You’re ready for a promotion but are your actions speaking louder than your words? Make sure you’re not doing these 5 common things that ruin your chances.

1. Overworking Yourself:

When you’re overworking yourself you’re stressing your body, your brain’s bandwidth, and you’re not able to be as productive or contribute top-quality work. It’s understandable to want to work harder as you’re gunning for a promotion, just make sure you’re working smart and not overworking yourself in the process. If you burn out you’ll definitely ruin your chances for a promotion.

2. You Don’t Take Enough Credit for Your Work:

Downplaying your achievements or letting others take credit for your work will ruin your chances for a promotion. If you’re having a hard time taking enough credit for the work you do, start a journal where you write down what you accomplish and achieve at work. This will be a helpful reference if you’re asking for a raise or promotion and you’ll start to see how much you contribute. If you’re not writing enough things down, you may start to see that the problem isn’t the credit you’re not taking, but the value you’re not contributing.

3. Not Increasing Your Value:

Every time you learn a new skill, technology, task, or simply improve on what you already know you’re increasing the value you contribute to the company. If you’re continuously increasing your value, employers will notice and promotion will be more likely. If you’re not increasing your value, you’re ruining your chance for a promotion.

4. Lacking Leadership:

Promotions often involve the chance to lead or manage others. Because of this, you need to be able to show your leadership abilities and your management skills as much as possible in your current position. If your boss thinks you’re lacking in the leadership department that could ruin your chances for a promotion.

5. Too Much Focus on Unimportant Tasks:

Maybe you get a lot done every day, but have you considered the importance of each task you complete? Effective deep work will prove you’re ready for a promotion while focusing on too many small tasks and shallow work won’t really show how much value you contribute to the company.

Get out of your own way and get the promotion you want! Avoid doing these 5 things and you’ll stop ruining your chances for a promotion.

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