Do you have certain co-workers who just drive you crazy? Having a Strategy for Dealing With Difficult Co-Workers Anyone who works with other people — and that’s the vast majority of us — has had to Deal with a problematic co-worker at some point in their career. Whether it’s the office brown-noser; the office gossip; the person who steals your ideas and claims them as their own; or the jealous and competitive colleague who tries to sabotage your success, eventually everyone is going to encounter a co-worker who’s problematic. The most important thing to realize when dealing with people like this is that it’s not about you. These are complicated, even troubled individuals who can’t help but act out their issues in the workplace. While the work environment might seem like a big family in that the dynamics can often be similar to parent-child and sibling interactions, it’s essential to remember that the people at work are not your family or loved ones. Your supervisors are not your parents, and your co-workers aren’t your siblings or your friends. While some managers and co-workers might be incredibly supportive, helpful and even fun to work with, it’s not their responsibility to love you or to make you feel good about yourself. We all need to love and accept ourselves no matter what our boss or co-workers feel, and we shouldn’t look to them to boost our self-esteem. Although we spend most of our waking hours at work and our jobs can provide us with a great deal of satisfaction, pride, meaning, and fulfillment, we must be careful not to have our entire self-worth bound up in our job. When we take responsibility for our sense of self and have other things in our life that bring us fulfillment and self-worth, we’re less...

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