Seems like every time I write about negative people, I get lots of hits on my site, and “forwards” of Monday Morning Motivation. It’s no wonder, there are a lot of really negative grumpy people out there these days.
All of us have come across negative people. For them, negativity is the driving force in their lives. When they go home at night, they complain about their customers, their jobs, their bosses, and the traffic. Then they park themselves in front of the TV and tune out the rest of the world. When it comes to making plans for their future they simply don’t because they are stuck wherever they are, which is usually in their own minds. They consider themselves “victims” of whomever or whatever. Sadly, they do not realize that thinking of themselves as victims of their world keeps them feeling oppressed and holds them back from professional accomplishment and personal happiness.
Negative people don’t take risks and walk backwards so they will never stub a toe. They usually believe and accept the fate of their own negative prophecies. Then, they deny the fact that they themselves have taken a pessimistic stance in life, and in so doing, consider themselves as “have-nots.” They react negatively whenever they see positive people who are doing something with their lives. If they devoted as much time to getting things done as they do sitting on the fence sniping at others, the world would be a very different place. It is much easier to say, “No, it can’t be done,” than to say, “What do we have to do to make it happen?” They see challenges as obstacles, not as stepping stones.
They are the ones who don’t see the value of diversifying their company’s offerings, and say the company’s new restructuring will fail. They resist learning new systems or software and tell customers, “Sorry, but we just can’t do that.” They see how a strategy can be improved, but prefer to complain about its failure to their friends at lunch. They that because they are union workers they can’t easily be fired, and tend to slack off on the job. They see a piece of paper on the floor and say, “We might get a paper cut if we picked it up.” You’re beginning to see the picture—though negative people would certainly say the picture is faded!
Negative people Major in the Minors throughout their lives because they expect things to be handed to them. They are not willing to work hard to get what they want. They even feel sorry for themselves that they have to work to make a living. You often hear them expressing envy over those who are wealthy. “It must be nice,” they say. This attitude holds them back even more because they feel that they are not wealthy, it is the reason they can’t become successful. You may often heard them refer to a successful person as “lucky.” They complain and focus on everything that’s wrong. I call them “Negaholics.”
The only time these “Princes and Princesses of Pessimism” aren’t complaining is when they are sleeping. These poor unfortunate souls need a lot of help to get out of the rut they are keeping themselves in by their obvious inexperience in feeling positive about anything. I have often felt they became this way because they were raised in a negative environment, or that maybe they actually enjoy going through life thinking of themselves as victims. I have also observed that they associate with others who are like themselves. What’s that saying again? Misery loves company?
I wonder what has happened to them in their pasts to make them such pessimists. Maybe one of the many prohibitions they learned at an early age was an unspoken rule “Don’t have fun; don’t enjoy life.” If that is the type of upbringing they had, it has made them martyrs, people who will not let themselves embrace the pleasures of day-to-day living. Maybe they associate struggling through each day with this type of attitude with some sort of sainthood.
In your personal life, I encourage you to avoid negative people because whenever your paths cross, they will pull you and everyone else down and zap your energy. Worst of all, they usually don’t realize they are doing it. Avoiding negative people in the work place, however, is not always possible. Have the courage to remind them that negative remarks and attitudes will not serve them or anyone else well. If that doesn’t change their behavior, tune them out! If you are in a leadership position, give them an attitude adjustment or suffer the consequences of diminished morale and higher stress levels.
About Christine Corelli
