Shout out to Regina!

Yes, that's me!

So my colleague sent me an email with the subject line

"Like to give a shout out to regina"

The email contained a link to an article about how social support at work led to a decrease in all causes of death. Interestingly, social support from supervisors had no impact on the risk factors for death.

I can say many things about my job but one thing I do enjoy is the social support I get at work. It makes sense that if you don't enjoy the people you spend time with for at least 8 hours, 5 days a week, your health will take a hit.

You hear many places talk about culture and it is mentioned again and again in presentations as you decide to apply for a job, during the interview, and then you. finally. get. to. the. workplace.

Now, culture means something. I finally understood what the big to do about culture once I realized it boiled down to fitting in.

You need to choose a workplace where the gap between who you are and who succeeds is very small.

How can a tree grow in the wrong soil? That's the analogy I think best describes a company's culture. The wrong soil can't help a great tree grow.

Here is the study about how social rejection is physically painful

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/fashion/is-rejection-painful-actually-it-is-studied.html?ref=fashion

and here is the article about good social support

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42995889/ns/health-health_care/t/chummy-co-workers-may-lengthen-your-life/

The Praise of the Praiseworthy

"The praise of the praiseworthy is above all rewards."

I actually heard the phrase "praise of the praiseworthy" from one of Tim Keller's sermons (he leads the church I attend www.redeemer.com) but after my Google search I think he might have been quoting that from Lord of the Rings.

I thought of this particular quote because I had written a corollary to it a few months ago.

"Do not seek approval and recognition from the wrong people, for the wrong reasons, in the wrong way."

(yes, I did bold my own quote. Blog author privilege :) )

As an additional reminder to myself, I even wrote it on fancy stationary and put it in my bag as a reminder. I found myself needing this reminder as an anchor for my actions and my thoughts as I unconsciously and consciously tried to impress people who I had found out said unflattering things about me. I think the more rational response would have been to sever ties with them or adjust the relationship accordingly but like guys who are drawn to girls who play "hard to get" I found myself wanting to prove their statements wrong. What a losing battle of time and energy and self-respect that was!

I did regain my sense of perspective and I wrote down my quote one morning so that I wouldn't forget it. I was inspired to write my Monday Musing on this topic because I realized I wasn't alone in trying to find the best way to deal with negative PR that others can spread about you.

The first step was to recognize that I didn't want to live any more moments of my life trying to impress people who were frankly not worthy of being impressed. The second epiphany is the Positive PR Pact(PPRP) that I created to combat the negative PR. I have proof that he PPRP works and I look forward to sharing more about it with you all next week and launching it on a larger scale in the future!