Each of us has our own way of perceiving and viewing the life we have. Our experiences have shaped our perspective which affects the way we view events and how we interact with the environment around us. Having an understanding of this idea of perspective relating to our reactions is important to be able to control our reactions and make positive choices when faced with difficult situations at work and in our lives.

Reactions to Customers and Coworkers

Many of us spend most of our time that we are awake at work than we do at home. Because of this, there can be many issues between people at work. The perception of others and their actions dictates how we react to them, both good or bad. When we judge others based on looks, actions, or a single event and associate that individual with a specific negative thing it can potentially lead to issues or a stressed work environment.

When we perceive someone in a negative manner, we react to them in a reduced capacity or in a jaded way altogether. For example, you have been working with a co-worker for 4 years and overall have enjoyed working with them. One day you get in a heated debate over a topic you are discussing. Ever since the debate, you two have only had short and guarded discussions. You also now do not go out of your way to help that co-worker out. These types of events between people happen every single day and relationships are forever changed in a negative manner.

This does not have to be the case if we choose to look past it and react to the other individual in a more positive manner. Being able to overcome these situations lead to a healthier and more productive work environment.

Reactions to Negative Events

We each experience negative events in our lives at different points in time. Whether it is at home or at work, this fact of life is inevitable. How we react to these negative events will have a great deal of impact on whether it will be something that continues to negatively affect us or can be used to improve ourselves in some way.

When negative situations occur on the job it is important to take a step back and be self-aware of how the event is affecting your focus, mood, thoughts, communication with others, and your job performance. The fact of the matter is the event happened and it is now over. You need to decide if you are going to continue to dwell on it and let it have control over you or learn from it and move on. If you realize that 99% of negative situations/events are learning lessons and flip them into a positive, you will become a much stronger and able individual.

Having a positive reaction or outlook towards negative people or events is needed in order to maintain a healthy mental state. Sure, some events and actions of others need to be dealt with in a serious manner, but all individuals need to move on to ensure that their reactions are not continually negative towards the stimulus. We cannot control everything that occurs in our lives, but we can control our reactions to it all.