We all have certain bad habits that make an appearance in our daily lives, whether it be biting your nails, driving a little too fast, or forgetting to brush your teeth. There are also some bad habits you may have only at work, which may not seem like a big deal but my in fact be preventing you from being productive and happy at your job!

Here are a couple that may apply to you and what you can do to fix them:

1. Starting your day in a bad mood. Okay, if you’ve had a million problems happen between the time you got out of bed and finally arrived at the office, it’s acceptable to not feel so great about the rest of the day ahead. On the other hand though, if you’ve had a normal morning before getting to work, you shouldn’t always be thinking “ugh, I do not want to work today”. You never know how the day may go, so there’s no reason to automatically be in a sour mood before 9 a.m. If you feel this often happens to you, make sure you’re starting your morning off right by giving yourself plenty of time to get ready in the morning and make sure to eat a yummy breakfast that will give you energy for the day.

2. Competing with coworkers. The people you spend your week with are not the enemy but people you need to work together with to ensure success for the organization you work for! Sure, if another person and you are going after the same promotion, that may induce a little competition, but other than that, you need to see your coworkers as equals. If someone else makes a mistake, don’t laugh in their face but help them fix it and you should never find yourself disliking another person because you’re jealous of their role at work. Some things may seem unfair at times, but then again not everything in life is fair! Getting to know your coworkers better and finding out their interests outside of work can help you see them on another level rather than competition.

3. Not being involved enough at work. It’s easy enough to think this is just 40 hours of my week, I have a life outside of this but that isn’t always the best way of thinking. You should enjoy your job enough to want to stay involved with it and be motivated to contribute to the success of the company as a whole. If you don’t, then likely the job isn’t the right one for you! You shouldn’t feel dread if you have to stay a half hour later after work, or if you have to attend a work related event outside of your normal work week hours. You job doesn’t have to dominate your life, but you should care about it! Volunteer to do some tasks at work that you normally wouldn’t do and you’ll see it’s not as painful as it may seem to become more involved.

4. Procrastination. This can be a big problem for some people and could end up costing you your job. It’s all too easy to leave a task for the next work day, but next thing you know you may forget to do it altogether, or you could be in a sticky situation when your boss asks you if it’s been done. Try to treat everything with importance even if it seems like a mundane task and you’ll be and feel more productive.

5. Poor communication. Sometimes it’s easier to want to do everything yourself rather than having to work together with others on a task and have to worry about communication. It can definitely be frustrating coordinating emails, phone calls and getting your message across clearly to others but it’s an essential skill to have. Sometimes you may not even realize that you have poor communication skills until a problem from it arises. The best thing to do would be to stay on top of your emails, and to make sure people you are working with are on the same page as you. Don’t be afraid to ask if they completely understand what you’re saying, just make sure you do it in a polite way so they don’t get offended! You can also take a communications course or workshop if it seems you need a lot of help in that department.

Fixing or improving upon these bad habits will help you become more satisfied with your job and will also impress your boss with your changes. You’ll become more productive and we all know only good things can come from that!

Inspiration Image: Courtesy of The Next Web

By: Sarah Brooks, Toronto

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