The No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity at Work (Jon Gordon)

by Jon Gordon

Every one of us will face negativity, energy vampires, and obstacles on the road to success. That is why one of the most important things we can do in business and life is to stay positive with strategies that turn negative energy into positive solutions.

After all, every complaint represents an opportunity to turn something negative into a positive.

complained: (1) because they were fearful and helpless and (2) because it had become a habit.

life you have a choice between two roads. The positive road and the negative road. The positive road will lead to enhanced health, happiness, and success and the negative road will lead to misery, anger, and failure. Since your bus can’t be on two roads at the same time, you must decide which road you want to be on. And

You can get off the negative road and hop on the positive road right now. The positive road is never closed. And if you ever get off of it, you can always get back on.

Each time we catch ourselves complaining, we can say, ‘Okay, I don’t like this or I’m not happy about this. So then, what do I want? What will make me happy? What thought will bring me peace instead of frustration? What actions can I take to rectify this?’ Let your complaints tell you what you don’t want, so you can focus on what you do want. Every complaint represents an opportunity to turn something negative into a positive. We can use complaining as a catalyst for positive change in our own lives, at work, and in the world. So I say, ‘Let your complaints about problems move you to solutions.

Never doubt your teammates, because when they’re under pressure they will do something amazing.

Employees are not allowed to mindlessly complain to their coworkers. If they have a problem or complaint about their job, their company, their customer, or anything else, they are encouraged to bring the issue to their manager or someone who is in a position to address the complaint. However, the employees must share one or two possible solutions to their complaint as well.