1 Thing Complaining Accomplishes

No one likes a complainer.  Odds are you either sit next to one, are friends with one, married one, date one, were raised by one, created a little complainer of your own or, heck, are one yourself.  They’re everywhere.  Everyone knows the complainer.  Gosh darn it, they WILL find some negativity in every possible scenario, always keeping you on your toes with how they will continue complaining.  Nothing ever goes right. Ever.  They’re never impressed, and never satisfied.  Most confounding, what would they do if there wasn’t anything to complain about!?  I am convinced that these people would go crazy if they actually got every outcome they hoped for.  They wouldn’t know what to do with the situation!

Complaining is a cancer.  It spreads like the zombies in World War Z…taking over and infecting everything it touches.  In the office ecosystem, this can single-handedly bring down an organization.  It intoxicates relationships, and passes the negativity virus on to whomever is connected to that complainer.

Shockingly, I think some people would argue that complaining is healthy.  That we need to just “get it all out”.  Well, I would agree, to an extent – but certainly within reason.  Venting about things that need to change in an organization (relationship, etc.) and then providing solutions for those “things” is indeed healthy.  But, incessantly whining about how pointless that business law class is, or the lameness of the company dress code, or your horrible sales goal, or the food at the last conference attended; these chronic complaints are completely pointless.  Laying issues out on the table, with a positive approach on how to handle them moving forward is great, and needs to happen.  Anything less is likely not worth saying at all.

The one thing complaining accomplishes, is a guarantee to be stuck right where you are.  Complainers rarely succeed.  They don’t move up in their careers. They don’t impress people or stand out (well, maybe, but NOT in a good way).  Complainers don’t start things or create new ideas.  Complainers sit and wallow.  They don’t want things to change, but rather stagnate.  They thrive on gossip and trashing other ideas, company initiatives, sales goals, creative thinking, and usually others they work or study with.

And herein lies the greater question…what exactly IS the point of complaining?  Does it ever, in any scenario, help anything?  Does complaining ever bring value back to you?  After all, we should be trying to build value in others and create value in our daily work.  So, where does complaining fit?  Complaining doesn’t get a good result back.  Best case scenario, the person who listens to you knows you’re unhappy.  So what?  Instead, pivot this principle into feedback with an intent of providing a solution.  What you realize in doing this is that the minor complaints, like the examples above, become worthless to verbalize.  Complaining about a college class or a coworker, becomes unnecessary because there might not be a solution.  If there is, then propose one.

Going back to the opening comments.  If you can’t think of anyone in your life who is a complainer, I would reference the famous Warren Buffett quote about poker, “if you’ve been playing poker for half an hour and haven’t figured out who the sucker is…you’re the sucker”.  If you don’t know a complainer, then you’re the complainer.  Don’t be the complainer.  Instead, bring to light areas of improvement and offer constructive input on ways to improve the situation.