8 Obvious Yet Ignored Ways You Are Sabotaging Your Career

Oct 28, 2022

You may be surprised at how often people sabotage their career paths without realizing it. Even if you think you have a good job and are able to cope with it easily, there might be some mistakes we usually ignore, which are actually highly important. If you want to be better at work and get a promotion, take a look at the mistakes that prevent us from having a successful career to make sure you don`t make them yourself…

1 Too much help

You can`t be the best out of the staff if you always put your own tasks aside to help your colleagues. You`re neither their personal teacher nor a baby sitter. Then why do you have to do someone`s job? Not only do you accomplish those tasks for free, it affects your own success as well.

You don’t want to waste your valuable time and effort to make someone’s life easier. Your boss will most likely promote those who give better results but not the ones who are kind by nature. Sometimes being a bit selfish is useful.

2 Too much routine

Getting stuck in a rut is one of the ways you may be sabotaging your career. Your routine showers you with lots of boring everyday responsibilities and that take a huge part of your energy. It makes you forget about any growth and the only thing you can think about is the end of your work day. Don’t be afraid to get more interesting projects and try to develop yourself all the time. Look for the ways to master some new skills and broaden your knowledge.

Read also – 7 Easy Ways to Boost Your Career at Home

3 Setting wrong goals

Do you want to get a promotion? When do you hope to get it? If your answer is “yes I do want but don`t know when,” then you set wrong goals. Aim to reach the greatest success at work you can imagine. I`m serious, there’s nothing impossible that we can’t reach, except eternity, of course. If you want to become a manager or you want to start your own business, what are you waiting for? Set accurate goals and do your best to reach them.

4 Perfectionism

Being a perfectionist is bad for your career as well. Even though you`re working hard to do everything perfectly, too much attention to the details can also bring you troubles. You`ll not get a promotion if you try to idealize each and every task you have. While your colleagues take more difficult tasks, you still do the same work because you can`t leave it until everything is as perfect as you want.

5 Lots of stress

You get stressed at work from time to time as we all do when everything goes wrong but actually it`s not a serious problem. Ignoring those stress signs and pretending that you`re fine when it`s not so indeed can ruin your career, not to mention that it can also damage your health. Learn to keep your stress level at bay and control your emotions. If you notice that it’s harder for you to concentrate on your tasks, irritability becomes an ordinary thing and you frequently forget new information, it’s a sure sign to take a break.

6 Choosing a wrong career path

One of the most common mistakes lots of people commit in their lives is choose a wrong career path. If you`re not really interested in your work and you don`t think about a promotion, you`ll never be successful. When you think about money only, it means you don’t like what you do and you believe promotion is all about money, nothing else. Although making more money is essential, you can’t be happy when you hate your job.

Read also – 8 Lucrative Jobs You Don’t Need a Degree for

7 Overworking

There’s a big difference between working hard and working too much. Many successful people work 2 hours a day and manage to accomplish their tasks on time. Overworking can lead to both physical and emotional health problems and what`s more is that your results become worse when there`s no time to refresh your mind and get enough sleep.

8 Being weak

No offence, but I don’t respect people who give up without trying to improve a situation. Oh, please, don’t think that I’m a super strong woman – I had a habit of giving up too soon and I didn’t respect myself for it therefore spent a lot of time and effort to ditch this habit. That was ten years ago when I didn’t know that a woman could be strong. I was taught to be a weak girl and giving up wasn’t a big deal for me. I don’t blame my parents, though. They did their best to raise me and I’m grateful to them for everything they taught me.

I do want to be successful at work, which is why I never give up when I face difficulties. If you have to accomplish the project you have no idea how to do, let your boss know about it. Hopefully, they will help you. If not, it’s okay to tell the truth instead of looking for excuses.

We often subconsciously sabotage our careers. You think you love your job but then see that time flies and you have the same responsibilities, the same paycheck and the same hope to get a promotion in future. But now I hope you’ve realized what prevents you from being successful at work. Are you subconsciously sabotaging your own success?