Five Career-Limiting Habits … Recognize Anyone?

David Maxfield, New York Times bestselling co-author of “Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success,” was on Expert Access Radio to discuss his new book … and “career limiting decisions.” 

Steve Kayser: In your book you talk about “career limiting decisions.” What are they, and why is my picture next to the definition of them?

David Maxfield: In the Change Anything Lab we did a study of 1,000 managers and they were identifying the career limiting habits that for them were the show stoppers around giving someone a salary increase or putting them in that pool for possible promotion.

DISORGANIZED OR UNRELIABLE

The big ones are people who are disorganized or unreliable, so they don’t spend time planning or organizing.

PROCRASTINATION

Second are procrastinators. They get too little, too late.

“I always wanted to be a procrastinator … I just never got around to it.”

NOT MY JOB

The third group is a real killer, it’s not my job, they flex blame,  and don’t take responsibility. Those people are not going to get ahead.

BUT THE CAREER KILLERS ARE …

And the last two career limiting habits are being unwilling to change and being a cynic. Where “no” is your default. And anything new won’t work.

Those are the career killers.

Steve Kayser: How do you offset those career limiting habits?

David Maxfield: Career success factors are deceptively simple. There are three of them.

1) Know your stuff -  Be technically among the best. Know your job better than anyone else. And do it that way.

2) Focus on the right stuff -  Figure out what it is that your team, your boss, your company needs the most and focus your work there.

3.  Be helpful -  Develop a reputation for being helpful. That’s the toughest one of the three. Because it sometimes distracts from your own job performance.

Deceptively simple, like I said, but the 1,000 managers we spoke to … you want a raise or a promotion from them?

• Know your stuff.
• Focus on the right stuff.
• Be helpful.

Steve Kayser: You didn’t answer my first question. What about my picture being next to “Career Limiting Habits” definition? I want an answer.

It went silent.

Then  …

 a familiar voice answered.