Your success within a particular career can depend on a number of factors. Your abilities are a large part of that success, along with a small amount of luck. There is another factor that many people don’t think of however, their habits and the way they behave whilst at work. Your “bad” habits can not only make your work colleagues dislike you, but they can also stop you from receiving a promotion, or get a salary increase. So what are some of the habits you may not notice, but may be having a negative effect on your career?
Being Too Shy
Being too shy and keeping a low profile could mean your efforts at work go unnoticed by the management. Putting your own name forward for an upcoming promotion is sometimes the only way anyone will know you are willing and able enough to fill the position. On top of that, any leadership position requires a certain amount of assertiveness and confidence in yourself. Staying the shadows, so to speak, is a sure-fire way to halt your progression up the ranks.
Multi-Tasking
Although multi-tasking may seem like a good idea at the time, after all if you can get more than one thing done at a time that’s good right? Not all the time it isn’t. Sometimes it’s best to concentrate on one task at a time and make sure you do a good job before you even think about starting a new task. Each task will take the same amount of time to complete whether you do them one at a time, or both at the same time.
Poor Diet
The food you eat can have a huge effect on your performance in a number of work related tasks. No matter whether you work outside in a physically challenging, or you have a desk job that requires your full attention, the food you eat on your lunch break and what you have for breakfast can have a large impact on you ability to concentrate and function. Eating so-called junk-food all the time could be holding you back from achieving your career goals.
Personal Interruptions
Constantly taking personal calls, or running your own errands on work time wont go unnoticed for long. Fulfilling your own personal needs on work time is never a good idea, especially if you make a habit of it. Using your cell phone to text friends and family, or updating your status on Facebook from your work computer while at work could get you in trouble and can lead to your career suffering as a result.
Having an Untidy Desk/Work Area
The way in which you keep your desk or work area can say a lot about your personality. Having an untidy desk could lead your boss to assume you take the same amount of care in every aspect of your life, including your attitude to work.
Cultivating Bad Relationships
Hanging out with the wrong crowd is a bad idea at any time, but doing so at work could cost you the chance of being as successful as you would like to be. If you manage to get yourself too involved with someone who is disliked in the office or workplace for their work ethics, or are known to be less than hard-working to the extent that it affects your co-workers, their bad reputation could be associated with yourself.
Bad Time Management
Being late to work or completing your workload behind schedule constantly is always detrimental to your career. Even if your boss, or supervisor doesn’t bring you up on it all the time, your lack of good time management skills could hold you back. To your boss, being consistently late means you either can’t do the task in the given time frame, or you are not committed to your position within the company.
Not Sorting Out Your Own Problems
Try not to be one of those people who constantly go to their superior every time a problem pops up, unless of course there is a definite need to do so. Use your own initiative as much as possible.
Negative Attitude
Having a negative attitude towards your work colleagues or the work that has been assigned to you is another off-putting trait for many bosses. Try to stay positive, or at least make it look like you are, even if things don’t seem to be going right at the time. Keeping a positive attitude will help you get through the day and can also help to raise spirits of others working around you.
Poor Planning Skills
Planning is essential in anything you do. This is especially true when it comes to your career. Don’t just plan your long-term career goals, also plan your work day, or projects down to the last detail. Planning your workload properly and sticking to it will help you to manage your time better and possibly achieve better results.
