The mood in the office can be contagious. Today, I’m thinking about how to protect my progress when the feedback from colleagues leans too heavily toward the negative.
Reframing Feedback to Protect Your Progress
I’ve always been a big believer in focusing on the positives, regardless of the situation. While there’s no doubt we can all find things to learn and commit to improving, it becomes a problem when the vast majority of what’s being spoken by colleagues or managers is a rolling list of negatives.
If you find yourself in an environment where the narrative is constantly, “everything is terrible,” or your peers are expressing how miserable they feel, it’s a strong signal. It’s worth investigating why they feel that way—especially if your own assessment is that the actual results were okay, good, or even great.
The trap is clear. Constantly dwelling on negative self-talk, what went wrong, or what’s “broken,” means we frequently fail to see the real progress we’ve made as individuals or as a team. Most importantly, sucking all the joy out of what you do can ultimately leave you incredibly unhappy. That kind of negativity is contagious; it spreads into all aspects of your life. It’s not a sustainable place to operate, particularly when you are trying to innovate and develop new things.
None of this is to say we should ignore problems. We must identify aspects of our work that need to improve. But I’ve found that the most productive approach is to acknowledge that a specific aspect is not working as well as it can, and then immediately suggest a concrete remedy—an actionable path forward—rather than just dwelling on the frustration. It’s about pivoting from a posture of constant disappointment to one of productive action. The first step is protecting your own perspective from the toxicity.
Have an excellent day. Focus on what’s working, and fix what isn’t—one step at a time.
This post is part of an effort to commit to a daily ritual; An (almost) daily reflection designed as both a mental health exercise and a tool for general accountability. By spending a few minutes each morning carving out these pillars, I’m creating a personal record of where the energy goes and what’s actually keeping me busy. The goal is to build a reflection journal I can look back on to see which ideas grew and which ones fell away—while hopefully providing a few lessons and talking points for those of you navigating your own creative paths.
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