You were not promoted again this year? After putting in so much effort and hard work this year you were still not rewarded?

Sitting in your chair idly, looking at those happy faces who got promoted this year, are you asking yourself "what went wrong?"

Are you wondering why you didn't get promoted and wondering what else your employer wants from you?

As you silently wonder how your promoted peers deserve advancement more than you, your brain starts switching in different modes, such as:

<h3>Comparison Mode</h3>

<ul>
<li>He is less educated then I am</li>
<li>He has less experience than I do</li>
<li>She has a higher absenteeism rate than I did</li>
<li>He is too young to be promoted</li>
<li>She never devoted herself to like I do</li>
<li>He doesn’t deserve this promotion as much as I do</li>
</ul>

<h3>Judgement Mode</h3>

<ul>
<li>He must be the boss's favorite</li>
<li>He must have flattered the boss</li>
<li>My boss must have personal issues with me</li>
<li>My boss doesn’t like me</li>
<li>I was the most deserving candidate this year</li>
<li>The boss makes decisions based on who she personally likes</li>
</ul>

<h3>Accountability Mode</h3>

<ul>
<li>Maybe the boss got angry because I spoke bluntly</li>
<li>He didn’t like the metrics I reported on my assignment</li>
<li>Maybe I think I am performing at the same energy level as him but he differs</li>
<li>Maybe I did not accommodate the boss's mindset</li>
</ul>

<h3>Blaming Mode</h3>

<ul>
<li>My boss doesn't know how to get the best from his team</li>
<li>He only prefers his choice of people to come forward</li>
<li>He didn’t give me a chance to be prominent in front of higher management</li>
<li>He gave me the less important job so that he could have an excuse of not promoting me</li>
</ul>

<h3>Self-Pitying Mode</h3>

<ul>
<li>I deserved this humiliation because I never gave my best shot</li>
<li>I think I have lost my spark</li>
<li>I am not able to compete with new and fresh blood</li>
<li>I am getting old; that’s why management didn’t think about me</li>
<li>This job is not for me</li>
</ul>

<h3><b>Abusing Mode</b></h3>

<ul>
<li>I will not follow his orders anymore</li>
<li>He is selfish</li>
<li>He doesn’t deserve a faithful employee like me</li>
<li>I will complain about him to HR</li>
</ul>

Maybe there are some other modes too but these are the most common ones which our brain swings on when we don’t get what we have been expecting for a long time.

<h3>What Should You Understand?</h3>

In circumstances where you are not being listened to, all your efforts are zero, you are being ignored, and it seems nothing is heading in a positive direction, you need to realistically assess your role in the situation as well as the likelihood that conditions will change. Your job may be done in that place, with any additional effort or struggle getting you nothing except pain and misery.

<h3>What Should You Do?</h3>

There can be two actions. First, you may choose to leave that place and discontinue efforts to make a change internally. Don’t expect that you will be asked to stay or any such favor. At first, such immediate actions will result in more anxiety and frustration but they will also activate your fighting mode for survival which will boost your energy to find a better way of living.

Second, you can give yourself another shot and ignore everything. Once again make a new strategy by changing your thoughts, vision, actions, dealings, communication, etc. Gather all your strength and passions to prove you are best. It will help you to reveal your hidden potential which you may have never witnessed before.

Whatever action  you choose, it has the potential to bring the best out of you. There will be aftershocks, but with a strategy for pursuing your next direction, you can strongly and confidently prepare for a future free of comparison, judgement, abuse, or self-pity, with a focus on accountability.