Stop acting just to please others!

It is obvious that many employees these days spend most of their working hours on pleasing others. Be it colleagues, managers or customers, thinking that they could make others happy by exerting efforts to satisfy them. However, with these efforts you will find some customers unhappy, displeased and unappreciative and still expecting more! What will happen to you now? Disappointed and frustrated?

To be the best at your job, you need to stop acting while you are in the workplace. Stop doing things just to please others. Stop showing your manager what he or she wants to see in you and doing it to satisfy them. Do it for yourself and do it because you enjoy doing what you are doing – do not depend on others’ recognition and appreciation for what you have done and accomplished. An example is when you report to work early in the morning. Do not do it just to adhere to your manager’s instructions, but because you love your work and choose to come on time. When greeting and smiling, your customers and colleagues, do not do it just to follow your job description requirements, but because you are a friendly person and you see them as your brothers and sisters. Being a professional is not a label through how close you are with your boss, but how your image impacts the organisation as a whole.

When doing what you need to do deep from your heart, you will find gladness and serenity in what you do. Your work will flourish and it will create a positive workplace ambience and others will start to appreciate your work and you as a person.

- The reader is a Human Resources lecturer and writer based in Manama, Bahrain.