Are You Growing Weeds or Flowers?

I’m spending a lot of my time restoring my yard these days. All those years of summer working on the whitewater course and days of playing catch-up with paperwork and then my clients, left my yard in dire need of care.

Since I grow perennials, there are times when the early growth is hard to tell the weeds from the flowers. The plant in the picture at the left was taking over my rock garden but I was afraid that it might be something I wanted there. My husband took it to a gardening center and they defined it as Pigweed and advised us to get rid of it quickly or it would take over.

You might be growing weeds in your job search or even in your present job and think you are growing flowers.

How are you Growing Weeds?

• When you spend time in your breakroom or during the day with the office gang cutting down management or other employees, or worse yet, the customers, you are growing weeds! You let the little comments grow until they start strangling out any good conversation.
• When you spend your networking time, online or in real life (IRL), either self-promoting continuously or never finding ways to positively spin your talents, you are growing weeds.
• When you talk about customers or your present or past company negatively on social media, you are growing weeds.
• When you let the toxic comments of others make you defensive or depressed, you are also growing weeds.

How to Grow Flowers

• Pull out the weeds – change the subject a break or during your office desk chats. Make it positive. Make sure you focus on the work that needs doing. The economic recovery is happening but you still need to be a quality employee to make your next move.
• Pull out the weeds – networking with a purpose. Make sure that you are interjecting subject matter comments in your area of expertise without sounding like you are spamming or self-promoting.
• Pull out the weeds – don’t make negative comments anywhere. My constant advice to clients is don’t burn bridges, you never know when you might need to cross one.
• Pull out the weeds – if the situation has gone on for a long time, it is time to move on. If you have tried to be positive and the toxicity around you is taking over, leave.