9 Unproductive Bad Work Habits You Can Easily Change

Career success doesn’t come overnight. But unproductive bad work habits can really slow down your career growth. And sometimes, you don’t even realize it.

Breaking these unproductive bad work habits may be the difference between the current version of yourself – frustrated with your career growth, stressed and unproductive, and the best version of yourself – happy and successful.

1. The king of unproductive, bad work habits: Multitasking

How often do you try to multitask in the office? Fill in a spreadsheet whilst talking to your colleague and keeping an eye out for new emails. We are all guilty of that.

But do you really save time doing these things at the same time? When it comes to unproductive bad work habits, this is one of the worst.

Our brains cannot focus on more than one complex task at the same time.

We can do automated things at the same time, such as walking and talking on the phone or driving and thinking about a work project. Because they rely on different brain areas which makes it possible.

Work tasks require active thinking, planning, and reasoning. These rely on the prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain involved in complex cognitive functions. And it can only process one complex task at a time.

So when you try to multitask you’re actually switching between tasks. Which in itself drains your resources even further as you continually change your focus.

So organise your day in chunks and do one thing at a time – dedicated time for emails (e.g. morning and after lunch), separate time blocked for different projects, small talks in your lunch breaks etc.

3. Skipping your lunch break

When it comes to unproductive bad work habits, this is one I’m often guilty of myself as well (working on it though!). In the UK only 1 in 5 people take their full lunch break. And 52% admit to eating on their desks.

Your lunch break is an important opportunity to detach from work halfway through the day. This promotes productivity and the ability to cope with stress in the second part of the day by replenishing our mental and emotional resources. Without adequate recovery, stress reactions such as fatigue or low mood may develop into chronic conditions such as burnout.

You can also use it as an opportunity to do something for yourself. How many such opportunities do you have in your average day? Work, husband, kids, travel, but never you. So create a routine to go for a run, brisk walk, yoga etc.

Or dedicate it to your personal development. You can spend 15-20min from your lunch break every day doing an online course, or listening to a podcast. For more quick yet powerful personal development activities, check out this list. Imagine the things you can learn in a single year if you do this – this is 5,200 minutes dedicated to you!

Or simply network with your colleagues. Use these thought-provoking networking questions for meaningful conversations with your team.

4. Having too much caffeine

Caffeine is the world’s most widely used psychoactive drug. It’s known to boost the metabolism and mood and improve mental and physical performance.

In the modern world where we often feel overwhelmed by life and time pressures, we have developed a relationship with this magic drink which boosts our energy thus allowing us to combat the pressure.

But it’s a double-edged sword and a very commonly misunderstood bad work habit. Amongst other side effects, caffeine increases breathing, cardiovascular activity and cortisol levels thus potentiating a stress response. One study found that people who had 300 mg of caffeine experienced more than double the stress of those who took a placebo.

So if you’re already under stress it’s certainly not a good idea to have much coffee!

So swap some of your caffeine drinks with an alternative such as a glass of lemon water, matcha tea, or another alternative healthy drink, a refreshing walk outside, or a natural energy and strength-boosting supplement, such as Guarana extract or vitamin B.

5. Saying yes to everything

There’s a strange feeling to saying No. Others may perceive you as not committed, pretending that you don’t have time, even incompetent.

But by committing to many things you fail to prioritise your own wellbeing and risk burning out. Saying No to things and taking care of yourself means you get more work done because you are more productive. But you got to know when too much is too much and when to say no.

So ask yourself:

• Is it my job to do it?
• Do I really have the time?
• Is it in line with my goals, professional and personal?
• Can I learn something from it, develop a new skill, or make a valuable connection?
• Will it have a positive impact on my performance appraisal or career?
• What would be the negative impact if I said ‘No’ (but remain objective! Don’t overthink it.)

If you can’t say No then at least be realistic about a time frame. Is it top priority? How long do you realistically need?

6. Not spending time on your development

Spending time on learning and development activities is linked to many benefits, such as higher salary and better career prospects, self-fulfillment.

94% of employees say they would stay with an employer for longer if it invested in their development.

Yet lack of time is the number one cited reason why employees felt they’re held back from learning.

But do we really lack the time?

Or is it just another unproductive bad work habit? In the UK we spend 1h 50min on average in social media (2h16min global average)! And another 58min commuting.

Cutting down 10min a day and spending it on your development means you’d spend 60 hours a year on your personal growth! You most likely can’t cut your commute short but you can use the time to learn something whilst travelling. Instead of staring at the fun haircut of the guy opposite you on the train.

You can start small and dedicate as little as 10-15 minutes learning something new every week. You can listen to podcasts, books, ted talks on the go. Or read an interesting article on a Sunday night so that you start the new week with something positive in mind. There are many quick yet powerful personal development activities you can do in 15 minutes or less.

If you are unsure where to start, check out this guide on how to plan your personal development journey to maximise your career success (+ you get a free template too).

7. Ruminating on work

Giving in to Sunday blues every week? Worrying about work every night?

Your brain and body don’t realise you’re not at work if you worry about work in your leisure time. This is because the same brain and body systems are activated. This results in poor mental health.

One way to manage stress better is to think and reflect positively about work. This is good for your wellbeing.

Here’s how. Watch out for these thoughts and replace them:

Worry and rumination mindset	Constructive thinking and growth mindset
I worry about how I will deal with this last-minute project. I worry I will fail which will have a huge impact on my career.	I know I have the skills to deal with this project. It may be challenging but it will give me an excellent opportunity to develop new skills and prove myself.
I have so many things to do this coming week. It makes me anxious and agitated. I’m not sure how I can cope. I’m at the point where I’m ready to ignore some of the tasks and dig my head in the sand.	I have so many things to do this coming week. But the projects will benefit my development and I just need to prioritise well. I will put a priority list tomorrow and discuss it with my manager.

Another powerful activity you can try is journalling. Here are 30 mental health journal prompts to get you started.

8. Pushing through unproductive spells

When your mind needs a rest, it needs a rest. So if you notice you are 1) having difficulty concentrating, 2) making mistakes, 3) demotivated to keep going, 4) doing something for the 5th time without success – don’t push yourself. This will do you no good.

Instead, replace this unproductive bad work habit with some of these ideas:

• Take a step back from the problem. Is there another logical solution you have missed? How would a stranger deal with it?
• Do your ‘Me time’ activity (an activity dedicated to you – exercise, reading, having a bath etc). This will help you distance yourself, recover your energy and look at things with fresh eyes.
• Sleep on it. Sleep will not only help you recover from the stress. REM-sleep, the sleep phase when you dream, enhances the integration of information in the brain, allowing creative problem-solving. 
• Ask someone for a different perspective. Maybe you have missed something they would spot straight away.

9. Having an “I’ll do it tomorrow” attitude

There needs to be a balance between prioritising and procrastinating. Of course, you can’t prioritise everything and get it done today.

But we often procrastinate on things which will need to be done anyway.

Sooner or later.

It could be because you feel uncomfortable doing it, because you don’t enjoy it or because you feel like you have to. All good reasons to avoid it and ‘do it tomorrow’.

Remember the last time you did a task which you avoided for a long time? How did you feel? Motivated? Relieved? Lighter? You will feel the same when you do the next avoided task! You will also benefit from:

• Saved energy and mental resources from avoiding it and designing reasons not to do it
• No lost opportunities or missed deadlines
• A sense of accomplishment and motivation to do more.
• Better relationship with the person who asked for this to be done

What to do about it? Use the Do-One-Every-Day rule. Do one such task a day. Having a whole pile makes it more daunting and easier to evade.

Conclusion

Which of these unproductive bad work habits are you guilty of? Break them today to boost your success and happiness.

And since you’re here, and speaking of bad habits, why not check this article on how to get your partner to help with the chores? I bet you agree he’s got some bad habits when it comes to this!

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