How Much of The Problem is Me?

Working in a toxic environment can feel like walking through a cyclone.

When every day disorientates and uproots, it’s natural to ask, “Is this all my fault?” or “Could I be handling things better?”

This workbook was created to help you explore what’s truly in your control and what isn’t, to empower you with clarity rather than guilt.

We often hear, “Focus on what you can control,” and that’s exactly what this workbook aims to help with. When we focus on our responses, behaviors and boundaries we regain our personal agency. We’re no longer a passive victim but a force of nature in our own right.

This doesn’t mean taking the blame for everything; toxic workplaces often encourage self-blame as a way to deflect from their own dysfunctions. Instead, this process is about ending the paralysis and cycling that results from being uncertain: how much of the problem is me.

You’ll work through ten questions, with examples of others (from Marcus Aurelius to Maya Angelou) who have battled exactly the same existential questions that you are facing now.

1.Am I in the wilderness of my own thoughts?

2.Who am I? Who am I pretending to be?

3.Am I too calm?

4.Is this fair?

5.Can planning a hijack prevent a hijack?

6.Am I really all alone out here?

7.Is happiness possible here?

8.How can I energise myself?

9.Am I making problems here?

10.How do I connect professionally when I’m losing faith in my profession?

Worked through and given time, our guide should ease the worst feelings of anxiety, cognitive dissonance and guilt. This may also be your first concrete step to thinking optimically and with more precision about your life beyond your toxic role.

This is a beginner's guide to some of the ideas of emancipatory and alterative entrepreneurialism, produced for those still in the corporate world and feeling overwhelm. It is for the lost and stuck.