Do you catch yourself implementing negative habits into your workday that impede your success and put your behind? If so, it’s time to create steps towards a healthier, more positive work life.
Bad habits in the workplace create a negative environment that no one wants to work in. To strive in your career, you need to adopt positive habits that make it easy to work with you. The good news is that it’s never too late to change your lifestyle and the way you view your job. You can start as early as today to make necessary changes that improve your work life and encourage appreciation.
Here are four negative work habits you need to ditch immediately. Let’s get into it.
1. Procrastinating important tasks
If you know you’re a procrastinator, you need to decrease your workload and efficiently complete tasks. Getting rid of procrastination is crucial to stay on top of a piling workload and reduce stress.
Avoid procrastinating by tackling the biggest task at the beginning of the day. You’re more motivated in the mornings and have the most brainpower. Use this to your advantage and get the most difficult or laborious task finished first so you don’t have to worry about it later.
Let’s say your most significant task for the day is to find Gravity Forms alternatives for the company website. Rather than putting it off to the last minute, you tackle it first thing when you start your workday. Even if it takes you a majority of the day to find the right software, you get it over with in the first portion of the day so it doesn’t weigh on you later.
2. Complaining
It’s normal to have complaints about our lives and want to get our thoughts and feelings off our chest. However, the complaining you do at work should remain at an all-time minimum. A professional environment is not the place to talk negatively and bring that energy around others trying to get their work done. Consistent complaining alters the way your brain processes information. The more frequently you engage a negative thought, the easier it is for those negative thoughts to occur.
Not only is it annoying behavior, but it also paints you as a negative person who doesn’t have anything positive to offer. No one wants to be around this kind of person, especially at work where you spend several days together a week. It shows a lack of appreciation for your job that someone else would be grateful to have.
The next time you feel like voicing your complaints, write them down instead. Journal your frustrations and take them out on the page. You’ll feel like you got the negative feelings out of your system without dragging your colleagues into the mix.
3. Constantly checking email
We spend hours on top of hours wasting time on emails. More than half of people check their email before doing anything else online. They might be unavoidable to an extent, but that doesn’t mean you need to spend hours each day sifting through them. If you have a system in place, it’s easier to follow so you know you only have a set time to check your email.
Set up a time to check your email every day and don’t spend any more than 30 minutes. For consistency, try to carve out the same time during the week so you remember. When your time is up, close your email and start your next task.
If checking emails is so overwhelming and time-consuming that you can’t accomplish anything under 30 minutes, consider marketing automation software. Similarly, if you spend extra time on email because you keep encountering sending errors, use a tool like WP Mail SMTP to ensure email deliverability. The quicker you tackle any issues, the less time you’ll waste when you don’t have to.
4. Showing up late
It’s understandable that, sometimes, life gets in the way and no amount of planning will get you to work on time. Maybe your alarm didn’t go off like it was supposed to or there was an unexpected accident on the highway. However, if it’s the norm for you to stroll into work late, this is a work habit you must ditch immediately.
When you’re late to work, it shows your colleagues and managers you don’t care about your job. It’s not on your list of priorities and if you happen to be late, it doesn’t bother you. Keep in mind that your team does notice, and if this behavior continues, it could cost you your job.
Take preventative steps to ensure you always make it to work on time. If you know you need to stop for coffee in the morning, wake up 15 minutes early. If you’re tired and constantly press snooze on your alarm, make an effort to go to bed earlier. Pack your lunch the night before.
Over to you
If you struggle with negative habits in the workplace, it’s crucial to get rid of them as soon as possible. It’s important to show appreciation, maintain positivity, and complete work tasks on time to ensure you’re respectful of others. It also positions you as a valuable employee that the company is proud to have on board.