PP 187: Gossip… A Waste of Time and Energy

In today’s episode, I’m going to talk about gossip.

In the past five years, my journey as an entrepreneur has seen so much gossip, that sometimes it’s just appalling and sickening. And while this is the Positive Productivity podcast, today, I want to just remind everyone to cut, if not significantly decrease, the amount of gossip that you have in your life.

Just this morning, I heard of another instance where somebody was talking about me behind my back and saying that I wasn’t as skilled as I was. And it was amazing the person that it was coming from because that person, I had only worked together on a very limited basis and not even directly.

So while that person had been exposed to my experience and my skills, had they just taken a little bit of time to speak to me directly, then the story would have been completely different.

Whenever we gossip about somebody else, there’s always that possibility that what you say about somebody will get back to that person firsthand. And, I want to tell you that that is never a good experience, whether it be for you, or for the person who was being gossiped about.

In many cases, the gossip may be a stretch of the truth, if not an all out lie. And I guarantee that the person who was gossiped about will be insulted when it’s determined that it’s a false piece of information that has been passed on. That does not make the person who was gossiping look any better in the eyes of the person who was in the middle. In all actuality, it makes the gossiper lose a lot of credibility. And, potentially, the person in the middle could lose a lot of faith in the gossiper.

We all ingest so much information on a daily basis, and we can be hearing tidbits of this and tidbits of that. But we have to remember what is most important in our lives. If you’re like me, right now what’s most important is staying focused on my goals, and making sure that my family knows that they’re loved, including my husband.

Gossip doesn’t have a role to play in any part of that, and, honestly, it’s a huge waste of my time.

While I was a little bit insulted and irritated by the gossip that I heard about this morning, I had to just laugh it off. And while I am talking about it right now, I’m going to let it go. I’m not even going to bring it up with the person who was spreading the false information.

Why?

Because that is not a good use of my time. The person doesn’t know me. And at this point, I don’t know that I want to build any bigger of a relationship with that person than I already had. I know we won’t be sending any business over to them. And based upon what they’re saying about me, I know that they won’t be sending any referrals over to me either.

But you know what?

That is perfectly okay.

Considering that they don’t know what they’re talking about, I don’t need the business that they would be sending, and I would rather to spend that energy building relationships with people who I truly admire and respect than to put any more energy there.

And that’s what I want you to think about as well.

Gossip… A Waste of Time and Energy

Don’t spend energy that you don’t have gossiping. Don’t spend energy that could be better spent elsewhere talking about other people behind their back, because when it does reach the person that you’re talking about, it’s not going to accomplish anything good in your life.

Take those minutes that you’re spending gossiping every day and make them something truly wonderful. Make them into a product or a service or offering that is really going to impact somebody’s life in a positive way. Or even take that time into something fulfilling or really good for you. Perhaps take a few moments for self care. Go get yourself a coffee or take a  relaxing bubble bath or nap.

But do something better with that time. There are only a certain amount of minutes in a day and there’s only a certain amount of minutes in a week, so make sure that every minute you are spending doing something, it’s something that is truly worth that time.

Now with that said, go forth, and make it a positive and productive day.

Gossip… A Waste of Time and Energy