Though it’s generally believed that venting one’s anger is healthy and justified, the real fact is that getting angry constantly is very much likely to destroy your relationships, disorientate your mental state, ruin your success, as well as have a negative impact on your health and the way you’re being perceived by the people around you. When you’re at work, it’s advisable to control the way you react and respond to different situations no matter how unfair and annoying it maybe.
At work, you’re most likely to be criticized, argued with and meet people with different personalities. The way you react to these criticisms, which sometimes are constructive, can either paint you black or enhance your image at work. Getting angry easily at work, will certainly have a negative effect on your development at work and your colleagues will find it difficult to speak to you and feel very uncomfortable—they wouldn’t know what would upset or how you would react.
Sometimes your immediate problems and responsibilities can weigh you down, make you overreact and lash out at any given circumstance. Managing anger at work is very important, and for you to manage it effectively, you need to learn how to control your temper and separate your personal challenges from work challenges. Once you are able to do this, then you have successfully managed your anger as well as put it in check. Here are some ways you can manage your rising temper at work.
The first advice we are giving you in regards to managing your anger at work, is to think before you talk. A lot goes on in our minds, but not everything we think of should be said out loud. Anger is an emotional feeling that influences your mind negatively and tampers with your thought processes. Hence it’s best to calm your mind and think strongly about what you want to express before you say a word.
Change the way you think and embrace positive thoughts. Simply changing the way you think is very helpful in managing anger at work, because being angry has a way of boosting negative thoughts. For example when something bad happens at work, don’t be too quick to judge colleagues, lament about the situation and make offensive statements. What you need to do here is to acknowledge the challenge and think of positive ways to address it.
Don’t always see yourself as a victim when you’re being challenged or criticized at work. The victim mentality is one of the major anger boosters. Always endeavor to think logically and see everything that happens to you at work as situational and not targeted at you.
Anger is an emotion that should be expressed, and it’s not healthy to suppress it because it can lead to greater havoc. The trick here is you expressing your anger in a précised, calm and healthy way. Once you’re calm and thinking clearly, you can now express your frustrations in a mild way. Go straight to the point and state your concerns and needs without stepping on anyone’s toe. In order to express yourself appropriately, you need to make yourself calm and be in touch with you current feelings.
When you’re angry at work, take a break by changing your environment for some minutes to cool off. A few moments alone in a different place, will be very helpful in clearing your head and easing stress. Once someone is pissing you off at work, during breaks, leave the office and take a stroll. If you can’t leave the office, go to an empty corner and be by yourself. You’ll feel more relaxed. Always be open to possible solutions, don’t dwell on what made you angry, engage in pleasant thoughts that will ease your anger and take you completely out of that state.
Try and talk to someone at home or a colleague you trusts, talking about issues bothering you is the first step to take in solving them. If you have no one to talk to, write out everything on your mind, this is good anger management therapy. Writing out everything that makes you angry, eases the stress caused by that anger. Once you’re done writing, when you get home burn the paper and don’t show it to anyone.
Remember, not all words are “words” and not everything should be taken serious. Taking things lightly doesn’t make you a fool, but wise and anger free. People might want to take advantage of you but on the long run they will be at the losing end while you would have achieved a lot personally and career wise, because you channeled your energy into other activities other than getting angry.
In conclusion being angry and suppressing anger can create other problems, which involves pathologically expressing anger, like getting back at people indirectly, without telling them why etc. Everyone must work sometime in their lives, and the work place is sometimes filled with people who are always criticizing everything, victimizing and constantly putting others down. You have to constantly be on your guard and not fall into the trap of such people. Managing anger at work is the best way to defeat such people and most importantly, help you become a better person.
photo credit; kishoresstory.info
