Bad work habits can inhibit your professional success. Whether you’re not clearly communicating with coworkers, being disorganized, or showing up late for meetings, your habits affect the people around you. Since bad habits don’t get you what you want, you need to take action to change them. Because it takes at least three weeks to change a habit, you want to start creating good ones today. Here are five bad work habits you can leave in the past.
Communicating Poorly
Poor communication wastes time, leads to errors, and causes frustration among coworkers. To improve your communication skills, focus on actively listening to everything someone says. Ask questions to gain more information. Understand others’ points of view to see where they’re coming from. Set aside three blocks of time each day to respond to phone calls, emails, and texts.
Taking Long Breaks
Although breaks are important for productivity, they shouldn’t be too long or frequent. Otherwise, you don’t appear to be a dedicated employee who cares about their job. Instead, use established break times to get water, use the restroom, and walk around. Avoid distractions like social media to maintain productivity. Listen to soft music to maintain focus on your work.
Being Disorganized
Signs of disorganization include a cluttered workspace, scattered pens, papers, and random items, and difficulty finding items in your desk, briefcase, or computer files. Disorganization causes you to miss important details, waste time and produce less than coworkers. To combat this issue, clean off your desk. Spend 5 to 10 minutes at the end of each day to tidy up. Write down what you want to accomplish each day, how long each task should take, and which order you want to complete your work in. This will help you complete your work on time and come prepared for meetings.
Showing Up Late
Showing up late to work or meetings gives the impression that you don’t value others’ time because yours is more important. You miss key announcements and waste time having others catch you up on what you missed. To change this habit, wake up 10 minutes earlier each day. Set your clocks 10 minutes ahead. Place reminders on your phone, so you arrive at meetings and events on time. Accurately estimate how long something will take and allow plenty of time to be punctual.
Expressing Negativity
Displaying a negative attitude impacts everyone around you. Consistently complaining and finding things to be unhappy about puts coworkers in a bad mood. Rather, work on getting more sleep, eating more healthy foods, and drinking more water. Exercise regularly, smile more and think positive thoughts. Anticipate problems and proper responses.
Avoid Staying in a Job You Don’t Like
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