Ditch bad work habits before the NY

It’s hard to believe we only have 3 more months until 2025. Time has flown by, but now that we’ve passed the halfway mark it’s time to focus on ditching bad work habits for a clean start to the New Year.

Here are common work habits to say goodbye to.

Operating without plans

Winging it is a bad work habit. It’s almost impossible to operate efficiently without proper plans. You’ll have a scatter-gun approach and end up overwhelmed.

Develop daily, weekly and monthly plans. No doubt your organisation prefers certain types of plans. If not, a quick online search will reveal dozens of effective options.

Packing out your schedule

Scheduling back-to-back meetings all day is problematic. It leaves no time to think, reflect, or keep on top of your responsibilities.

Leave time in-between meetings to get organised by actioning meeting items, catching up on emails and moving work forward. Block out non-meeting time and breathe for greater productivity.

Being inefficient and disorganised

Being inefficient saps you of energy. It can lead to missed deadlines, confused communications and other business impacts such as lost time and money. Being disorganised doesn’t help either. If your desk is a mess and your computer filing system is a mess, chances are you’re in a mess. Get organised. Think about computer skills that can support you.

Procrastinating

We’ve all procrastinated at work, including with tasks we’re not keen on. Taking the first step is often the hardest part, but life becomes more manageable once you’ve done it.

Be honest about why you procrastinate. Then plan. Set deadlines. Eliminate distractions by, for example, switching your phone to silent. Block time in your calendar to concentrate.

Being negative

Being negative is a bad work habit, for yourself, your teammates, your boss and potentially your clients. Read this article for insights into how to develop a positive attitude at work.

Avoiding professional development

Ongoing professional development is essential to stay on top of your game. Your future needs a professional development map to get you on track and keep you focused. Here are ideas for mapping your professional development.

Remember that professional development doesn’t always mean long, expensive and difficult courses. Loads of short, and often free, courses are available to help you build skills, knowledge and efficiencies.

Being behind on technology

IT is in and it’s here to stay. If you’re a dinosaur with technology, you’re not operating at the optimum level. This includes with efficient use of emails, video conference apps, Microsoft or other programs (such as Word and Excel), planning programs and tracking software. Check the skills you need to refine and get learning.

Ignoring the need for work-life balance

Work-life balance is something we all want, yet many fail to achieve it. We get to work, dive into it, soldier on through breaks and head home late. We check emails before and after dinner, and on weekends. Fatigue sets in and so can depression. We may even begin to hate work.

Make work-life balance a top priority in 2025, including by following these tips.

Here are other face2face expert articles on health and wellbeing

How to spot and act on work burnout

Techniques for changing negative to positive

What happens when wfh no longer shines?

Taking advantage

Never take advantage of your workplace. If you have set breaks, stick to them. While the occasional extra 5 minutes might not harm, avoid slipping into the mode of taking too much time off (it quickly adds up).

Most organisations have flexibility in many areas, but make sure you’re not taking advantage. Doing so means you’re not working as productively as expected. This can damage your reputation.

Running late

Always running late reflects badly on your professionalism, even if you have the best excuse in the world. It can become an entrenched habit that makes others think of you as unorganised and unreliable so be on time (if not always 5 minutes early). To do so, figure out why you’re always late and adjust to fix the problem. Are you unorganised? Have you overbooked or not allowed enough time to get from A to B? Do you jam one more item in before heading to an appointment? Do you love to chat to colleagues on your way to a meeting?

Gossiping

It’s easy to listen to and even participate in gossip, but this can be career-limiting and affect your reputation with your colleagues and boss. While gossip might be tempting, it’s best to avoid it. Here are seven ways to stop office gossip.