Treat “deserve” like a curse word.
The word curses your behavior. As a result, you instantly become transactional.
It starts building the imaginary scoreboard in your head. It doesn’t come alone, either. Soon there are imaginary teams and an imaginary ranking system.
The only thing that isn’t imaginary is the mental overhead it adds to your work.
“I deserve to get that contract; I showed up every day.” This becomes “The sales team didn’t cooperate with me as much as they did with Susan.” That turns into “The sales team is out to get everyone, except Susan.” Ultimately you arrive at “Fuck Susan and her friends who are on the sales team.”
This overhead affects every decision you make with Susan, and it has the potential to ruin your team and its dynamics. It hurts you more than Susan because you are now fighting a war that doesn’t exist.
Even worse, Susan has some insight that you don’t. There is an opportunity to ask and become better.
Worst of all, “deserve” keeps you stagnant. If you have someone to blame, you never grow because it is never your fault.
Don’t use it.
From the desk of Adam Thomas 