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| © Jose Luis Pelaez Inc | Getty Images |
By Timothy Sykes, Entrepreneur
You’ve probably thought about what you should do to get ahead in your
career. But as it turns out, it’s just as important to consider what
you should not do, too.
We all make mistakes in the workplace at one point or another.
However, repeatedly making the same professional mistakes will decrease
your happiness on the job and your quality of life. The good news is
that many of these mistakes are easy to dodge in the first place. Here
are six common professional mistakes and how to avoid them:
Not asking for enough money.
I
get it. It’s hard to speak up and ask for what you’re worth. Plenty of
people lowball themselves when making compensation demands, thinking it
will make them seem more competitive.
However, you’re doing
yourself a big disservice by not asking for enough money. If you’re
underpaid, you’ll only be able to keep it up for so long before you
begin to get discouraged by how much energy you’re expending and how
little you’re receiving in return. Don’t just blurt out a number. Do
some quality research on appropriate compensation for salaries or fees
within your field before making a request. You deserve appropriate
compensation!
Missing deadlines.
As
writer Douglas Adams said, "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound
they make as they fly by." While this is funny and relatable, if you
miss deadlines, you’re probably letting opportunities pass you by as
well.
Reliability is just as important as the quality of work that
you do. If you’re constantly not delivering on time, then you’ll begin
to get a reputation for being flaky. That’s not going to help your
career advancement. To avoid this, be honest when quoting a timeline for
a project. Don’t just be a yes person, especially if you don’t think
you can deliver by a certain date. If you realize that you’re running
late on a project, be proactive and ask for an extension before the
final hour.
Working all the time.
Many
people suffer from the delusion that working more is impressive and that
taking time off is a sign of weakness. This couldn’t be further from
the truth. If you work too much, you will eventually get burned out.
Your work won’t be as effective as a worker, and you won’t have a good
work-life balance.
For best results, make time off a priority.
Recognize it for what it is: a chance to recalibrate and rest so that
you can hit the ground running at your maximum when you do return to
work.
Fear of networking.
Career growth and advancement is largely about who you know. So why do so many professionals stop networking?
Many
professionals give up on networking after a while in the field,
figuring it doesn’t matter anymore. Without connections, there are fewer
people to think of you when opportunities arise. Eventually, the
opportunities will dry up. No matter how far along in your career you
are, continue seeking out and maintaining professional relationships
with peers, colleagues, and ideally a mentor, too. You never know where they could lead!
Giving up on learning.
Just
as many professionals give up on networking, plenty of people get lazy
about learning as their career advances. It’s when you stop learning
that you start stagnating in your career. This can eventually make you
irrelevant, and who wants that?
Always stay curious. Keep learning
about your field. Revisit the basics, and keep abreast of advancements
in the field. Listen to podcasts, read books and keep up with world
news. It keeps your mind nimble, and it makes you better able to adapt
as changes come along in your industry.
Repeating mistakes over and over.
To
a certain degree, mistakes are unavoidable and inevitable. Few people
reach higher career levels without making a misstep or two (or ten).
This is not necessarily a bad thing...if you’re able to learn from your
mistakes. If you don’t learn from your mistakes, your professional life
will be like the movie Groundhog Day, where you keep repeating the same
cycle over and over.
How can you break free? Learn from your
mistakes. If you are able to acknowledge a mistake, learn from it, and
avoid it in the future, you’ll become stronger and steadier in your
career over time.
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