When we are at work, we should sip on our drinks frequently (whether its water, tea, coffee, etc.), but we should never gossip.

Sadie said this and Katie said that. Blake did this and Jake did that. Ian is this and Ryan is that. In the work environment we are likely to have gossipers around us. Chances are that we may become victims of having to hear the daily drama series from these gossipers. We may get tempted to contribute to the gossip without realizing the harm in it. The best thing to do is minimize the gossip conversations as much as possible and never contribute to it. When we listen and not contribute to any of the gossips, we will naturally become someone who is respected and trusted by everyone in the organization.

Why not gossip?

There are many reasons to why we shouldn’t gossip. See below for 3 examples.

• Protect yourself! – Gossiping is an infection. It taints our characteristic and personality. Once we indulge into gossiping, we will surely become less trustworthy to others.
• Don’t play yourself! – If someone is gossiping to you, they are likely to gossip about you. It’s that simple.
• Purify yourself! – Gossiping is a waste of time and energy. For the long run its not healthy for our mind and body. Let’s keep ourselves purified by not getting into the captivity of negativity by gossiping.

How to avoid gossip?

There are many ways to avoid gossip. See below for 3 examples.

Think of gossiping as an interest-bearing credit card. We can freely use it to purchase whatever we want until we reach our credit limit. Soon after we will be liable to pay interest on whatever amount we didn’t pay back on time. Similarly, when we gossip we will likely reach the limit to when someone is affected negatively. Soon after we will be held accountable for any damage done due to the gossiping.

• Hunger Strike! – When someone is sharing rumors with us whether individually or in a group setting, we may feel hungry to feed into the conversation. It’s best not to contribute to that conversation.
• Interest Free! – Don’t show any interest. When others gossip, its best to not show much of an interest in the topic.
• Smooth Criminal! – We should try to change the subject smoothly and steer the conversation to a different topic.