for your negative friend. Sharing something positive can help your negative friend open their eyes to their own negativity and, hopefully, help them focus more on the positives in their lives.

Finally, what appears to be the most successful tactic of all is finding positivity within yourself. As hard as it may be, don't let the negative words or actions of others get to you. Maintain positive energy regardless of what happens--smile in the face of adversity--by replacing negative thoughts with positive.

Scot Dickerson, CPC
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