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It’s great that you have self-confidence. The question is how much of your confidence is healthy self-esteem and how much is fueled by insecurities? You see, many folks mask jealousy by trying to knock down others. Check out these ways you can look down on others. Are you guilty of any? If so, you might want to rethink your ways.
Read Don’t Poison My Coffee! How to Be Likeable Around the Office
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Always try to one-up
“Oh you got a promotion? That’s cool. I just made senior vice president.”
When a person tells you something great that happened to them, that doesn’t set the stage for you to talk about yourself. Can you not be happy for someone else? Stop trying to one-up everyone. There’s enough room for all of us to be successful.
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Chuckle at lower salaries
Count your blessings that you work at a job that pays you a great salary–not everyone is fortunate. How mean do you have to be to laugh at someone’s salary? It might not be enough for you, but maybe that’s all they need, or the best they could find right now. You might want to be careful how much you look down at certain jobs. You never know what you will do should you lose yours.
Read Am I Missing a Zero? 9 Distinguished Jobs That Don’t Pay What You Think
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Think people without a college degree aren’t smart
We all take different paths in life. It’s great you made the decision to advance your education though you shouldn’t look down on anyone else who feels college–or student loans–isn’t for them. There are plenty of successful people who found their niche without a degree.
Read No Bachelors Degree? No Prob! Jobs That Don’t Require a 4-Year Diploma
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Don’t listen to opinions
Even if you don’t agree with someone, the very least you can do is be respectful and let them have the floor. Please don’t be one of those people who don’t listen to opinions. You might think what you’re hearing is dumb, but in all reality, you’re the one with the small mind if you can’t entertain different opinions.
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Are quick to point out flaws
“How did she get her job? She does not look the part?”
“Did you see her hair?”
Are you guilty of pointing out a person’s shortcomings, but can’t do the same for yourself? No matter how much you think you’re perfect, you aren’t.
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Don’t associate with people “lower” than you
“You want me to work on this with him? He’s an assistant.”
Just because a person doesn’t have the same title as you doesn’t mean they aren’t a human being. Would you like it if executives didn’t give you the time of day because you don’t have a special title? All of us can bring different things to the table, so don’t discount a co-worker because of what they do.
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Constantly cut people off
Who died and made you royalty? It is horrible behavior to ignore or cut people off from speaking because they don’t satisfy your current needs. There are ways to end a conversation with professionalism. Be careful how dismissive you are as you never know who will report your inability to be a team player to management–or human resources.
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Tear others down to build yourself up
Let’s stop and think about this for a moment. How can you say you have awesome self-esteem when you need to tear a person down in order to feel great about yourself? Too many of us (women in particular) are quick to check a person and not ourselves. Yes there is such a thing as competition, but not at the expense of your integrity.
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Have a dismissive attitude
Please think twice about how you treat people around the workplace. You might think because someone is a receptionist they don’t know anything. Big mistake. One of the worst things you can do is dismiss someone you think is lower than you and have them be a visiting executive.
