The New Year is a perfect time to rejuvenate your success, and adopt new routines to surge forward.
That’s all well and good, but what about your bad professional habits? We often become so ingrained in our routines that we fail to notice the ones that are dragging us down.
So this New Year, we’re inviting you to look at your bad habits, and drop them like, well…bad habits. It won’t be a cakewalk, but it will allow you to replace your harmful routines with positive outcomes.
Start shifting these behaviors today and you’ll be amazed at just how far you get in 2017:
- Procrastinating
When “tomorrow syndrome” starts to rear its ugly head, it’s easy to get caught up in its effects and delay projects ‘till the last millisecond. Before you know it, procrastination can cause looming deadlines to snowball, and destroy productivity and motivation in the process.
Instead of procrastinating, the experts recommend you take on bite-sized chunks of a project. This can remove the intimidation factor, and get the ball rolling towards productivity with minimal effort. For instance, if you have to build a whole website, consider setting a simple goal of designing the logo. It will be hard to go back to your bad professional habits once you start being productive instead.
- Distracted listening
With a million and a half things going on, it’s easy to get distracted when listening to others (especially if it’s a boring topic). However, as uninteresting as the conversation might be, you should know that listening has been attributed as one of the make-or-break factors for successful leadership.
So if you want to up your success, replace these bad professional habits with active listening. Instead of nodding off, consider both showing the speaker that you’re interested (nodding, agreeing, etc.) and actually making an effort to understand (by asking questions and clarifying). Even if you aren’t actually interested, you’ll absorb the information and look highly professional.
- Being too agreeable
We’re all told that being agreeable and saying “yes” is polite and desirable. While that might be true during a dinner party, in the business world, it can have drastic consequences. You’re only human (sorry to break it to you), and with limited resources, you’ll eventually end up making a false promise by taking on everything. Plus, you’re an amazing individual, and you need to put yourself first.
Instead of saying “yes” to everything, learn to turn up your turn down skills. It’s perfectly acceptable to ask a boss what should be prioritized, or to put yourself first over an acquaintance’s needs.
- Being set in stone
Being determined and motivated is great. But don’t fall into the trap of mistaking determination for an unwillingness to change.
Take Jeffery Hazlet, former CMO of Kodak, for instance. When he realized no amount of his sheer will would turn Kodak into the business he wanted, he shifted that determination elsewhere. Now he’s a New York Times best-selling author, keynote speaker, and media mogul.
First business models or career plans rarely pan out, but successful people don’t keep running towards defeat when that happens. Even if your plan fails, it can still have an impact. By modifying it, you can make it successful, even if it isn’t what you originally intended.
- Believing self-doubt
Even when all the signs are pointing towards success, insecurity can easily kill your dreams. In fact, it’s so prevalent (especially with successful people), that it’s a full-blown condition known as Impostor Syndrome.
To start breaking this nasty habit: Create a list of your skills, talents, and achievements. Read the list regularly and when you’re plagued by self-doubt, remind yourself of all the reasons you’re “good enough.”
Remember, it’s never too late (or too early) to make a positive change and see your success skyrocket.
Do you have any bad professional habits that you’ve successfully dropped? We’d love to hear your tips–share them with the LTH Tribe!
