Envy - the ugly showstopper in teams and partnerships

Imagine your colleague slides a calm ball since the last promotion. Or you are much more affected by a change than another department. Or your supervisor earns a laurel wreath through your work, with which she gains the bonus and finances her villa on the Costa Dorada. Or the sales colleague with the easy area has repeatedly achieved good numbers and is celebrated as the employee of the month. You know situations like this. What happens inside you when you experience them? Most people feel a kind of anger, jealousy, and envy. Unfortunately, these emotions will not lead to what would do you better psychologically. Plus you are not being paid for showing them. Hence, you better check out these 8 recommendations:

• No judgment: do not judge others. Make yourself free from justice expectations.
• Pride: consider what you have achieved by yourself and what your individual accomplishments are.
• Own standards: Compare your expectations with your own standards and not with others.
• Joy of the success of others: Be happy with others's successes. It could be that you have done some contribution indirectly.
• System thinking: Think holistically and pursue an overall goal of the hole organization or team.
• Purpose & goal focus: Remember why and what you do things for. What is your goal, your destination? Look forward, not back.
• Engagement: Continue to offer assistance. Show engagement instead of retreat. He who helps is being helped.
• Emotion control: Keep your negative feelings under control. People who bear grudges die earlier.

Achieving and emphasizing positive emotions does not mean that you gloss over negative things or that you need to see everything through purple glasses. It is about making yourself independent of the evaluation and comparison with others. If you are feeling joy of the success of others and others are doing the same, a sense of community will establish. Treat others their achievements. It is a good practice. And a noble deed.

If you want to dig deeper into the power of positive psychology, this might be a good reading:
Blickhahn, D. (2018) Positive Psychologie - Ein Handbuch für die Praxis. (Positive Psychology - A Handbook for Practice.) Paderborn: Junfermann.