Practice Good Envy to Make Your Jealousy More Useful
It’s okay to be a little jealous of someone else from time to time. The big question is what to do with this feeling. If you are jealous of someone, but you know you can do the same if you try, practicing soft envy can help.
As the blog Barking Up the Wrong Tree explains, “soft envy” is when you see something that someone else has and you know you can achieve the same if you try, but you just decide not to. Please note, we are not talking about downplaying major accomplishments (“I could be president! It’s not that hard.”), But rather realistically saying, “The only reason I don’t have this is because I prefer put your efforts elsewhere. … »It can do one of two things: it can either neutralize any negative effects of your jealousy, or it can encourage you to get to work.
I will never be LeBron James. I won’t even try. And that’s okay. But research shows that mild jealousy can get us back on track to get motivated. So the next time you have to feel good to someone but don’t really do it, ask yourself: can I achieve this? If so, it can be a great motivator. And knowing that you can get what they have kills bad feelings.
Sometimes you may find that you really want what someone else has enough. Maybe next time you decide that it is not worth replacing what you already have. After all, you only have a certain number of hours in a day. However, envy is not always a bad motivator. It all depends on how you deal with this feeling.
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