As we try to make it with our careers, we need to find challenges that could derail our hard earned efforts.
Here are 10 nervous habits that could damage your relationships and slow down your career development:
1. Multitasking
The habit of multitasking when you should be concentrating on the person you are interacting with, and the words they are saying.
Put your phone away, look at the face of whoever is talking to you and focus on what they are saying.
2. The habit of saying “I’m sorry” automatically when there’s nothing you need to apologize for.
Many people fall into the trap of apologizing for things that are not their fault – just to make their boss or someone else feel better. They ask for forgiveness almost as if it were something automatic. So dont do it!
If someone is upset, you can say, “That sounds frustrating. Let’s talk about how to fix it. “You are not to blame for everything that goes wrong.
3. The habit of saying “yes” every time a partner asks for your help.
It’s great to be helpful, but if you’re always available to save people who don’t take responsibility for their own tasks, you’re going to end badly. You will end up exhausted, the person you helped will not learn to fend for himself or herself, and worst of all: your time and attention will constantly be devalued if you always have them available.
Get used to smiling and saying: “I’m sure you will find a way to overcome this obstacle – you are a very intelligent person.”
4. The habit of taking work home.
Many people take work home because they don’t know how to finish their day job and change their mind to a new channel. It’s a skill that we should all practice! When you have completely finished your work for the day, stop.
5. The habit of judging your job success or failure based on the emotional state of your boss.
Bosses are people. They go up and down emotionally like any of us. It’s nice when your boss is happy with you, but you can have a great day, week, or month even when your boss is in a bad mood. Separate your own emotions from his from him.
6. The habit of ending sentences with “if you agree” or “if it is okay with you.”
You can allow yourself to affirm something if you feel very confident about it. You don’t have to wait for a confirmation or a denial like you’re thinking “well, if it’s different, that’s fine too.”
Defend your ideas and words as they deserve. If you are very sure of something, allow yourself to affirm it without waiting for the agreement of others.
7. The habit of allowing people to interrupt you in your work
You have every right to say “I’m in the middle of a project and I can’t stop, but I’ll call you when I’m done.”
8. The habit of responding to every text and email the moment you receive it, regardless of the time of day.
We train the people around us. You will accustom your colleagues to respect your limits, or you will accustom them to stepping on them (since it seems that you do not respect them yourself, there you).
9. The habit of skipping lunch to get a little more work done.
If you can’t take a break to recharge your batteries once a day, how do you plan to do it throughout your professional career?
10. The habit of avoiding conflict by saying “whatever you want” to people when you really don’t agree.
Over time you will get tired of allowing people to influence you. You have a voice. Now is a good time to use it!
