There are thousands of words of advice out there about all of the things you should do in order to lead a company to success. Yet all too often, these guides don’t talk about how your existing behaviors get in your way — often without you even realising it.
No matter how good you are at charming someone on the telephone, if, for instance, you have trouble maintaining eye contact in person you won’t make a great impression. Equally, if you beat yourself up over every small failure, rather than putting them into perspective, you’ll quickly find yourself failing to achieve your dreams.
As part of your effort to project the confidence and professionalism that will help you get on the way to professional success, these are the 4 things you should avoid from now on.
1. Comparing yourself to others
It can be hard to look at yourself in the mirror without comparing yourself to your peers, but it’s one of the keys to living a fuller, happier and more successful life.
People’s lives do not run the same course. What happened to your neighbor may not happen to you. However, this doesn’t have any bearing on what you’ve already achieved and the success you will go on to enjoy.
Remember, no matter your age, experience or aspirations, there are a number of inspiring stories from people who succeed later in life that offer a number of important lessons for the rest of us.
2. Projecting a false image of yourself
It’s rare that someone is able to present themselves convincingly as someone they’re not. All too often the facade will crack and the real you will shine through.
In business, this only serves to make you look untrustworthy. Whether it’s using different language when speaking, or dressing in a completely different style, creating an ‘idealized self’ will always be a flawed plan. Rarely does your idea of greatness match up with other people’s ideals. From deciding to skip the hair dye and return to your natural color to being honest about your hobbies (no matter whether they are popular or not), learning to love yourself for who you are will ensure you radiate confidence.
3. Self-medicating
Whether it’s with food, alcohol, social media or something else, self-medication is becoming a pandemic in society. As the pressure to appear happy, successful and content ramps up, more and more of us are turning to our vices to let off some steam. Of course, in the long-run this can have a crippling affect. It recent years there has been a trend for more and more women to turn to alcohol to help with the stress of keeping up their role at work and at home. While this may help relieve stress at first, in the long run it is detrimental to both your health and performance at work.
If you find yourself becoming overwhelmed, try instead to use a healthy alternative such as exercise, or quitting social media to overcome your anxieties and stay focused in the meantime.
4. Being afraid
Business success rides on a number of things, but arguably the most important of them all is the ability to embrace big challenges head on. Fear stops us doing many things in life, but it should never play a role when it comes to your work.
As an entrepreneur, you need to learn how to overcome your doubts and worries, and instead approach every opportunity and challenge with feverish confidence and a burning desire to achieve. Remember, failure can be a blessing in disguise. Rather than letting it put you off taking chances, use the experience as a lesson on how to do better in the future.
Conclusion
Not allowing the above success hindering habits will have you on the road to sure-fire success in no time. It’s okay to falter now and again, just be mindful when it’s happening or self reflect when one of these issues has got in the way of your success. Figure out your triggers and constantly work at eliminating them, and you’ll get where you want to go in no time!