It’s the End of the Year as We Know It (Do You Feel Fine?)

Reading this post may signify the beginning of the end of your bad work habits!
Reading this post may signify the beginning of the end of your bad work habits!

Whether done for personal or business reasons, resolving a bad habit is bound to affect you in a positive way. Yes, we’ve reached that special milestone again: setting goals to make a fresh start at the beginning of a new year. (Notice my deliberate avoidance of the “R” word…)

But this blog post is all about endings. Therefore, I think it’s more appropriate to talk about breaking bad habits that hamper your productivity at work or cause personal distress in your life. Let’s not dwell too much on the new year careening toward us. It will be here soon enough!

This is the end, the blog post to end all blog posts, and it’s the end of the year as we know it… Do you feel fine? If not, read up on the assortment of (dreadful!) habits that are yours to break in 2015…

Crush Crazy-Bad Works Habits in Less Than Four Hours a Week: If you’re a fan of the Tim Ferriss book The Four-Hour Work Week, you’re in luck. Inc. magazine published a great expose this past summer entitled “9 Work Habits You Need to Stop Today” (based on a podcast recorded by Mr. Ferriss).

His strategies for beating back time-sucks and other black holes in your parallel universe at work are easily consumed and digested. I encourage you to read the article for yourself. Here are some highlights of the most egregious work habits Tim Ferriss wants you to drown in the bathtub:

“Do not answer calls from unrecognized numbers.” (I can vouch for this one–voicemail has your back! Why get into odd discussions with complete strangers representing random non-profit organizations and service/utility companies?)

“Do not agree to meetings or calls with no clear agenda or end time.”

“Do not work more to fix being too busy.”

“Do not carry a digital leash 24/7.”

Just in case you don’t feel like scrolling back up, here’s that link again for the Inc. article

Dan Waldschmidt’s List of Bad Leadership Habits Will Swivel Your Head to Attention: Are you familiar with Dan Waldschmidt, the author of EDGY Conversations? I was vaguely aware of him before writing this post–now I can’t forget him.

I love it (perhaps you will too?) that Dan prefaces his list with this profound statement: “Success in life most often comes down to eliminating bad habits.”

There is no warm-and-fuzzy segue in his article. The list is meant to beat your bad habits into submission or oblivion, whichever occurs first. Of Dan’s “14 Bad Habits Guaranteed to Stop You from Being a Business Superstar,” my ultimate favorite is:

(#13) “Stop confusing passive aggression as business savvy. Reward candor. Demand kindness. Tolerate disagreement.”

My dear Dan Waldschmidt, you had me at “edgy.”

Is Your Job in Peril? Benchmark Yourself Against This Forbes List: Word up, gentle readers: If you’re more the visual sort, flip through the slideshow at the beginning of the article. Either way, Forbes’s list of  “14 Bad Habits That Could Cost Your Your Job” starts with “lying” and ends with “lack of manners.”

Any one of these behavioral faux pas on its own doesn’t make you Dr. Evil (trust me, you want to click this link). But Forbes includes a quote from Dr. Katharine Brooks (of Wake Forest University) that is spot on:

“A single bad habit is not likely to get you fired immediately, but the cumulative effect of the bad habit over time can…

The lesson from this article is clear: As an employee, you risk jeopardizing your financial lifeline and self-esteem by displaying any of these bad habits at work. Just don’t do it!

Copyblogger Shrewdly Validates What at First Seem Like Bad Behaviors: This article from Copyblogger entitled “The 7 Bad Habits of Insanely Productive People” is witty, wickedly sarcastic, and wise. What I think you’ll enjoy most about the article is that it doesn’t dispense “rainbows and unicorns” advice about your allegedly bad habits.

Instead, Copyblogger turns these habits inside-out and encourages you to embrace them for deeper and sustained business success!

For example, in the universal business world, we are all told to “toughen” up and not be so thin-skinned. But guess what? Many successful people are “sensitive and perceptive,” which isn’t a bad thing at all.

Here’s some advice to hold onto the next time you’re fending off this type of criticism from a customer, employer, or co-worker:

“Sensitivity is an asset; don’t try to beat it out of yourself.”

Other worthy “bad” habits included in Copyblogger’s post are selfishness, distractibility, and self-doubt. Let the non-healing begin…

End These Tragic Public-Speaking Tendencies Before You Can Say “Um”: Whether you’re a seasoned public speaker or a nervous newbie, Business Insider offers an extremely actionable list of presenter faux pas to eliminate from your professional dialect.

For those of you with an important presentation scheduled in early 2015, bookmark “10 Public Speaking Habits to Avoid at All Costs” right now. As in, RIGHT NOW. I won’t be insulted if you don’t immediately return to this post. (But I do anticipate your next visit…)

And for those of you who specialize in nervous tics and weird facial expressions, pay particular attention to tips #2 (the eye dart) and #3 (distracting mannerisms). You’re welcome!

So Many People to Offend via Social Media, So Little Time: There isn’t enough data storage in my hosting plan to share with you all the articles and posts available regarding bad social-media “netiquette.”

That said, I’ll leave you with what I consider several useful resources for transforming your digitally heinous habits into better behavior online:

Reduce your annoying social-media habits via Simply Zesty…

Avoid turning your online reputation into a train wreck via Social Caffeine (aka Lori Taylor)…

Rethink previously “good” social-media habits now deemed not so good via Ann Handley (on LinkedIn) and David Spark of Spark Media Solutions… (Please note: registration is required to download David Spark’s free e-book.)

What tips can you offer about being a thoughtful tweep on Twitter (or a fabulous friend on Facebook, etc.)? Please leave your spam-free comment in the usual place. (Thank you.)

Breaking Bad Habits Can Be a Very Personal Thing: Leave it to that universal problem-solver, wikiHow, to promote a 10-step pictorial article entitled “How to Break a Habit.” This road map is meant to help you put an end to annoying habits such as nail biting or thumb sucking.

But as you get further into the post, the editors drop hints that these steps will also work for smoking and/or drinking cessation. Really? I mean, come on–one step is to “change your environment.” Why does this sound so familiar?

Nevertheless, wikiHow’s heart is in the right place. Some of the tips are useful ones you can whisper to yourself, especially if you’re trying to pulverize a bad personal habit and scatter it like dust in the wind (scroll down to #5).

Additional resources regarding serious behavior-modification techniques include: Psychology Today, Erupting Mind KidsHealth.org, and the American Grandparents Association (really!).

 

Well, that’s it. We’ve reached the end of all reason, the end of another blogging year and, most definitely, we’ve reached the end of the line for 2014. I will refrain from ending this post with my usual questions. I sense that you don’t care to answer any more of my questions the day before New Year’s Eve. Or am I mistaken?

Instead, I’ll leave you with my favorite lyrics from that once-popular piece of 1998 ear candy by the band Semisonic: “Closing Time.” (The song is from their massively angst-y album, Feeling Strangely Fine):

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

See you in 2015, esteemed readers…

Lori Shapiro is the owner of By All Writes LLC, a business-to-business (B2B) writing, editing, and research company in Marlton, New Jersey. She revels in shielding her clients from the pain of writing their own print and web marketing or educational copy. Please call Lori Shapiro at 856-810-9764 or email By All Writes LLC at lori@byallwrites.biz  for a no-obligation project quote today!

2 Responses to It’s the End of the Year as We Know It (Do You Feel Fine?)

  1. As always, you’ve written a highly useful article and have done so humorously. I am looking forward to clicking on some of those links. Thanks for everything, Lori, and Happy New Year to you and your family!

    • Hi Tobi,

      A happy new year right back at you!

      I’m glad you enjoyed my final blog post for 2014. Yes, it has lots of interesting links for you to explore in your copious free time (LOL).

      2015 will be a great year for you and Franks & Beans–I can sense it!

      Regards,
      Lori