If you find yourself blaming others or external factors for situations you could have influenced, you may have a victim mentality.
It’s easy to blame others and forgive ourselves. However, this doesn’t benefit you or your business.
Blaming others for situations you could have controlled holds you back. It prevents you from learning and improving.
Wallowing in self-pity can be harmful. It can lead to a desire for the comfort of failure and the right to blame anyone but yourself.
We’ve encountered many small business owners with a victim mentality. They miss out on opportunities by spending their time blaming others.
If you notice yourself blaming others for business situations, consider seeking professional help. While you can break the cycle yourself, a professional can help you understand why and provide strategies to identify and address it.
If professional help isn’t appealing, meditation can help you find calm and stillness, reducing the influence of negative victimhood thoughts.
We are not not a psychologists or therapists. We recommend starting with a professional. However, here are some things we’ve done to focus on our role and the positive:
- Display reminders of success: Keep photos and other reminders of your successes on a noticeboard, at your desk, or somewhere in your business. Look at them regularly.
- Celebrate failures: Own your failures, such as a failed product, ineffective ad, or unprofitable business initiative. Learn from them.
- Exert control: If you see something negatively impacting your business, take ownership and address it early.
- Trust your intuition: If you sense something is wrong, address it immediately instead of waiting for it to become a problem.
- Say no: If you don’t want to do something, politely decline.
- Make informed decisions: Research, learn, and strive to be smarter in your decision-making.
- Expand your perspective: Victims may perceive limited control over their world. Look beyond your immediate circumstances and find ways to expand your influence.
- Foster accountability: Create a workplace culture where mistakes and poor decisions are acknowledged and learned from.
Blaming others for situations within your control doesn’t help you or your business. It may provide temporary relief but ultimately achieves nothing.
