RULE 36: Don't Bitch

Yep, life ain’t fair. Sometimes colleagues shirk and you end up with extra work; bosses can be ill prepared for their jobs and as such are incompetent and often inconsistent; idiots get promoted all around you; there’s too much work to do; there are too many stupid systems in place; idiots thwart you at every turn. It’s true—life’s a bitch. 

Now tell me how moaning helps in any one of these scenarios. Tell me how moaning will change one single thing. It won’t. It doesn’t. Moaning is a time-wasting device invented by sad people who haven’t enough work to do. And they’re usually the ones standing next to the ones gossiping. They may even be the same ones—chances are they are. And when they’ve finished having a good moan, they’ll have a good gossip.

Moaning is pointless. It is unproductive and achieves nothing. All it does is: 

• Identifies you as idle, petty, trivial 

• Encourages you to turn the corners of your mouth down—not attractive 

• Wastes time 

• Makes you a magnet for other moaners 

• Gets you a reputation as someone who doesn’t offer anything productive or helpful 

• Demotivates you and sets up a vicious circle 

So, what are you going to do if you are a habitual moaner? Easy, make sure that whenever you do moan you make yourself offer a solution to whatever it is you are moaning about. If you can’t see a solution, you aren’t allowed to moan. Try that for a few weeks, and you’ll stop moaning quite naturally.

Bitching about others invariably takes place behind their backs. Next time you feel the need for a good bitch about someone, make yourself go and do it to their face. If they aren’t present in the room, don’t do it. Simple Rule, but it works. Once they are there, you’ll stop bitching; it’s too hard to keep doing it when you’ve upset everyone in the office. If you’ve got something to say, say it to their face (but do see the introduction to this Rule first—If you can’t say anything nice— shut up)

MOANING IS POINTLESS. IT IS UNPRODUCTIVE AND ACHEIVES NOTHING.