A few career mistakes can undermine everything you’ve done professionally. In a video game, when you make a mistake, you can hit the reset button and try again. In business, a mistake may represent, game over, for your career.
Most of these career missteps can be traced to bad habits that you know you should stop. Before you get started in sabotaging your career with these mistakes, consider changing some behaviors:
Beware of Negative Nicknames
Imagine there’s a person, a company, or a process that you don’t like. Any of these can represent frustration at work. To cope, you may come up with a nickname for the problem.
Maybe it’s like someone, named Kathy, who loves to chat and has no concept of time management or your deadlines. You might be tempted to refer to that person as Chatty Kathy.
You use this term with your inner circle and it gets nods of acknowledgement and some laughs. You’re poking fun at Kathy.
But one day, in a conversation outside your inner circle, you accidentally say, “Chatty Kathy” instead of “Kathy.”
This is frowned upon, especially because Kathy is in upper management.
While you apologize and promise to do better, you know this was a mistake that you can’t recover from professionally.
The little nicknames, you use for things that frustrate you, tend to come out when you’re busy, stressed out, or just have a slip of the mind. Avoid this trap but not starting to use these terms.
You never have to apologize for the things you don’t do.
Career Mistakes from Your Actions
You may think of yourself as a certain kind of employee, like a go-getter, but you actions may broadcast a different perspective.
For instance, if your boss pays for you to attend a training, you may not want to sit in the back, check your email, and leave early.
While you may be 99% of a perfect employee, that 1% can define you.
These moments of weakness can also include how you talk to customers, answer questions with those you view as being beneath you, and even whether you hold a door open for a coworker.
You’re Likely Watched
We live in a society where cameras are more and more commonplace and bad behavior will likely be seen.
I was used to this concept, from my time in TV news, when you always assume, during a broadcast, any camera or microphone was turned on. Otherwise, you would end up embarrassing yourself and being immortalized on a blooper reel.
I have to remind myself that anything I do today may be seen by a camera. So while I’m not doing anything horrendous, if there’s something that would be embarrassing for others to see, then I can’t do it.
Sometimes during stressful moments, we display a less evolved version of ourselves. Consider who might be watching before you act. Career mistakes often have unseen observers.
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