How to Protect Yourself From Envy at Work

Envy is one of the most damaging feelings in the professional environment since companionship is real when a person is happy about the successes that happen to others. On the contrary, envy shows the disgust and sadness felt by those who experience the brightness of others as a threat to their own personal excellence. How to protect yourself from envy at work?

In psychology we give you ideas that can help you create a positive climate in the office, minimizing the risk of feeling affected by the vision of jealousy since you can transform this point of view by an attitude of admiration that is more resilient.

Tips for not feeling envious at work

  1. There are always people with better preparation and qualifications and that should not be a reason to mistrust your own potential. Simply, there is an inexhaustible source of talent in a society that stands out for the qualification of the most specialized profiles. Therefore, do not become obsessed with the idea of being the best because this affects your own well-being.
  2. Job success is not measured in relation to the qualities of other colleagues but to human resources by competencies . In other words, the most appropriate profile for a job is not the one with the most titles on the curriculum, but the one that best fits the skills that the employee must have to perform the tasks of that specific job position. For this reason, a resume may not be chosen in one company, however, it is the one that stands out the most in another company.
  3. Each person has their own difficulties, therefore, when you envy other colleagues think if you really know all the information about their situation to have an objective view of their circumstances. For example, you may not take into account professional disappointments, hours of effort, perseverance, and self-improvement invested in a goal.
  4. Change the focus from envy to admiration . When you are envious of a person, you position yourself before them as if they were your enemy, on the contrary, when you feel admiration for another person, they become a reference to follow. Envy clouds your look and does not let you learn, on the contrary, admiration is an ingredient of mentoring.
  5. Invest time in training because this preparation is the best option to apply for better jobs with better salary conditions. When you feel envious of another person you underestimate your own reality, on the contrary, when you put your personal improvement into practice, you adopt a different concept of luck by influencing your destiny in what depends on you.
  6. When you are envious of a partner, try to empathize with their position. Imagine that you are the one who has achieved that goal. How would you like people to react with you in that case? This exercise in imagination can help you put yourself in someone else's shoes.


What to do when you are envious at work


However, envy is a feeling that you can not only experience as the protagonist, other people can also envy you. Obviously, you are not in control of the situation when it comes to preventing anyone from feeling this way with you. However, you can influence to create healthy bonds of companionship and learn to deal with envious people :

  1. Do not change in your treatment of others even if your circumstances change. This is one of the most important premises. Perhaps you have achieved success, however, your personal core remains the same because your value as a person transcends this concrete fact. When humility and simplicity in dealing with others describe your way of being, then these qualities are truly admirable.
  2. Help others and ask your questions when you need it. In relation to the previous point, a natural consequence of humility is to have an active disposition to collaborate by sharing one's own knowledge, but also to be interested in obtaining new ideas from the point of view of others.
  3. Beware of the desire to be a protagonist in meetings or in teamwork. You have your space, but you also have to respect that of others. Use your own common sense by not monopolizing the speaking time in any context. Learn to listen.
  4. Try to stay out of any conversation in which the topic of the conversation is destructive criticism of someone who is not present. That is, be a transparent person in dealing with others so that others perceive the authenticity that you have in your behaviors.
  5. If you have the opportunity to present innovative ideas to improve work in the company, then come up with solutions that can be an overall improvement for you and your colleagues. Beyond any type of individualistic vision, it also finds space for the common good.
  6. You cannot be liked by everyone, therefore, when a partner is envious of you, do not play the game of believing that you have to do something to change this situation. Try to treat that person with cordiality and focus your main attention on those colleagues who are your main support.


Causes of jealousy at work

To understand envy and know how to protect yourself from it, it is also advisable to understand why it occurs, that is, diagnose the reasons that accompany it:

  1. Favoritism. When employees observe visible differences in the treatment received by the organization, when many of them feel in the background in front of the frequent protagonism of one or more colleagues, then this unequal treatment must be corrected by the human resources department .
  2. Internal deficiencies. Employees also transfer insecurities they accumulate around their own professional performance or the way they perceive themselves to their daily work at the company. A low self - esteem raises the risk of envy at some point in the career because the affected constantly compared with others. Envy is a consequence of this tendency to comparison.
  3. Psychological game. Some people love to show off their merits, they put their value in their own desire to be admired by others. It is the profile of the vain person. That is, they seek the constant recognition of the other. But, without a doubt, in addition to admiration they can also arouse envy.
  4. Lack of teamwork. A group of people does not constitute a team by itself. When in a company there is an environment of individualism and rivalry against the other, while a human environment encourages its members to give the best of themselves, on the contrary, an environment marked by these emotional vampires produces the opposite effect.
  5. Being very far from that ideal state that one day you dreamed of reaching. Having the feeling of being stuck at a point on your path. In that case, this frustration can also increase the risk of suffering jealousy towards those who have achieved this goal.