We all make different types of professional mistakes during our work and career, which we sometimes realize quickly and compensate for, or we abandon this mistake, or we never realize our mistake at all, and when our professional life is destroyed, we only find out. We think that a workplace sucks and we didn't pay attention to it! These bad behaviors and annoying habits may have been developed over the years and you still don't realize the havoc they cause in your professional life. Stay with us in this article to know these 10 professional mistakes that will destroy your professional life and try to correct and improve them if you find them in yourself.
Top 10 Career Mistakes
1. You Don’t Speak Up
Whether it’s in meetings or when you pass a CEO in the hallway, you know you need to meet them, say something, and stop regretting missed opportunities. Practice in low-risk situations: Ask a question in your weekly team meeting instead of a big town hall meeting where everyone in the company is present. Introduce yourself to your colleagues in other departments of the company to clear your voice before approaching the CEO.
2. You Don’t Respect Your Boundaries
If a coworker asks you for help while you’re working, or if your coworker talks to you when you need to focus, just say no. Be polite but firm. Play the role of a friend who makes direct requests: We all know someone who does a great job in a difficult situation, and we can learn from them!
3. You’re not punctual
Even if you’re not late but feel like you have to rush, you’re not punctual. Even if you complete a task on time but didn’t give yourself enough time to review your work, you didn’t get your work done on time. Double-checking and editing your work should be part of the process. Set deadlines for projects in advance so you can review your work and apply new ideas. Schedule your appointments based on the time you need to leave, not the time the appointment starts, so you have a clear signal that it’s time to leave.
4. You can’t get work done
Review your work. Take the time to edit it and come up with new ideas to expand on the work. Apply others’ ideas when it makes sense to build on it. Check in with your boss (or whoever is sponsoring the project) to make sure your goals are aligned. These are examples of completed work. Identify where you may have fallen short in your work process to free up more time for future projects.
5. You’re not prepared for negative feedback
Another part of deep work is preparing yourself for common questions and very difficult questions that give off negative energy. Know what data source you’re using. You need to be able to describe the basic calculations step by step, not just the end result. Be prepared to explain how you arrived at that conclusion. Think of alternative outcomes, as well as logical ideas, and be prepared to explain why you didn’t choose them. Practice being neutral, not defensive.
6. You don’t negotiate
Negotiation is a form of negative feedback. All negotiations begin with a disagreement (if you agreed with the other party on everything, there would be no need to negotiate!). If you don’t like disagreeing, you might as well avoid negotiating—it’s a professional mistake. Negotiation isn’t just about raises, bonuses, or other financial negotiations. When you ask for more time on a project, you’re negotiating for the deadline. When you want more team members on a project, you’re negotiating for resources. When you ask your counterpart in another department to prepare a report just for you, you’re negotiating for information. If your default position is not to negotiate, you’re likely to face tight deadlines, fewer resources, and limited access, making your job harder than usual. Just like pitching, practice in low-risk situations: Ask for an extra hour or day for a project.
7. You’re Wasting Your Best Hours
Most people perform best early in the day. Eventually, your energy is drained and you’re more likely to fall behind due to unexpected interruptions throughout the day. Are you protecting those precious early hours? Schedule time in your calendar at regular intervals so you have time to complete creative, comparative, or more challenging tasks. Reserve that free time early in the day to tackle your most sensitive tasks.
8. You do useless and unimportant things.
Of course, knowing your most sensitive tasks makes them easier to accomplish. When was the last time you talked to your boss about your most important goals and your role in the company? Business goals change every three months or, less likely, every year. Maybe your job has changed a lot since you started and you are still working on autopilot, focusing on the wrong things. One of my clients went through a performance review process in which the manager and the person being reviewed listed three work goals that were important to him: The 3 listed did not match at all! Don’t assume that everything has to stay on your to-do list. Don’t assume that you will do what your boss expects. Ask clearly what the business priorities are this year.
9. You don’t give yourself time to rest
When you stop doing unimportant things, you become happy. Yes, you can have lunch, take a day off, and have a real vacation. Taking time off increases your productivity. Lunch time improves your social relationships because it allows you to connect with colleagues, meet people outside your company, or even answer personal calls and emails to catch up on your life outside of work. Even if you don’t want to schedule your vacation exactly at the beginning of the year, at least schedule it now for your lunch break and set an alarm every 3 months when you want to ask for a break.
10. You’re not investing in yourself
Taking time off from work is an investment in revitalization. Social time is an investment in your professional reputation. Other investments include: continuing your education, updating your marketing (e.g. resume, online CV), learning something new, and activities outside of work. As you work to achieve your current business priorities (see #8!), you also need to determine your current career priorities. These priorities should not overlap with your current work priorities. Your job is only one part of your career. You need to invest in yourself and your career outside of your current job.
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