The Victim Mentality
My adverse circumstances are not my fault.
When people believe that everything
is happening to them and, as
a result, they are not responsible for the outcome, they are living with the
victim mentality.
Of course bad things
happen to people (and companies) that may be beyond their control. But being a
victim doesn’t mean you have a victim mentality. The question is: What
do you do next?
Individuals can blame
their companies for their problems. Companies may point to their staff or outside market forces as the
reasons they can’t achieve their goals.
In the end, no matter how
legitimate the reason for our current state, nothing will change if we don’t
stop making excuses and take responsibility to fix the problem.
The Lottery Mentality
I will derive substantial benefit for little or no effort
or investment.
We sometimes expect
people in our organizations to change culture, process, tools, job responsibilities,
locations, and even industries while we make little or no investment in
training, communication, resources, or troubleshooting.
It’s not uncommon for companies
to look for low cost quick wins.
They want to WOW investors
today even if it means disappointing them tomorrow.
They’re looking to win the
innovation lottery!
What’s the antidote for
these two perspectives?
Reflection, hard work, and
personal accountability on all sides!
Note: The first person I
saw to write about the
“lottery mentality” was Tim
Draayer of Live Your
Best Life.
Ellen – That’s a really good question. I’m not sure of the motivation – some people reflect on their accountability when things are going horribly wrong, some reflect when things are going well.
I think that the issue here is remembering that taking a “reflective” inventory all the time (when you’re satisfied and when you aren’t) is the only way to keep yourself honest. Like exercise or eating right, it’s something we should all do on a regular basis.
Interesting opposites here Ann. It’s also interesting when victim thinkers adpt lottery thinking because of an event in their favor. It also seems to me that we each play each of the roles at times, and that, as you indicate – the key is to reflect. What do you feel most motivates folks to do that kind of accountable thinking? Ideas?