Your Worst Enemy Can be Your Best Teacher

have you ever met someone who pushes your buttons in the worst way possible what if I told you that this person could be the best thing for your business even if you can't stand them hi I'm Jana Hennemann and today we're talking about how your worst enemy can be the best teacher for you and your business let's talk about how to navigate this delightful relationship let's be honest we've all had one or two or maybe even five people who know exactly how to grind your gears they could be compet comptition they could be a client or they could be just someone who loves throwing and shade your way Carl Young is quoted as saying everything that irritates us can lead us to better understanding ourselves again the individuals we find the most difficult are often our best teachers keep in mind to have your boundaries pushed in business it's great for growth it's not always fun but if you're willing to embrace the chaos they're going to help you discover things you never knew about about yourself and even help you in your business things to consider one they don't care about your feelings you know that moment when someone says exactly what you're thinking but in the worst way possible yeah your enemy's feedback is not going to be sugarcoated it's harsh offensive and downright uncomfortable they don't care about your feelings and sometimes this is exactly what you need to hear what's worse is you might be thinking about them constantly trying to figure out how to win against them keep in mind though you're not winning you're just wasting your time two they don't play fair personally I can't stand it when people twist the truth or information in order to make themselves look better your enemy May thrive on this and they sometimes go out of their way to make you feel inferior this leads to an emotional tug of war it's exhausting I have a couple of family members that do this a few years ago I had a colleague and I use that term loosely who like to play these emotional games she constantly set me up for failure mind you I came into an organization that she had been a part of since the start and then when I came in the owner of the organization decided to put me above everyone else even though I told him it was a bad idea and when I started working in this organization he told me to have this lady show me the ropes which of course she didn't do i' ask her about standard operating procedures and she wouldn't tell me what they were or where I could find them what's worse is because I didn't know the rules I didn't know the rules of the game I often fell flat on my face more than once there was even one evening I received an angry call from the owner of this business because of something I didn't do correctly what I didn't know at the time was that she was on the call quietly listening luckily for me I owned the mistake without throwing throwing her under the bus even though I had no guidance I own the mistake and I told the owner how I was going to shift my behaviors the next day I found out she was on the call and that she was secretly hoping that I would throw her under the bus this made me Furious she is now actively sabotaging me so what did I do I had to get smart all these passive aggressive attacks setting me up for failure was teaching me that I had to figure things out faster than I was what did I do well I sat and I thought about it for a while and I decided Well I'm going to write a whole new book of standard operating procedures so I did just that I had them approved by the owner and then I took the next couple of weeks training the staff on how to follow them this not only helped any miscommunication that was happening or in the organization but it also prevented a lack of communication which was what I was experiencing beforehand the passive aggressive Jabs and attacks by this lady they persisted but they ended up having little to no effect on me because of the new standard operating procedures or Sops that I had put in place eventually we had it out one day and as her Superior I informed her that if she didn't shape up that I was going to let her go within 2 weeks she was less than thrilled to hear this and tried to tell me that the owner had her back more than he had mine but that wasn't really the case after a big long Duke in it out and heartfelt conversation after we ended up mending our ways after those tumultuous few months working together everything ended up smoothing out between us and we became friends the moral of the story was she taught me that I had to think outside of the box I learned that I was the master of my own results and that I needed to step up or step out there's actually a lot of upsides uh to having enemies one you get real unfiltered feedback we all have a friend that tells you everything is great you're doing wonderful go queen or whatever it is that they tell you they're not always helping you to grow your enemy on the other hand is the one that's going to tell you what's wrong what sucks and how you can be better it's brutal but it's necessary there's a caveat to this not all feedback is equal not all feedback is good feedback I've said this in past videos be careful who you get feedback from I wouldn't want to take marriage advice from someone who's never been married just like I wouldn't want to take driving lessons from a toddler you may not like someone personally when I first met this lady I didn't like her at all but I did respect her she had a lot of experience and she was very good at what she did as long as you respect them and they are where you want to be or have been where you want to be I think feedback is necessary listen to it at the very least I respected her and eventually she opened up and she can give me that feedback that I so desperately wanted and needed to do really well in this position two you learn to think faster being around someone who constantly challenges you keeps you on your toes you start making decisions a little quicker because you're not allowed to get complacent it's like building muscle by lifting heavy weights you don't know how far you've come until you measure where you are from where you started number three you become a master at handling stress nothing builds character faster than someone who's actively trying to s sabotage you you'll find yourself more cool calm and collected or more Zen in the face of chaos eventually their drama won't phase you anymore number four it forces you to get creative sometimes beating your enemies means thinking in ways you've never thought before you'll start exploring new ideas creating fresh strategies and tapping into resources you may not have known that you had creativity thrives Under Pressure my friend five it forces you to embrace imperfections your enemies will probably point out flaws you might be too proud to admit to but guess what those imperfections are what makes you human oddly enough it might just be the thing that separates you from everyone else lean into them because it makes you more real authenticity trumps Perfection so the next time you find yourself seething over someone pushing your buttons don't react to the situation respond to it look at it as an opportunity to level up your worst enemy is is out there teaching you things you may never learn from a motivational book you can use their actions to fuel your own growth and you will come out on top every time it's not about beating them it's becoming better because of them thank you so much for tuning in please remember to like follow subscribe leave us a comment and sign up for our Weekly Newsletter no fluff just the good stuff I'm Jana Hennemann and I'll see you this time next week