Habits You Should Start Early in Your Career

1. Further your knowledge of you field.

This is necessary if you work in a quickly advancing industry, such as technology. If you do not keep up, you will be much less marketable when the next new thing comes along.

2. Show up, and show up early.

Let’s face it, you are responsible for yourself. Your willingness to show up and learn is going to be far more important to your employer than your skills. It does not matter how good you are if you cannot show up to work consistently.

3. Network.

These are the people who will be able to answer any questions you may have, or they may even be your ticket to a higher paying job.

4. Ask questions.

Anybody who thinks they know everything is going to find out very quickly that they are wrong. Asking questions saves you the time and energy of trying to fake your way through it, and your boss will be happy you didn’t waste time doing a task wrong.

5. Have a routine.

When I don’t have a plan for my day, I end up watching YouTube videos until it’s way past my bedtime. When you have a plan, you will have no problem reaching your goals.

6. Have 1-, 5-, and 10-year goals.

Where do you see yourself in five years? I hope you will not be in the exact same place you are today. What do you need to do to get where you want to be?

7. Take control of your paycheck.

Budgeting is just having a routine for your money. When you don’t have a budget, instead of watching videos all night, you’ll be impulse buying six pairs of rainboots and financially supporting a koala bear in Australia.

8. Share the failures and the successes.

That’s right, you need to be a team player. It should be just as easy to share the blame for a failed project as it is to share the glory of a successful project. No matter what you do, you always have help, so don’t lose yourself so much in your own pride that you can’t recognize those that carried you there.

Habits to Quit Early in Your Career

1. Quit hating Mondays!

What did Monday ever do to you? This is 1/7th of your life! Why spend all of that time being grumpy?

2. Quit procrastinating!

Procrastinating leaves you feeling rushed and anxious, and you don’t need that kind of negativity in your life!

3. Quit complaining!

I know, I know, everyone does it, but that doesn’t mean you need to. Instead of complaining about having to wake up early for work or that your boss assigned you a difficult project, be thankful that you are employed and that you can help support your family. Be thankful that your boss has enough faith in your abilities to choose you to handle such a complicated task. Replacing negative thoughts with thankful thoughts actually makes you more happy.