Better Work Relationships: Are You Acting Your Age?
One of the ways we can improve our experience at work is by examining and becoming aware of the age we are feeling (and acting) in our interactions with tasks and with the people at work.
So let me ask you: how old are you feeling right now?
As old as time, with the weight of the world on your shoulders?
Full of joy and excitement, like a small child on the eve of their birthday?
Anxious and worried that you are going to be called into the principal’s office to be reprimanded?
If you were to stop what you were doing and ask yourself how old you were feeling at various points in your day you would almost certainly be surprised by the answer. We aren’t always (or even often) conscious of it, but a lot of the time we are feeling a lot older or a lot younger than we actually are.
We all function best when we are feeling like calm, rational, mature adults, but most of us have periods of feeling like helpless children or exasperated parents at least some of the time at work. When we are in meetings, on calls, making presentations, working on reports, talking to colleagues, just going about our daily business; the interactions and tasks we engage with influence how we feel – and the way we feel influences how we perform.
Happy or hostile.
Anxious or amped.
Steadfast or stroppy.
How we are feeling doesn’t just impact how we show up; it often defines how we show up.
I say ‘we’ because this is so common as to be almost universal. We are all (almost always unknowingly) acting the way we are feeling, and bearing the consequences that result from those actions.
We are often so caught up in feeling that things happen to us at work that we forget to pay attention to the role we play and how we contribute to what happens at work. We often aren’t aware that certain people/tasks/interactions cause us to feel angry and resentful or anxious and fearful. We just know that we’re feeling stressed and aren’t giving our best to the job at hand.
When we become more self-aware, we gain insight into our actions and reactions, and increase the probability of a harmonious environment where work works for us.
Self-awareness is one of the eight areas of work we examine in the Wheel of Work. Understanding our emotions and how we unwittingly contribute to our own discomfort is essential to improve how we communicate and manage conflict in the workplace.
Next time you are feeling overwhelmed or uncomfortable at work:
- Ask yourself how old you are feeling,
- Acknowledge that small child or exhausted elder,
- Remind yourself that, even though you may not feel like it, you are actually a full grown adult of xx years of age, and
- Proceed in the knowledge that you are able to do whatever it is you need to do to address the problem you are facing.
With the right knowledge and effective tools, self-awareness can be achieved, and will enhance your experience of and at work.
Here’s to making work work better,
Judy
Do you want to improve your experience at work?
🚀 Join the upcoming Make Work Work For You Workshop in Johannesburg.
🚀 Join the upcoming Burnout Prevention Seminar in Johannesburg.
Hello there, I'm Judy.
I'm a Master Life Coach, facilitator, trainer and published author from sunny South Africa. I'm passionate about helping people make things go right in their world of work and in their lives - by rediscovering and building on their resilience, resourcefulness and creativity.
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