How to Make Envy Work to Your Advantage

Envy is often considered a negative emotion, and subsequently a waste of energy. In the young professional world, envy runs rampant and causes many of us a great deal of stress as we begrudgingly look at others and their successes, asking “why them” and “why not me?” While the envy that leads to stress, unhappiness, and lack of productivity is certainly not helpful, there is no such thing as a useless emotion. Envy can also be incredibly inspiring, motivating, and enlightening, and so here are some notable tips to help you put envy to work for you:

Fuel your fire
Envy is one of the most powerful human emotions, and as we’ve seen in both art and life, it can lead people to do some pretty crazy things. When we experience envy toward another person’s success, status, opportunities, lifestyle, etc., a potent visceral reaction occurs within us that can cause deep, genuine pain. Again, this is not necessarily a bad thing. As long as we can learn how to channel that pain down a productive path, envy can be a very motivational tool. Envying others who are doing better or who have more can help us set goals, energize and push us toward those goals, and actually aid in our overall success and happiness. 


Learn a little
There’s a big difference between those we envy and those we admire. We look up to those we admire, see them as inspiring people whom we wish to be more like. Alternatively, those we envy are often seen as unworthy of their good fortune, and are people we generally dislike. Though we may feel it’s unfair that certain people have reached success or gained recognition, there is still something to be learned from those we envy (see a past Notable article: What Our Dislike for Others Can Reveal About Us). Worthy or not, they have something we want, and experiencing envy can indicate an opportunity for exploration into learning how they got it. Additionally, the concept of worthiness is a very personal one, and one that can use some tweaking on a regular basis. Whether or not someone deserves what they have is based on our own moral judgments, and so it’s wise to take a moment to consider if envy may actually be getting in the way of discovering a new mentor, and if the object of our envy might just have a thing or two to teach us.  


Self Reflect
Finally, like any situation that can cause stress, pain, and general unhappiness, experiencing envy provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon our own lives and ourselves. In other recent notable articles (“Still Not Looking in the Mirror?” and “Would You Hire You?”), we discussed the importance of self-reflection for young professionals, and explained how looking in the mirror and questioning our own features and faults can significantly aid in our personal and professional development. When it comes to envy, diving into the who, what and why of your feelings may reveal more at play, which can aid and enrich you further along your journey toward success and happiness.