There is a lot of talk about what to do to boost your career, right? However, it is also worth knowing which behaviors can sabotage your career. After all, as much as getting the recommended habits right is essential for professional growth, making mistakes can compromise your entire development.
So, to help you keep your career on track, we’ve listed the top 10 behaviors that should be avoided in your professional life. Check them all out now.
10 Behaviors That Can Sabotage Your Career
1 – Putting career planning aside
Planning is the basis of life, and this also applies to your professional journey. Therefore, developing a career plan and keeping it updated, with your achievements and changes in path, is essential to have a direction and know how to get there.
This is the only way to be clear about what you want for your career and what steps will take you to achieve your goals. Thus, achieving your medium and long-term goals in a strategic and intelligent way.
2 – Ignoring the benefits of networking
Networking may be the oldest piece of professional advice. For decades, we have known that having a good network of contacts and cultivating it is essential for anyone who wants a structured career, for countless reasons.
In addition to being people who will open professional doors for you, the professionals in your network will also enrich your knowledge, promote debates, help with collaborations, present new possibilities and ensure exchanges. After all, they will also count on you, and this relationship will be valuable for the rest of your life.
3 – Being led by procrastination
Who has never procrastinated, right? This behavior is normal for everyone, however, you need to be very careful with the “dose of the medicine”. By postponing tasks and avoiding thinking about your professional path, you put your career at risk in countless different ways.
You will miss deadlines, disappoint colleagues and managers, deliver lower quality than you can perform, compromise your image and reputation and let time pass you by while you could be dedicating yourself to your development.
4 – Have negative behavior
Toxic positivity is a big problem. After all, life will not always be good and happy. However, the opposite can also be a big obstacle, making it clear that balance is the best way.
Therefore, complaining all the time, having a pessimistic view of work, not finding positive sides and looking at everything with a negative eye will hinder you throughout your career. For example, in your day-to-day work, you can compromise your results, make the organizational environment difficult, become unmotivated and even harm your colleagues.
5 – Not knowing how to communicate effectively
Communication is the key to all professional relationships, and that doesn’t mean being a great speaker or being able to move people with your speech. Here, we’re talking about basic communication done effectively and objectively.
In other words, knowing how to communicate your ideas, plans, needs and demands, being able to give accurate feedback, explaining everything that is on your mind and maintaining transparency in professional relationships. This makes you be seen in a positive light, increasing your credibility, and also avoiding conflicts, problems and misunderstandings at work.
In fact, if you want to take on leadership roles, know that knowing how to communicate will be a big part of your job.
6 – Being resistant to changes and transformations
The world is constantly changing and this is not going to change, quite the opposite. More and more, transformations happen every day, impacting all professions and sectors of the economy.
Therefore, professionals who are resistant to new technologies, environments, processes and ideas will not be well regarded in the job market. This behavior hinders team development, compromises the company and causes you to fall behind, without developing as you could if you were more flexible and resilient.
7 – Having poor time management
Being organized is essential in your professional life, and this includes knowing how to manage your time. Along with procrastination, this is a dangerous combination for your career, causing you to not be able to use your full potential, compromise deliveries, become stressed and affect the entire team that works with you.
Therefore, if you have difficulty organizing your time, don’t put your professional life at risk and look for management and organization techniques that can help you right now.
8 – Not accepting feedback and evaluations
Resistance to change is a problem, and when it also occurs when listening to feedback and evaluations, we have a big red alert for the professional.
When you work with other people, it’s normal for them to notice things you can improve on, and the process of constructive feedback is extremely valuable in the corporate world. That’s why you should listen to them and consider them whenever possible, understanding that, most of the time, your colleagues aren’t being “nagging”.
In reality, this external view can help you improve and evolve, ensuring your own professional success.
9 – Lack of ethics
In all aspects of life, having ethics is what will guide your reputation and character. Therefore, avoid behaviors that involve lying, disrespecting colleagues, taking credit for work that is not yours and, in general, compromising other professionals.
Believe me, integrity is the greatest soft skill you can have in your professional career.
10 – Not investing in continuous learning
Finally, many professionals believe that a degree is enough to have a successful career, and this is a big mistake.
With so many changes in the world, a good professional is one who is always up to date and knows that seeking more knowledge and skills is the key to being well-rounded and, thus, reaching new heights in one’s career. This can be achieved by taking postgraduate courses, free courses, lectures and participating in events focused on specialization and professional retraining.