How to Break a Bad Habit at Work

Your career may depend on your ability to break a bad habit at work. These are little things you do that annoy people or disrupt the organization.

You may not even know these are problems but probably along the way you’ve gotten a hint or two from someone. Some of the big bad habits at work can include:

Clutter;
Holding up meetings because you’re late;
Finishing other people’s sentences;
Reacting poorly to stressful situations.

Step One for How to Break a Bad Habit

Talk to those who you know and trust and explain to them that you’re trying to improve yourself. Ask them if you have any bad habits that you could improve upon.

This needs to be an honest conversation and you can’t get mad at the other person for telling you the truth. In fact, you may want to reward their honesty with some kind of treat.

Step Two: Find Your Habit

In order to break that habit, it helps to see it being practiced. See if you can find someone who shares your bad habit.

Observe him or her and the people around them. Notice the problems that come from the bad habit. It may leave a bad taste in your mouth.

You’re not there to fix the other person, you’re there to fix yourself. Sometimes, to make a behavioral change, you need to see someone else showcasing your negative trait.

Step Three: Commit

This is decision time for you. You should feel motivated to make a change.

Decide how you’ll stop falling back on the bad habit. It’s also smart to think about what brings out your worst behavior.

Step Four: Change Your Image

You can’t change the past but you can change the way you’ll react in the future. If people see personal growth, they’ll likely forgive your past bad behavior and celebrate your change.