Is your professional behavior dragging you down?

BECOMING successful isn’t all about chance; it’s about consciously making good things happen for you.

Of course a little bit of luck sprinkled into the equation is more than helpful, but the grand majority of success is down to hard work and keeping certain behaviors in check.

Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy. What we do and how we do it can be the life or death of a business or for the opportunity of promotion. All to often we fall into a way of doing things that actually harms rather than advances our chance of success. Therefore, it’s essential to recognise such toxic behaviours and get rid of them quick!

Busy or productive? Just because you might spend the entire day running around like a headless chicken doesn’t necessarily mean that you are getting things done. Learn to prioritise. Take a step back, breathe and figure out what exactly needs to be done and concentrate your efforts on those things that will make an impact and encourage progress.

Forget about perfection The pursuit of perfection is a great big waste of time. Imagine it in terms of learning Spanish. Those that refuse to speak for fear of making mistakes never get to practice and their language learning stops in its tracks. It’s the same in the workplace. The best thing to do is just make an effort – try as hard as you can and you’ll be amazed at how productive you can become.

Planning is progress Planning is the most important thing you can do to encourage success. Rolling out of bed each day with no notion in your head of what you plan to do is a waste of time and a recipe for disaster. Successful people always have a plan. They set goals and navigate their working life around conquering those goals.

Get strong Everyone has a weakness or two within their professional life – a bad habit or something that drags them down. Spot these weaknesses and make an effort to improve. If you are a nervous public speaker but fancy your chances of becoming a manager, then make sure to work on this weakness. Attend a class; do whatever it takes to turn your weakness into a strength.