Dealing with Difficult People

Difficult people defy logic. Some are blissfully unaware of the negative impact that they have on those around them, and others seem to derive satisfaction from creating chaos and pushing other people’s buttons. Either way, they create unnecessary complexity, strife and worst of all stress.

Studies have long shown that stress can have a lasting, negative impact on the brain. Exposure to even a few days of stress compromises the effectiveness of neurons in the hippocampus -- an important brain area responsible for reasoning and memory. Weeks of stress cause reversible damage to neuronal dendrites (the small “arms” that brain cells use to communicate with each other), and months of stress can permanently destroy neurons. Stress is a formidable threat to your success -- when stress gets out of control, your brain and your performance suffer.

Most sources of stress at work are easy to identify. Difficult people.

We’ve all been there. Be it work, school or business lunch, we’ve all found ourselves in situations where we have been forced to interact with difficult people.

When it comes to workplace they do exist at work and the better you become at dealing with them, the happier you’ll be at work.

Difficult people may find every opportunity to create problems or they may simply use passive resistance to waylay your best efforts to move your agenda forward.

However, while you cannot control others, you can control and improve yourself by:

Recognising your attitudes and actions Developing coping strategies Managing your anger

I wish you a happy learning and let’s get started!