Career Advancement - Are Bad Habits Holding You Back?

Posted on May 23, 2008 - Filed Under Business

If you have worked on the some job for ten years or ten weeks, the one thing most employees have to share is their thoughts of promotion and career advancement. Many however, are looking for short cuts or a quick method of moving up the promotion ladder or advancing their career. Success on the job is defining and setting achievable goals and taking action every day to achieve those objectives.

Eliminating bad habits will go a long way toward achieving your career goals. A habit, both good and bad does not materialize overnight. It is the cumulative effect of many small, sometime seemly inconsequential decisions that over time shape and direct your actions.

For example, your attitude toward your job, your coworkers or your boss can be positive or negative. A positive attitude will look for the good in any situation, will look for good results, and will give coworkers and the boss the benefit of the doubt. On the other hand a negative attitude will look for the dark cloud and see gloom and doom everywhere. Who do you want to associate with? Or have as a boss? Or have as a coworker? Your attitude is a habit, built by many small decisions until finally that’s who you are. Just as you got started down the wrong path, you can change direction one small decision at a time.

To achieve your career advancement goals means getting rid of other bad habits for career advancement that hurt your success chances. Are you a good teammate? Do you volunteer to help others? Do you keep from doing personal things while on company time? If you answered no the any of them, they are all habits that need change. Bosses are more likely to promote people that are pleasant, willing to help others, make personal calls on their break or lunch hour, and use their time wisely. Being more productive is the first step toward promotion and career advancement.

Be honest do you take your job and career seriously? Being late for work, coming back from breaks or lunch late, abusing annual or sick leave, and leaving early are very bad habits for career advancement prospects. And may, even if you are very good at what you do and are very productive, put you on the path toward termination. Management is more likely to promote employees that arrive to work early or on time, are dependable, return from lunch and break at the correct time, and follow the attendance regulations and rules.

When management or employees do not dress appropriately for work or let their personal grooming habits slide, their chance of career advancement is very slim. Dressing for success shows that they take pride in themselves and the company. Recently in a warehouse operation one of the new employees began wearing a white dress shirt to work every day. The job was hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Every time a company executive toured the operation they commented on the employee wearing the white dress shirt. (His wife bought the shirts at garage sales for a dime to a quarter. When they couldn’t be cleaned anymore they were thrown out. Compared to other employees wearing torn or worn out $15 t-shirts he stood out.) Guess who was promoted when the next opening occurred?

Break poor grooming habits by setting aside enough time before work to do the necessary personal grooming required. There is nothing worse than having a conversation with someone that has bad breath or someone with hair or clothes that look like they just crawled out of bed. Work on changing these bad habits for career advancement opportunities.

The best policy, and a positive habit is to always be honest with yourself and honest with others. Being honest means being aware of your true weaknesses and strengths, admitting your mistakes, and being sincere and genuine. Never talk behind people’s backs, take credit for things you did not do, or intentionally hurt coworkers and put them down to build yourself up. Bad habits are the result of many hundreds of poor decisions. Start now to set reasonable goals to eliminate the bad habits and replace them with positive habits. It’s been said that if you take a positive action for 21 straight days it will become your new habit. May you soon begin your 21 day journey to advance your career and improve your chances for promotion. It’s up to you!

John Groth is a former HR executive and career coach. Find Career Improvement Ideas, valuable articles and a free seven day career planning guide. Discover up to date career and recruitment strategies at our career idea blog all to assist you in advancing and managing your career.

Tags: advancement, career, career advancement, career development, career goals, job attitude, promotion

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