One will quickly wonder and say “how does this relate to office ethics and etiquettes? But I know that those who have seen how destructive and disastrous inferiority complex issues can be will quickly understand how so well connected they are. Inferiority Complex is like a virus, it has a poisonous and corrupting effect especially on the mind, so while you’re busy learning new ways to improve yourself in your workplace and busy reading every article and book on office etiquettes, with that virus in your system? If you don’t take care of it, your reading becomes a waste of time.

You wonder why you’re not growing. Any attempt you make to achieve success or to become superior will certainly be of a great benefit to your life, however, all of these achievements will act as a crust that covers the inferiority complex you suffer from instead of helping you get over it. Some even take it to the extreme by blaming it on one innocent Uncle in the village who they imagine is after their progress. They become paranoid and suspicious of everyone including their colleagues while the virus grows and thrives happily. Many don’t detect this virus until it has caused grievous harm to their psychological disposition. Sadly, when this virus achieves this purpose, it affects everything around them, starting from the office environment. The victim spends more time at work. Overcoming inferiority complex can never happen by collecting money, authority, power or social approval simply because any attempt that you make to gain self-worth based on materialistic achievements will result in the loss of this self-worth as soon as you lose these material gains. Still lost? Okay, let us start by defining and identifying what these inferiority complex issues are and then see how we can deal with them.

Dealing with inferiority complex: First of all, you must identify and determine the root cause of the inferiority complex syndrome. This may be as simple as a bad childhood experience such as rejection or being called names like ‘dumb’ or ‘stupid’. A little digression….. Parents beware what you call your kids, the consequences are long term and they can be damaging. Determining the root cause of your inferiority complex is an essential step that can help you get over it quickly. Try to recollect your childhood and see if there was a bad experience that may be the cause of the complex problem. If this is the case, I suggest that you should initiate a change in your self-talk. No more negative self-talk. Self-talk means the words you say to yourself. Where you find yourself using words like “I know she won’t accept me because I am dull and ugly” or “I am the worst dressed person to the office today”, just stop and fix your negative self- talk. It can be disastrous because no matter what you’ve accomplished over the years, negative self- talk and inferiority complex will only make it not worth the while. You don’t carry the blame for the ignorance of others, constantly and consciously remind yourself that you can’t be worthless just because someone who was uninformed called you ‘stupid’ when you were a child. Fixing your mental self- image will certainly end the inferiority complex.

Now, let’s connect all these to your corporate environment and how it could have been the problem all along and you never even had a clue. Inferiority complex can lead to you not being able to work effectively with others, it may lead to unproductivity, because even when you have a smart idea to proffer in your workplace, that thought comes, “what if what I’m about to say is stupid?” It leads to foolhardiness (boldness or pride mixed with foolishness). You put up the proud act as a cover up for the inferiority complex you feel, you can’t be corrected. You become defensive. Your colleagues are laughing and then that thought comes again “I think they’re laughing at me”. It makes everything wrong and then gets you to a depressed state…..You don’t want to go there, believe me.

Here’s something else you can do to help kill this virus. Remove the labels that you have acquired. Labels are words that describe certain bad traits such as idiot, fool, stupid or whatever. Getting rid of those bad labels can give you a strong push towards overcoming those feelings of inferiority complex.   Self- confidence and inferiority complex are opposites. Once you have spent time building one, the other leaves you. I don’t need to further stress the need to build your self- confidence. It is the best gift you can ever give yourself.

Author: Annabelle Macford Okwara