In any workplace there are a few activities that can limit anyone’s growth. These are a handful of things that can show your employer whether or not to consider you for a promotion or even whether or not to keep you at all. It does not matter if you work in an office, a restaurant, a support center, or even out of your house these are behaviors that can severely limit your ability to be productive. Three of the more common limiting behaviors in the workplace are wasting time, not setting definite goals, and listening to negatives in your own mind.
Nobody wants to freely admit to it but while working, we all waste a huge amount of time. Take a task as simply and straightforward as writing a blog post. A well thought out post may only take 15 minutes to organize and write. But surfing the web while I should be researching, getting up to stretch, finding a snack, playing with the dog, or even “fidgeting” with the clutter on my desk may make a 15 minute article take 30 minutes. Now imagine that over the course of an 8 hour work day. I may be working for 8 hours but it is easy to only be productive for about one-half of that. To reduce the amount of time wasted I should organize my day better. Some ways to do this may be to remove distractions like the clutter around my desk. Another way could be to make it more difficult to waste time online by removing my bookmarks or getting a second browser like Firefox and not adding bookmarks for that. Taking away temptation is a great way to avoid it! And last, simply scheduling my day better means I can focus on being productive when I need to be productive. Maybe it now only takes me 6 hours and I have 2 more hours at the end of the day for more projects.
Not setting definite goals is a major hurdle for many people, both women and men, in the workplace. More specifically, we should be setting attainable goals that we have to work to achieve. If it is too easy, we may be satisfied without realizing our full potential. If the goal is too difficult, we may give up out of frustration. If you are aiming for a management position within your office, make that your goal. Aiming for a raise may leave you happy where you are and keep you from being ambitious enough to work towards that promotion. Aiming to be CEO is an unlikely goal for most people. Steps to working towards a promotion mostly include having a strong work ethic. That means always be prompt, maintain high standards for your work, go above and beyond without burning yourself out, learning more about the company, and talking with others in management. You want your name to come up during promotion talks. So doing the minimum amount of work and being an unknown in the office is not going to help.
Last, stop listening to that negative voice in your head. Those negatives are not rational. Often something you perceive as a weakness, nobody else notices. Focus on what you are doing well and stop judging yourself so negatively. Nobody wants to promote a person with no self confidence.
By focusing on changing these simple behaviors you can become far more successful in the workplace. Your productivity will increase, your employers will take notice of your work, and you may be able to achieve your goals even faster than you thought possible.
