From Pg. 35 from How Full Is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work & Life
(merlin here: “To bring these numbers to life and purpose to this book’s obsession with “buckets” , here’s an example of the effect that just a small dose of negativity had on one employee. Does Laura’s story sound familiar to you? Believe me, Laura’s case is mild, compared to the ones I’ve inflicted on myself & others, over my years.”)
“There I was, standing at the front of the room, ready to get into the best part of my presentation. I stayed up late the last two nights preparing. I had a great deal of knowledge and passion on this topic and wanted everything to be perfect. And I really hoped to impress my boss and colleagues. Everything was going well as I flipped through the first few slides. Then a sudden technological glitch gave everyone a chance to start talking for a few minutes.
I overheard Mike whispering to Beth that it looked like I had been out late last night. I wanted to jump across the table and strangle him. Did I really look that bad? I tried to remain composed but I was shaken.
When my presentation was back up, it was time to get everyone focused again and proceed. As I tried desperately to regain everyone’s attention my insecurities grew. Were my first few points so boring that they were dreading the next part, or did I look so bad that it was undermining my credibility?
Finally, my boss realized that I was about to have a breakdown and refocused everyone’s attention. Unfortunately, he did it by saying, “Laura does not look very happy with us; maybe we should pay attention now!” Ouch! Sometimes I can’t believe the things people say out loud. Every ounce of confidence I had mustered to give this presentation was wiped out. Things really went downhill after that.
We all have experienced situations when it seems nothing will go right no matter what we’ve done, or now, in the moment, we say or do! Maybe you feel like everyone is out to get you, and you even start to fixate on negative things about yourself. Spiraling downward isn’t hard to do when your bucket is being emptied.
Not only do you feel down, but you are less productive because of it, and you bring others down with you by reactively dipping from their buckets. When you interact with people on such days, they quickly sense and are affected by the negativity you radiate. It’s not easy to hide – in fact, it’s highly contagious.
BOTTOM LINE:
It is possible for just one or two people to poison an entire workplace. And managers who have tried moving negative people to other departments to alleviate the problem know that “location, location, location,” doesn’t apply to these people; they bring their negativity along with them wherever they go. We’ve witnessed negative employees or members tearing through a workplace or a congregation like a hurricane racing through a coastal town, and that’s only addressing the externally “other-caused bucket-spiraling!”
To be fair in identifying such potential carnage, we need to be aware of our own personal propensity to hide our “conscience-laundering” when we’re confronted & condemned by the Holy Spirit’s overwhelming conviction for our sinful choices, be they moral or addictive.
NEXT UP: Ch. Three: And yes, in these matters of reconciliation, every moment does matter!