Be Healthy, Well, & Inspired

I wrote a post a few weeks about The Four Agreements.  I promised I would write about how I use The Four Agreements in the workplace.

There has been a lot of drama in my workplace.  In a nutshell,  the president of the hospital bought an enterprise wide computer system for the medical center.  I am currently on the inpatient medical software team so the drama was our department was being eliminated in favor of a new inpatient team.  Needless to say, we did not lose our jobs, after a lot of drama.  Some of our team members decided to stay for two years until the current computer system sunsets, some of our team left for better jobs, and some left for the new software.  I chose to work with the new software and in the meantime will take some graduate nurse practitioner classes online.

To recap the Four Agreements:

1. Be impeccable with your word
2. Don’t take anything personally
3. Don’t make assumptions
4. Always do your best

Be impeccable with your word and don’t gossip. There will always be office gossip but,  I refuse to take part in any gossip. I do not like to speak about people who are not there to defend themselves.  I learned a long time ago if I were to speak about someone, it will be about something I can tell that person myself.  In other words, speak nicely. Words are powerful and can hurt someone.  I know firsthand. I was the target of gossip a few years back. And it hurt that people were talking about me and cannot believe how vicious people are.  And it wasn’t even true!

With all of the drama in my workplace, I chose to not to take anything personally, maybe initially, I did.  But, all of my decisions were made with care to benefit me.   I am not a victim.  This agreement was exceptionally hard to learn. Because I am very sensitive and I do take things personally. It’s hard not to.

The third agreement is don’t make assumptions.   If we do, we start believing them as truth.  I think we all have made assumptions at one point in time.   At work, I assumed this particular person did not care what happened to us or if we have jobs.  I created this drama in my head. If I need to know something, I will ask the source directly and not assume.  My colleagues and I were good at making assumptions. Oh, the stories we concocted in our heads and then we really started believing them.  We all assumed our current employer wanted us out of the institution and that is why they are saying that and doing this. Crazy huh?

The last agreement is to always do your best.  If you do your best, no one can take that away from you.  And for me to not worry about the future and to stay in the present moment, smiling, happy.  This is how I used The Four Agreements at work.  How would you use The Four Agreements?

{image:  found via entaoment.com}

Tags: 4 agreements, toltec wisdom