Seven bad work habits you have to ditch

1. Skipping breaks and lunches

Skipping breaks and lunches is exactly a bad habit for a human being and a big cause that makes a person unhealthy. In corporate world, not taking proper and healthy meal on time creates lots of issues like stress, irritation, headache etc. So, the reason doctors recommend us to take food, fruits, water on time is that it could lead to a healthy lifestyle and a more productive corporate life. During work, nobody comes to remind you for all this, and you yourself are responsible to take care of it. To participate actively on the job and to increase work efficiency, you need to be enthusiastic, fresh and with a mind that’s devoid of pressure. This fills you up with positive energy that makes you reverberate good vibes and influence others too. For that, eating punctually and staying hydrated is necessary which makes you fit from all dimensions.

2. Picking up the work that nobody else want to do

So, what I want to share is that don’t choose the work which is not done by somebody just because the work may be tedious and may require greater concentration or it may turn out to be some boring manual work. But it’s your honesty, the fact that you are a perfectionist and like to complete each and every work, whether it was assigned to some other person and it remained incomplete because of their carelessness or competency, may force you to take up that work in your own bucket. The work might be critical and completing it might lead to you impressing your boss. But this needs to be understood that your boss does not expect you to take up other people’s work and be stuck with that. This would lead to instability in your own work and might lead to unwelcome stress that could affect your own work efficiency. Your colleagues might see this as an opening to drop off their incomplete work in your bucket and you might get stuck completing work items that you were never supposed to do. Your own bucket might get piled up with important timely work items missing their deadlines. So, to be healthy and stress free, just keep doing what you’re supposed to do and let your colleagues learn how to complete their own work and not depend on you.

3. Apologizing

Good manners and being polite goes a long way. But it doesn’t mean you need to apologize for each and every little thing. Building your self-respect and standing up for yourself is the key. Constant apologizing only leads to people taking your advantage and in some cases, blaming you for stuff that you never had any association with. Being good in the face of everyone might be some of you guys’ priority but what it does is that it turns you to apologize for every wrong doing that happens in front of you, even if you stood up for what was right. For example: A person might be using the copier to make some copies of merger documents that need to get through as soon as possible and suddenly another employee comes up to use the copier and asks if he could just make a single copy as it would not take much time. The person allows the other guy but the other guy takes a lot of time making multiple copies. Asking back for the turn to use the copier does not need to be followed with an apology as it was the other person’s fault that he failed to clarify his intentions initially.

4. Telling myself I will do it tomorrow

It means putting your work on delay mode. Convincing yourself that I will do my work later on pushes you towards a lot of pressure on your mind. The most unfavorable thing we do with ourselves just because we feel lazy and think that have we have enough time to complete a work is that we delay it and make plans for how we are going to complete the work tomorrow instead of completing the work today and getting it done. What happens is that it gets overlapped day by day with the work that we keep delaying every day. At the end, the burden becomes so high that we are not able to complete even a single work on time and hence, we miss our deadlines. So, just prepare from the beginning and make it perfect. Don’t put it on others and not especially on tomorrow.

5. Hating the workplace

We spend way too much time at our desks not to enjoy our work spaces. Hating the workplace leads to loss of productivity and a mindset that is dull and is not creative. Nowadays, employers design their workplaces in such a way that it is stress-free and not makes someone feel as if they are stuck inside a four wall boundary. The mind needs a creative and a vibrant place to work so that our imagination could help us think outside the box and makes work more enjoyable. We should not get fed-up of our work very soon as this might lead to demotivate ourselves and badly affect our mind as well as our work. If we get fed up, we aren’t able to make our attitude positive towards our responsibility and it would then start becoming frustrating. Focusing on our positive energy and loving the workplace is the best way to go.

6. Neglecting my network

Sometimes it’s in our habit to ignore or neglect our previous network or persons with whom we were connected. This ultimately is such a big loss for us that we don’t seem to recognize. Being in contact with each and every person with whom you have met for work purpose always proves beneficial as they might help you out in scenarios where the people around you might not. Just connect through social media or a phone call as it’s enough to be in touch and make them feel that you have not forgotten about them. Being extrovert is useful.

7. Sticking it out on the wrong job

As soon as you realize that the current job is not effective enough, then enhance and develop your skills and knowledge so that you might be ready for a new challenge. The problem with most of us is that we always fear new challenges. Human beings always crave for settlement and if the prospect of leaving something arrives, then most of us are hesitant as we all fear for the path our choice might lead us to. If we have opportunity to explore our skill, get experience or learn more about different section, field, position, company, surrounding by getting new job then we should always grasp that opportunity. So always be ready to take a new challenge and it take it up as an adventure that might teach you some good lessons in life. Don’t listen to others, be bold and go ahead for a change if you feel like something else calls for you

Submitted By: Varsha Gupta | Anshu Singh
(PGDM Batch 2019-21)