Easy Steps That Will Help You Stop Getting Distracted By Office Gossip and Politics While Leveraging The Power Of Mindfulness

As mentioned in a previous article, job satisfaction is vital to your wellbeing, career growth, and happiness. In that article, I shared with you powerful, mindfulness-based strategies you can use to increase job and career satisfaction.

Something many employees struggle with, which also zaps away their job satisfaction, is getting involved in office gossip and politics. No matter how much you try to avoid it, somehow, you end up trapped in the grapevine.

To experience career productivity —and, therefore, success—you need to learn how to escape that twisted whirlpool. This is because when you focus on the negativities, you become negative yourself, and as a quote by Buddha states:

“Our life is shaped by our mind, for we become what we think.”

You don’t want to turn into someone who claws his/her way up to the top by badmouthing others, right?

Since that’s the case, I will share steps to leverage the power of mindfulness to stop getting into office politics:

#: Be aware of gossip and politics

To stop allowing office gossip to distract you from work, first, you need to be aware of office politics.

Pay attention to how your colleagues act, talk, and behave around you and others. For example if a colleague badmouths someone or spreads a rumor about someone, this is just office politics at play. If you also notice a colleague trying too hard to please someone, again this is office politics. Even when someone asks you to team up against another person, understand that for what it is. It is office gossip and politics are at play.

Start observing people, their body language, and their style of talking more closely and mindfully. The more you see them, the better you will understand how different people behave.

For instance, a colleague may call another colleague a mean name as a way to demean him or her. On the other hand, another colleague may wrinkle her nose when she sees another team member. These signs help you understand how people engage in office politics and are crucial to avoiding it.

#: Excuse yourself from the scenario

Once you know the different signs of office gossip, you can sense when someone wants to engage in this vice. The instant you sense this, politely excuse yourself from the scenario.

Do not cut the conversation abruptly because doing so can make others suspicious of you. However, do it very casually and cleverly. For instance:

If your colleague starts gossiping about your boss and his affair, it is best if you excuse yourself. This is because your colleague could ask you of your views, and you would be party to that conversation. This could end up causing problems later. In addition, when you avoid engaging in gossiping, you keep your mind free from clutter. This enables you to focus better on your work.

#: Keep your vision in mind

Gossiping can become very exciting, especially if someone throws in a lot of “spice.” If you are usually around colleagues who gossip too much, getting pulled into the whirlwind will be easy. This is why you need to keep your vision in mind and think of what this job means to you.

Write down in your journal why you love your job, why you do it, and what motivates you. Additionally, reflect on your professional vision and write it down in bold letters. Make a copy of this account and reflect on it at least once daily. Whenever someone starts to tittle-tattle, recall those points as a way to focus on what matters the most: your vision.

#: Prioritize your work

Every morning, evaluate your schedule, revise it if necessary, and reflect on the gains of each task.

If you are going to prepare the report of a recently completed project, write down why that task matters. For example, creating a report would ensure that you keep all the necessary records of a project. This will ensure that you have all the essential details whenever you need them.

By doing this, you focus on the reasons why doing your tasks is essential. Recall these points and prioritize your work-related tasks every time someone starts gossiping or plans a scheme against a colleague. When you know what matters more, you successfully prioritize the critical task and can ignore the ‘gossip sessions.’

#: Weigh the pros and cons

Gossiping and scheming plots against others can be fun, but it can also be very draining. Whenever you feel excited about engaging in office gossip, consciously list down the pros and cons of doing so.

While gossiping and making plans to claw your way up to the top is exciting, it also has its downsides.

Firstly, this one-off practice can soon turn into a bad habit that can be hard to break. Secondly, gossipers often meet unfavorable ends. Therefore, if you turn into one, expect your ‘gossiping’ side to come to light soon enough, and its damaging results. For instance, it can ruin your relationship with your boss, especially if you have been scheming against him/her. This could land you into a lot of trouble and you may even end up losing your job.

Gossiping and office politics are also time and energy wasters. These vices eat away at the time, effort, and energy you could spend doing productive tasks. Moreover, don’t forget the age-old adage that states: ‘as you sow so shall you reap.’

If you are digging a trench for someone, eventually, because that is what you sow, you will fall into one. Since you do not want that to happen, it is best to avoid office gossip and politics.

Mindfully engage in these practices and aim to become more aware of your thoughts. Once you are more aware of your thoughts, you can replace the negative ones with positive ones.

In my book – How To Be Mindful Of Thoughts: Steps To Achieving Mindfulness And Living In The Moment (Buddha on the Inside Book 3), I discuss various other approaches you can use to increase mindfulness. Get your copy and see your productivity at work increase rapidly.