5 steps to a ruined career

Often, it's that one small mistake that ruins a perfectly good situation. And your actions go on and make it worse. Smita Singh lists out 5 professional mistakes that are sure to lead to a ruined career and are best not committed

1. Compromising integrity
From planting fake stories as a journalist to leaking details of your clients and company data, losing integrity is professional suicide. Even if you feel pressure from the top or from within to compromise in order to rise faster, throwing your code of honour to the winds will only speed you out of your current job with zero references and a lot of muck on your resume. You may never recover since news spreads fast and bad news faster. Go slow, steady, and strong on principles and you’ll have a long, fruitful career ahead of you. Keep it clean and ensure you have a great reputation built before that bank balance!

2. Being miss goody two shoes
Remember, the not-so-meek will get promoted. If you don’t rise to the occasion, take the credit, show your efforts, and celebrate your achievements, people will think you suffer from low self-esteem. And no one is going to promote someone with low self esteem, how will she lead a team? Humility is great, but you needn’t overkill it. In today’s competitive world, you need to work hard and make sure that those who matter know that you do. So don’t let that pushy colleague or that selfish boss hog the limelight. Step up and acknowledge your contribution and don’t be afraid to demand what is justly yours.

3. It’s office, not home
Surely you would like to carry a little bit of yourself to your work place, but if you move bag and loads of baggage to the office, it will reduce your concentration and hamper your productivity. Also, shrieking and screaming at people like you did at home when your kids overturned that table is a sure shot way of losing respect. Your boss will doubt your confidence if you well up with emotion every time she points out mistakes.

So keep your Kleenex handy, go to the washroom or hammer the wall, but come out composed and try to keep the lid on, most times. Furious, jumpy, miserable, and hypersensitive are definitely not the kind of people one wants to work with. There is a code of conduct at the work place that you are expected to follow and no matter who you are and where you are coming from, don’t carry your emotional baggage around - its heavy and you’ll be the only one holding it.

4. Taking on more than you can chew
Unintentional blunders can be forgiven but a reputation of being someone who bites off more than she can chew without delivering can quickly send you packing. Believing in your ability to achieve the impossible is great, especially when you are pushed to the wall, but risking your employer’s reputation, your company’s resources, and your own career to get that high is not worth it. More CEOs are fired for doing more than expected than doing less. So take that initiative, tackle that challenge, but don’t forget you are paid to do a job, not exercise your dare devilry at the cost of others.

5. Staying put
Yup! They can build a monument where you sat and sloughed for ages before they had to carry you out, but you won’t be seeing it in your professional life since it’ll be over before they build it! It’s one thing to be loyal to your company and sticking it out, but being afraid to venture out and try your fortune and skills in a more challenging and rewarding environment will not keep you stable, it will make you stale. So get up before you get fossilised and look for more challenging opportunities! Go on, live your best life!