Careers

BAD HABITS THAT STUNT YOUR CAREER PATH

Most of us may have made work related mistakes in our workplaces and got reprimanded for it. But some common work mistakes often arise from our bad habits. And the key to avoiding many workplace mistakes is taking a look at our habits. The following are some such habit and ways of tackling them.
1. Winning all the time. Life is not a matter of loss and profit, and don’t expect to win all the time. There is much more to life that we miss in our pursuit of excellence as seen through our cut throat competition for conspicuous consumption. Take time to reflect on other parameters of success, like devotion to your faith and helping others along.

2. Passing judgment. This not only kills workplace friendship but also relationships. It breeds intolerance for you always see things your own way and everybody else is wrong. The workplace is very diverse, try not to take things too personally and accommodate everybody.

3. Being sarcastic. Avoid Sarcasm and cutting comments. You could be a bully without knowing it! Look back at the times you have rebutted your colleagues and taken the wind off their sails even over the most inconsequential conversations. Make a commitment to change this.

4. Being indecisive. It is impossible by accommodating all points of view and stop starting your sentences with, “no but”! In meetings stop “thinking along similar lines” with your boss all the time! Take a stand in things or kill your career.

5. Playing smart. How many times have you upstaged others in front of your bosses to show how smart you are? What workplace tid bits, especially of who is sleeping with whom, do you feed your bosses just to show how much of a CID you are? Change this bad habit.

6. Speaking when angry. This bad habit may have earned you several censures at the workplace! You may have said the truth, which is painful, but the world rewards those who measure their words and punishes those who hit the roof especially with the bosses around. Refrain from outbursts when annoyed in the workplace.

7. Withholding Information. This is not only discourteous but also criminal in the workplace. A vital instruction not communicated in time can stop an entire assembly line or blow up a whole factory in flames! It can give the competitor an edge, leading to loss of business. See that and change forthwith.

8. Failing to give proper recognition. Are you are a boss who fails to give credit where it was due? The workplace abounds with critics and mostly they are right in their assessment of who has done the most in every department. Reflect of your staff appraisal regularly lest resentment starts to breed.

9. Making excuses. We all play this game. But when taken to extreme it is counterproductive. The boss will not take your excuses seriously, no matter how grave they may be, if you have been asking for leave of absence one day every week! How many times does your “house girl ran away”, you go for “for burial” and your children’s “closing and visiting days” or thugs “terrorize” your neighbourhood necessitating your absence? The danger with too many excuses is that soon you ran out of them!

10. Not listening. Contrary to popular expectations most people rarely listen to others! They hear what they want to hear in conversations and the consequences of this are legendary. Battles have been lost, romances cut short, exams failed, and lives lost. Opportunities are lost when we do not letting the other person to finish what they are saying. It could have been your boss, a friend, a client or a networking contact! Effective listening should be your top priority.

11. Me first. Some people are always the first at the tea urn, food queue in the staff cafeteria, and boarding of the company transport. Other workers always make way for them and this has reinforced their bad behaviour into part of your character! When you needed your colleagues’ guarantee to get a cooperative loan, they obliged. But you could not guarantee anybody on account of shortage of trust nowadays! Your colleagues may have come to console you when you were sick, and turned up at the harambee to raise your son’s university fees but you could not attend a colleague’s burial on account of family commitments! Perhaps you are the boss, or a “special” employee. Think about it and see your place in relation to your colleagues.