Mirage or Reality?
It’s day one of your brand-new spanking job; you are walked around the office by your manager and introduced to the team and co-workers.
You get a moment to grab a cup of coffee, and you have a very friendly co-worker ask you all the fun, day one questions.
“How do you say your name” (I get that all the time, then it leads to where are you from?) lol
“What do you do”?
“What project are you on?”
“Oh, you work for John? mmm, just be careful with him.”
There, this person just dropped the first opinion bomb, and it directly affects you, because well, you report to John.
He seemed like a great dude when you interviewed with him, and now you have this person give you the information you didn’t ask for.
Has this happened to you before?
I call this the mirage effect, the opinion of others creating the reality of your new workplace.
#1 Our words have energy, and how you think, act and feel are impacted by your thoughts. This is called metacognition.
#2 The Good news is that you can control your thoughts and simultaneously control how you act, feel, and think. 
(This takes daily practice, breath, pause, reflect)
(This takes daily practice, breath, pause, reflect)How do you clean up the mess from this co-worker’s bomb that they threw at you on DAY 1 of your job?
Here is what you need to do – REFLECT it BACK at them –
“I really appreciate your opinion, but I also understand that we all have our own experiences with people.”
Ask the question: “Have you worked with John directly?”
Most likely, this person has heard a rumor about John and is now passing false information around.
Thank the person for their time and walk away.
Here are some tips for staying on top of your game at work!
Be careful of the mirage effect. There are many disgruntled individuals at the workplace, do not allow their opinions, work ethics, lack of trust in leadership to turn you into one of them.
Keep your circle of co-workers positive, maintain political composure, and keep your opinions to yourself.
Find a senior manager/director/C Suite and build a relationship with them and directly ask them if they would like to become a mentor to you. Giving respect gets you respect.
You become a mentor to your co-workers. We are all good at different things, lend a hand.
Organizations spend over 30K hiring a new employee, and they care for you and your success. You were hired because they know you are the perfect person for the company culture, project and trust that you can get the job done. Show them you can and much more!
With Love and Authenticity,
Mahjooba (MJ)
