Three steps for channeling career envy into productivity
Laura has just been laid off from her job. While trying to muster the energy to update her LinkedIn profile, she spots an email alert from LinkedIn that says, “Congratulate Cathy Barnes on her promotion!” Cathy is a former colleague who had been at the same level as Laura when they worked together as junior managers a few years ago. “Clearly,” Laura thinks to herself, “Cathy has pulled way ahead of me professionally now. It looks like she’s landed her dream job while I’m barely staying afloat!”
Laura’s feelings of career envy are widespread, especially since social media makes it all too easy to see what your friends and coworkers are up to professionally and personally (or at least the parts of their lives that they want you to see).
In a 2011 study, European researchers describe workplace envy a “response to another person who has success, skills, or qualities that we desire, and involves feeling a lack in comparison to that person.” And since that response is so common, those of us who inevitably find ourselves in positions similar to Laura’s need to know what to do with those emotions when we encounter them.
As it turns out, there are a few practical steps you can take to turn career envy to your advantage, making productive use of those negative feelings in order to boost your Productivity and gain a sense of perspective.
Related: How to turn your career envy into motivation
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1. Look for insight in social comparison
Everyone compares themselves to others, whether they consciously realize it or not. It’s often our means of gaining more self-awareness of our capabilities, successes, interests, and personality traits. So “social comparison” can actually be helpful, even if it doesn’t always leave you feeling great about yourself; these knee-jerk assessments help you determine where you think you stand relative to others.
When you catch yourself gripped by career jealousy, pause for a moment and think critically (but not unfairly) about your skills. You may spot clearer benchmarks to measure your progress, whether you’re trying to excel in academics, sports, or business. If you’re strategic about the information that you glean from social comparisons, you can use those insights to modify your approach to certain tasks–for instance, by increasing your training or redirecting your efforts in new directions–and hopefully improving your results in the process.
Related: Since your brain constantly compares you with everyone else, try this
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