Sometimes hearing that your colleague is being promoted earlier than you is frustrating. However you can turn this career envy as a source of motivation for your professional development.
Career envy is sometimes inevitable, especially in this era where it’s easy to know what other people are working on through social media. It takes little effort to know that your old high-school friend just got their promotion, for example. As a result, this may make you feel jealous of that accomplishment.
According to HBR, career envy is universal. People at all levels of a firm are vulnerable to envy, regardless of the economic climate. Career envy damages relationships, HBR continued, disrupts teams, and undermines organizational performance. Ultimately, it damages the person who harbors the feelings. It causes discomfort and decreases their self-esteem, leading to even worse situations such as stress, chronic anxiety, or other mental illness.
While it looks difficult, it’s not impossible to prevent career envy from happening. Moreover, the negative feelings can be turned into your motivation to become better at work. Here’s how to do it.
Make Peace with Yourself
It’s natural to compare yourself with others. Rather than denying your enviousness, it’s better to acknowledge the feeling. This way, it’ll be easier to recognize what aspects that causes your envy. Change the envy into curiosity: it’s possible that what you envy is what you are insecure about the most. Once you are able to identify them, use them to improve yourself.
Shift Your Perspective
It’s plausible that your enviousness emerges because you only look at it from a single perspective. For instance, you only know someone’s success, but you don’t know what they have done to reach that point. Don’t let your bitterness get a hold of your head; cool yourself and try to think more about what’s going on behind the scene.
Focus on Your Goals
Career envy happens when you are obsessed with other people’s achievements. When this happens, try to remember what your initial goals are. You might be not exactly where you want to be, CNBC wrote, but it doesn’t mean that you are stagnating. When you feel like going in circles, you are actually making progress.
After making peace with yourself, pause to take a look at your accomplishments. You’ll see what you’ve learned throughout your career. This will give you a boost of confidence.
Don’t Avoid Those You Envy
Avoiding people you envy only makes your resentment grow. Instead, turn down your ego and reach out to them. Think of it as widening your network in your field. Networking is essential for your career growth, because it provides you with professional advice and support.
Maintain a Growth Mindset
Finally, whenever you envy your colleague’s achievement, view it as a challenge to yourself. Use it as a springboard for self-improvement through obstacles. Challenges are a good opportunity to learn and grow. Through difficult projects, you can test the limit of your strengths and talents, and expand it.
Remember that even though career envy is inevitable, it doesn’t mean that it’s uncontrollable. Essentially, it’s a knee-jerk response to your insecurity at work. By picking apart your enviousness and changing it into achievable challenges, it can be your source of motivation for your own professional growth.
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