High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Laugh Your Way to a Happy Workplace

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• Laugh Your Way to a Happy Workplace: "If you see a path to a positive reality, your brain will be quicker to see humor in the negative events of your external world. Thus when you have a negative work environment, you can use humor as a strategic tool to help others see a more positive reality."
• The Benefits of Being Nice to Your Competitors: "It may not seem like such a big deal, but once you have published or voiced a negative comment, you can't take it back. It just isn't professional and reflects negatively on you."
• 5 Leadership Lessons from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: "The idea is premised on something many leaders still find counterintuitive: on not knowing all the answers—and instead bringing together a committed, collaborative group that can sort them out together."
• 7 Ways to Be Utterly Unforgettable in Business and Life: "Do something out of the ordinary that your client or customer would never expect. For example, instead of sending a text or an email, send a handwritten thank-you note, a gesture that is becoming more and more rare."
• 15 Websites to Jump Start Your Career: "Whether you're kicking off a job hunt, preparing to ask for a raise, or just looking to refresh your personal brand, these sites offer a vast array of resources for any point in your career or search."

Healthy Versus Unhealthy Competition. The Key Differences.

I do not consider myself a competitive person. However, like many people, I enjoy succeeding and knowing I did well. In talking with a client the other day – someone who categorized herself as extremely competitive – I began thinking about how a competitive spirit can be detrimental to both your career and your personal life.

To some, healthy competition is a bit of an oxymoron. We have moved toward raising our children in an “everyone’s a winner” society. However, I believe competition and ultimately failure – when taken in healthy doses – can actually be good for you. This is why my husband and I play our best when playing games with our children. Everyone needs to know how it feels to lose, lose gracefully, learn from mistakes, and get back in the game.

Here are some ways that you can help yourself distinguish between healthy and unhealthy competition.

Healthy Competition:
- encourages the people involved to strive further and push themselves harder than they would have without competition.

- drives you to achieve more growth and success – not because you are driven to win or lose – but because you are doing your best at something that you care about.

- changes the boundaries of what you believe you are capable of and stretches the limits of what you believe is possible.

- requires the courage to take risks, requires the willingness to fail, and necessitates a vulnerability to admit you are ambitious to succeed.

- makes you feel proud of yourself for trying – no matter the outcome.

Unhealthy Competition:
- causes you to feel negatively about other peoples’ successes as opposed to motivated or inspired.

- happens when you wish for others to have obstacles or limitations so that they are held back.

- causes you to feel shame when you lose or fail.

- motivates you to seek competitors who are naturally weaker than you, so that you will feel the advantage.