“The greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition.” —Martha Washington
Disposition definition: a person's inherent qualities of mind and character
We’ve discussed in the TG threads about how people can be bent towards…“the glass is half full or half empty”.
It is interesting to me how some in the exact same circumstances can have such polar opposite attitudes. Can you think of examples of this?
One that comes to my mind is how a group of my former employees would react to the same situation. We were a small company; at peak we had 14 employees. Out of those 14, we had two that were always bent on the glass is half empty. They were productive associates, but it would pain my business partner and me at staff meetings how they would constantly bring up negative thoughts no matter how positive the news/results/changes we would present.
It was interesting phenomenon to witness the other 12 politely shout them down when they would raise what seemed to them to be pointless negativity. One eventually left our company on bad terms and we found out later became a morale cancer at their next employer’s company. The other is still working under the new ownership and still complains, yet he’s still one of the best and most valued employees there.
I can understand negativity when it is warranted, however, I struggle with people who are hell bent on bringing others down to whatever fears and anxiety they are dealing with that is unwarranted. At those times, all I can do is try to put myself in their shoes to see if I’m missing something and present them with a gentle response.
Be careful out there my friends!
Proverbs 15:1
TSK
Disposition definition: a person's inherent qualities of mind and character
We’ve discussed in the TG threads about how people can be bent towards…“the glass is half full or half empty”.
It is interesting to me how some in the exact same circumstances can have such polar opposite attitudes. Can you think of examples of this?
One that comes to my mind is how a group of my former employees would react to the same situation. We were a small company; at peak we had 14 employees. Out of those 14, we had two that were always bent on the glass is half empty. They were productive associates, but it would pain my business partner and me at staff meetings how they would constantly bring up negative thoughts no matter how positive the news/results/changes we would present.
It was interesting phenomenon to witness the other 12 politely shout them down when they would raise what seemed to them to be pointless negativity. One eventually left our company on bad terms and we found out later became a morale cancer at their next employer’s company. The other is still working under the new ownership and still complains, yet he’s still one of the best and most valued employees there.
I can understand negativity when it is warranted, however, I struggle with people who are hell bent on bringing others down to whatever fears and anxiety they are dealing with that is unwarranted. At those times, all I can do is try to put myself in their shoes to see if I’m missing something and present them with a gentle response.
Be careful out there my friends!
Proverbs 15:1
TSK
