15 Work Habits that Drive Success
Good work habits drive success
It’s important to develop and maintain good work habits. If consistently maintained, good work habits drive success, resulting in an employee contributing more, increasing their job satisfaction while creating richer relationships between peers, colleagues and their reporting manager.
15 Good Work Habits
Here are 15 good work habits that will contribute to the best possible experience at work.
1. Learn to take and even seek out, constructive feedback
A key factor in becoming a better employee is to be open and receptive to constructive feedback. For the most part, managers who offer these insights are the most effective leaders as they are attempting to help you avoid making the same / similar mistakes in the future and ultimately, to better yourself.
2. Present solutions, not problems
Offering solutions to counter a given issue is an essential practice. Providing problems only can present an employee as a person who lacks initiative, drive or even creativity. The exercise of presenting this balanced approach can assist in developing another essential practice: critical thinking.
3. Be organized
It is very difficult to be a high performer if you aren’t organized. Utilize the resources you have available to you – even simple practices such as color-coding your calendar is a great way to organize specific types of events, and preparing a work plan outlining critical tasks for the following day will provide great momentum.
4. Be dependable
One of the most important work habits you can have is to be dependable. If you’re someone your boss knows they can count on, you will reap the benefits. Attending meetings prepared, completing and presenting quality work on time, volunteering for projects and / or jumping in to help out teammates, are all good examples of work habits that demonstrate dependability.
5. Allow more time than you think you need for everything
Plan and consider your time carefully, take into account the distractions and potential disruptions in your day-to-day. Be realistic when devoting time to certain projects. This could even include commute time. Giving yourself more time will ensure you have less stress in your workday.
6. Ask questions
Whether you’re a new or veteran employee, it is inevitable that eventually, you’ll come across something you don’t know how to do or how to answer. In this situation, it’s a good work habit to simply ask questions and clarify the details of the information you have been provided. No one expects that you have all the answers.
7. Be willing to say you don’t know
Many people will try to give some semblance of an answer to a question, even when they don’t actually know. This practice can lead to the spread of misinformation. Admit that you don’t know the answer, and then commit to finding out what it is. You will be respected far more for admitting a gap in your knowledge then if you were to fabricate a response.
8. Ask for and offer help
No one can do everything alone, but many people are often hesitant to ask for help. If you don’t know how to do something, try to get comfortable asking someone for help – it’s a much better alternative to fumbling around on your own and possibly making mistakes. Also in that vein, knowing that people are reluctant to ask for help, you can offer your assistance if you see that it is required. Be sure to understand the context of the problem before doing so though, or it may just become more of a hindrance rather than help.
9. Always do your best
Sometimes, we can be tempted to phone it in, or do the minimum for a task. Try to get into the good work habit of always doing your best at whatever job you are given, even if it is menial or seems unimportant. This will contribute to your coworkers and supervisors seeing you as dependable, and a good worker.
10. Go above and beyond
If you find the opportunity to, going above and beyond can be a great work habit to get into. Not only will you feel personal satisfaction at having done a great job at your task, but the people who benefit from your hard work will also be very appreciative, whether they are a customer or coworker.
11. Be kind
This work habit seems simple, but it can be very effective. Simply being kind to your coworkers, doing your work with a smile, avoiding office gossip, etc. can greatly increase office morale and make the workplace culture much more positive.
12. Look at problems as opportunities
Shifting your perspective to a more positive one is a great work habit to master. Seeing things as problems will cast them in a negative light and make them more difficult to do. Viewing them as opportunities to showcase your skills and strengths will make the task much more palatable.
13. Keep personal problems out of the workplace
Make sure you set a clear line between work and personal life. Excessive talk about your personal problems can influence how confident your supervisor and coworkers are in your ability to do a job, and could also bring your judgment into question.
14. Listen to people carefully
Often, people will listen to someone until they hear something they want to react to, and interrupt. It’s a good work habit to listen actively, absorbing as much of the information as you can. You can ask questions at the end and often enough you won’t have to if you listen carefully.
15. Stop procrastinating
This is the simplest and one of the most important of good work habits – stop procrastinating! Commit to doing whatever work needs to be done, and don’t put it off. Planning your day and giving yourself ample time to execute your tasks will keep you tracking.
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Work Habits
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Developing good work habits takes time
While this isn’t an exhaustive list of good work habits by any means, it’s a decent start. Everyone has personal strategies and approaches to working effectively. More often than not, these personal practices were developed over time. Experiment and observe how others manage their workplace effectiveness.
