It is wrong to think all jobs enable you to utilize your military experience and discipline. You might choose a federal career tailored to your interests, write a perfect military cover letter, build off your service skill sets and strengths assisted by Federal Resume Guide (https://federalresumeguide.com/how-to-write-a-cover-letter-for-federal-jobs/) and finally get your dream job.

Presently you’ll find yourself in a trap of comfy office conditions, relaxed and endowed with plenty of bad habits. They are like a comfortable bed, easy to get into, but hard to get out of. Worst of all, the negative behaviors greatly affect productivity, and some of them may cost you a promotion or even your place. Here is the list of bad habits you need to get rid of asap.

#1. Procrastination

You are not alone in your beliefs that you cope in the best way with your work at the last minute.  There are days and weeks when all of us can’t focus on tasks and delay the projects or assignments. Procrastination is nothing more than mental to overcome. Though it’s considered normal, it's a tricky habit with crushing effects for your job.

The more you put the task off, the more undesirable it seems. The longer you wait, the harder it’s to find the right motivation to do it. It makes you ill and greatly affects your self-esteem. Moreover, your permanent last-minute rush may be annoying for colleagues. And guess who will be the first to be blamed for a project failure or defects?

Solution

As soon as you eliminate distractions, you finally get work done. If you are from people who easily are distracted, you should figure out your unique way to get in the zone. If you think the task is overwhelming, it’s better to break it down into smaller sub-tasks you can manage with ease. And don’t forget to get your small reward. It can be a cup of your favorite coffee blend or 15 minutes of anti-stress walking.

#2. Multitasking

Though we consider multitasking a good ability, it results in time wasted. Multitasking is good for computers, but a human being can’t do more chipping away at lots of jobs at the same time. Even now you are reading the article and also doing several things at once. So, you are probably not as effective as you think you are.

What you are really doing is quickly shifting focus from one thing to the next. In the context of switching back and forth, you become prone to errors due to insufficient attention and stop working on a certain task, moving away from it. Multitasking often causes mental blocks, slowing you down, and makes it difficult to tune out distractions.

Solution

In order not to jump from task to task, you should prioritize the order to get everything done.

You will experience no stress if you focus on mono-tasking instead of multitasking and move to the next action to perform in order of priority. For instance, the best way of dealing with important tasks without the temptation to poke around is keeping just one tab or window open on your laptop.

#3. Eating in the Workplace

All of us are aware of how unhealthy the habit of eating lunch at our desk or neglecting it at all is. Some of us strive to perform our best and rarely take a step away from the computer, taking on extra projects or working overtime. But no one realizes that our productivity, mental well-being, and overall work performance suffer without adequate breaks from work.

All your efforts to become a hard-working employee are not effective whether you are neglecting lunch breaks or eating in front of a display, which is a kind of multitasking. Working through lunch is definitely unhealthy and makes you tired after a while. No matter how busy you are, you need breathing space. Breaks are essential in helping employees feel refreshed and ready to get back to work. Breaks are essential in helping employees feel refreshed and ready to get back to work.

Solution

If you step away from your computer and take a walk around, your head will get cleared and ready for new solutions. If you try to have lunch in a canteen or walk to the nearest coffee-shop, you will definitely feel de-stressed and re-charged for the rest of the workday. You can use your break times to prepare a healthy lunch, exercise, meditate, or engage in a self-care activity.

#4. Keeping Few of Promises

There are a lot of examples of our struggling with saying ‘no’ to a colleague or a customer in order not to disappoint them. Sometimes we say ‘yes’ to everything because we really want to help people. When someone asks about the task completion date, we list it off the cuff, running scared instead of calculating how long we can perform it. Then we ask for another couple of days to complete it.

Though we promise impossible things that never come to reality, we genuinely care. The problem is that by making promises we can’t keep, we end up hurting ourselves in the long run. Nothing will change if you explain that you haven't done something after your promise because of an emergency. It happens day by day, and your case shouldn’t be an exception. But the employees who have ongoing issues and failures to keep words are treated like line shooters with empty promises and lip service.

Solution

Don’t set expectations you can’t meet. Take some time to rethink your answers and provide a realistic timeframe of when you can deliver results. If you learn how to set proper expectations, then people will know they can trust in what you’re saying. Saying what you mean and meaning what you say is the best way for your reputation not to be taken away.

#5.  Poor Communication

There are certain signs that you need to polish your communication skills. You prefer to leave unnoticed emails, business-related text messages, and phone calls or don’t answer them promptly. Neither an opinion nor point of view of your colleagues is interesting for you. If you find yourself arguing with others and can’t react properly to constructive criticism, it’s one more sign of ineffective communication.

Different people prefer different communication styles. Millennials tend to choose instant messaging, whereas baby boomers favor alternative means of liaising with their colleagues or superiors and need detailed explanations and long emails. Lack of communication makes the whole team become frustrated with each other. Poor communication leads to mistakes, sows seeds of distrust and confusion, rises a turnover rate.

Solution

With good lines of communication between all links and ranks, employees feel like they’re being heard by managers. Their loyalty and commitment to the organization will rise. Suitable channels of communication, good teamwork, and friendly cohesive company culture can be the right solution on how to prevent communication issues. Proper office etiquette and good motivation are crucial to making them in a new place of work. 

The first step towards finding a solution to these common bad habits is to know what you are looking for. Bad habits affect productivity, tie up concentration and spoil good relationships with your colleagues, bosses, or clients, being damaging to your career advancement. You can build a more successful career and bring others up if you replace the bad with the good to be ‘better you’.

About the Author

Linda R. Bedford

Linda is a Professional Resume Writer and Military to Civilian Transition Specialist. Her expertise range across a large spectrum of industries. She loves coaching with people and helps job-seekers in transitioning to their next and best chapter.