Tips on developing thick skin?
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Good one Booz....
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Home sweet Westin
Hello! Anyone work at GE Healthcare?
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Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.
Just go.
Try to trust in the work that you do. Let it speak for you. Also, don’t care so much about what people say about you. Be honest, be open, be kind, but most importantly, be yourself.
Trusting your work: yes. That’s a very liberating realization.
Don’t moisturize.
People often take out on others what their own insecurities are, e.g, partner on my team makes fun of the manager’s haircut every couple weeks he gets one - note the partner is completely bald. It’s not about you but stuff they’re anxious about.
1) It’s not about you
2) it’s not about him/her
3) you both represent your firm (same or different doesn’t matter)
4) you can’t fix stupid and you can’t feed insecurity and you can’t fix ego
Finally, getting angry and upset is drinking poison and expecting the other person to die
Work with assholes. Easiest way to develop a thick skin.
Ask out super hot people. Side effects are nice.
Have kids. Then you don’t give a sh** about the bloody job anymore. In a good way. It level sets you in “what really matters in life”.
A Senior Manager once told me to not smile too much. Sad ass evil woman she was in many ways. But what did I do? I started smiling more! 😉😁 😉
Read Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins
Thanks for having the courage to ask a tough question. I could live in this thread for weeks.
There is no such thing as developing a thick skin other than adopting a “screw it” attitude. We should be authentic and human. I think the thick skin mentality needs to die an excruciating death. Setting boundaries is far more effective. If you are reaching a threshold that’s key information that you are being pushed. You don’t need to deal with other people’s crap. Time to set clear expectations and boundaries. Your priority should be you at this time. Look after yourself. None of this is worth the stress or being pushed to a threshold. Document it. Escalate it. And do a very healthy dose of CYA. Sorry you are dealing with this while you are pregnant. No job is ever worth this. Good luck!
Get yourself a hobbie that allows you to have a let out, I do MMA and its toughen me up physically as much as mentally.. and if I really wanna have a cry I'll suck it up and punch a friend in the face 😂
Sun and no lotion, repeat until leathery
Diamonds are made under pressure.
Understand that if someone is angry, they likely have some extenuating circumstances that are causing them to be tense. Understanding we are all human with our own issues helped me.
Vipassana Meditation - the world is painful. Misery doesn't come from the pain, it comes from you consciously and subconsciously reacting to the pain.
Growth Mindset - if you didn't experience pain, then you wouldn't have grown.
Looks like then many of us are growing every second of the work day... 😂
Use a lot of profanity in your internal monologue.
That way, when somebody pisses you off, you can just silently cuss them out without outwardly appearing to be unprofessional.
Four years later and I still haven’t. If everyone were to have thick skin, we sure would live in a hardened world - more so than we already do. Personally, I think it’s okay to be sensitive about some things. It also brings about a different perspective and healthy depth to your work ethic.
Throw yourself into the mix of things. Do things just because they make you uncomfortable or because they are out of your depth, regardless of whether you win or lose the battle. Be bold because you only live once. Do something knowing that the woman/man, that boss or that client will say no. Do not be afraid to fail. There is no way to grow thick skin without pain and failure. You have to live it. I grew thick skin because I worked sales jobs when I was in college and I got used to rejection. That experience is serving me very well right now because I just take things in stride.
Try Wendy Palmer’s leadership embodiment work. She has somatic exercises for being resilient and neutral while taking feedback or for being triggered by people in general. She’s got some YouTube videos. Good luck. Sometimes it’s not the thickness of your skin that’s the problem...
be a snake