Are you sick of people walking all over you? Are you one of the goodhearted people at your work who people take advantage of because they know you have a hard time saying no? Are you the one that people like to make fun of so that they can have a good time? No matter what your reasons for reading this are. Today I have a few tips for you that can help you stand up to these type of people so that they will see you as a person who will not be manipulated, bullied and in general just jerked around!
Be More Confident
The first step that a person needs to take in order to stand up for them self and stop people taking advantage of them, is to come out of their shells, realize how great they are and be more confident in themselves. Of course this is much easier said than done, but being more confident and having belief in yourself and your abilities is the first step to being able to stand up for yourself and tell people NO! Do what you need to do to get more confident: lose some weight, take some classes or keep telling yourself positive things each morning. Do whatever you need to do in order to boost your confidence.
Stop Seeing Yourself As A Victim
Having people walk all over you and knowing that they are taking advantage of you can be really sole destroying and it can be very hard to not feel like you are a victim. When you act like a victim you will shy away and hide in yourself and those people who take advantage of you will smell this a mile off! Stop being a victim, take your destiny into your own hands and stop making excuses for why things are happening. You are only a victim because you are allowing these jerks to treat you that way. Once you get the confidence to stop being the victim you can stand up to them and tell them you are not willing to just do whatever they want you to do!
Be More Assertive
Now do not start yelling at people and pushing people around in your workspace, but if you want to have people stop walking all over and be able to stand up to yourself then right after being confident being assertive is the next step. When a person asks you to do something and you know that it’s not fair or just totally unreasonable then flat out tell them no and tell then your reasons why it’s not fair and you are not willing to do it. Be strong and do not mix your words, just tell them the truth as to why you are not doing what they are telling you to do. Most people who take advantage of you only do so because you let them. Once you start being more assertive and standing up for yourself you will be very surprised at how quick the back off or they change the tone and way they speak to you.
Use Your Body
No, do not use it for sexual favors or use it to put a beat down on people! What I am talking about here is body language. When you are shy and those people are walking all over you. Your body language says just as much as your words. If you are all hunched over and keeping your head down then they see you as weak and timid prey. Stand tall, with your head up and look them right in the eye. Do things like lean forward as you talk, do not break eye contact and use hand gestures when you are talking (no, the middle finger is not a hand gesture, although I guess technically it is!), this lets them see you are serious when you talk and that there is no pushing you around.