Drop that victim mentality before it ruins your career

By Goretti Kimani

Kenya: Successful careers are a culmination of years of hard work, discipline and commitment. As such, only the strong willed are able to achieve much success in their careers.

Majority of the people fall by the wayside caused by among other reasons victim mentality syndrome — a feeling of helpless and passiveness in the face of misfortune or ill treatment. Zack’s case is a classic example.

 For the last five years, he has written countless resignations that ended up in the trash bin. For some reasons, he feels that people are out to harm him in some way at work.

Recently, when he was given a seemingly difficult assignment out of town, he simply quit. He is now jobless and is blaming his boss and colleagues for picking out on him all these years. Zack case is a classic case of victim mentality at work.

 Victims come in many ways. For some, it is the constant feeling of inadequacy, no matter how qualified they are. Others exhibit the annoying habit of complaining and grumbling over small inconveniences at work. Others may shy away from responsibility in the fear of making mistakes and getting victimised.  Some may have the phobia in learning new stuff in the fear that they might be victimised with additional responsibilities.

Others will look for sympathy from their colleagues through real or imagined woes in their work life. Foolish as it might sound, some people prefer to be victims because it is much easier one — ‘Just give up fighting and let things take their toll on your life and have all the excuses for failure!’

Perfect situations

This is by far the worst choice one can make.  The work place is full of challenges. Perfect situations do not exist. As long as you work with people, you are bound to encounter these difficulties.  Besides, every successful journey is the sum total of all the ups and downs travelled over the years. It makes more sense to face up to the challenges rather than resign your fate to victim hood.  Remedial action must start with a thorough self-examination.

Ask yourself questions such as; What is your purpose for your life? What are you willing to give up in exchange? What kind of a legacy would you like to leave behind? Why are you so afraid of standing up to the challenge? When will you start living your life?  If others are making it, why not you?

Ensure you have clear goals that challenge your inner self. Get out of your comfort zone and seek growth through hard work and perseverance. Don’t just get out of the box but burn the boxes as well.

Learn patience and seek solutions to problems rather than succumbing to them. Surround yourself with positive people and learn from them. Learn to pay the price now for the prize to come. In today’s competitive world, companies are looking for strong willed, creative individuals to help in building a competitive edge. Victims obviously have no room in this picture. The choice is all yours.

—The writer is a human resource specialist with Peoplelink Consultants Ltd.

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