All of September is Self-Improvement Month, and we thought it was a good time to visit some ways in which we could all improve ourselves at work. This goes for underachievers and superstars alike. We all have unlimited capacity for simply being better, knowing more, and being even more productive and understanding. Here are ten easy ways to hone yourself in the here and now.
1) Learn some new skills– No matter how old you may be, the fact is you can still expand your horizons and add more features to your metaphorical Swiss Army Knife. Polymaths know a little something about everything, and you can strive to be a mini-polymath at work: don’t let any areas of your office or your company fall completely outside of your mental purview, as you never know when you might be the only one around with the answer to a particular question while working late some night. Even the best employees can strive to know more about more things that go on at their office.
2) Humility– So often at work, we are focused on self-promotion, and we lose sight of the importance of the communal nature of all human groups. But no matter how big of a hotshot you may be feeling like this week due to this particular sale or that particular meeting, it’s important to silence the inner pep squad cheering you on (at least for a moment) and remember that very little that we accomplish is truly accomplished on our own. Remember that everyone else at work is there for a similar reason, and they all have their share of good weeks and bad. Instead of just braying about your latest achievement, take a moment to remember a work defeat that humbled you – not to depress yourself, but to remind yourself of a moment when you needed to rely on your team.
3) Research and prepare– No matter what the task you have to deal with is, there’s always a little more research you can do to prepare for meeting it head-on. There may be a few cases where one can be too prepared (jazz musicians, improv comedians), but most of us could always use a little brush-up. So anyone looking to improve their work performance has an easy solution if they have access to the voluminous amounts of information recorded by humanity on just about every conceivable subject.
Survey; 50% Say they Negotiated their Salaries.
4) Organize– As with research and prep, you can never be too organized. Life and work can come at us pretty fast, and nobody can be blamed for having lingering stacks of assorted things teetering on their desk next to their overstuffed inbox. And the truth is, despite those blessed weekend moments where everything holds still, life and work are gonna keep on shoveling new stuff in your door. So figure out a system of consistent organization, and make sure you set aside just a little time every day to hold the new stuff at bay and put all the stuff you already have to deal with in order.
5) Make sure you take genuine breaks– Despite how you may feel when you’ve really hit a productive groove at work, you are not a machine. There is a point where you will push yourself too much and burn out – for the day, the week, or even the whole career. Your physical body and your psyche need to be tended to often for your work garden to grow, so make sure you take truly meaningful breaks. This means both little ones, where you walk around the block a few times, and big ones, where you take a week off and hike down into the Grand Canyon with just a sleeping bag and some beef jerky. As much as you need to focus on work to succeed, you also need to find time to focus on anything but work – it’s all about a sense of balance.
6) Empathy for the boss– Not all of us are as skilled at empathy as we should be, and it’s so much easier to dismiss a difficult boss with a few well-chosen expletives than to attempt a real understanding. But here’s the thing: if you can figure out what your boss’ position is, how they feel, where they stand, and what they need from their employees, it will get you that much closer to giving them those things (and getting them off of your back.) Just put yourself is his or her shoes and backwards engineer some understanding of your boss’ position. A lot comes along with human understanding.
7) Listen better– Here’s something else we can always improve, no matter how conscientious we are at work. Listening, of course, isn’t the same thing are hearing. It requires your emotional intelligence be fully engaged, as people don’t always say what they mean, and often talk in a kind of emotional code – even at work. So striving to understand the words you hear from your coworkers, and listening for those prompts between the words, can only make you a better communicator and a more informed employee.
8) Come in earlier– Fifteen minutes hardly ever amounts to much in the grand scheme of things. Fifteen minutes extra sleep never really sealed the deal for anyone looking to catch up on rest. But coming in to work fifteen minutes early can jumpstart your day in terms of productivity, allowing you to pick up an early headwind that can maintain your positive sense of momentum throughout the entire workday.
9) If you’re going to naysay, make sure you’re also a problem solver– We all have an easier time criticizing each other than ourselves, and this is doubly true at work where the political structure has an inherent element of Machiavellian power plays, not to mention schadenfreude. But if you’re going to say something negative about someone else’s idea, make sure you follow it up with your own fixer for the issue. If you’re going to put someone else’s idea to question, constructively is the only way to go.
10) Be adaptable – Here’s a big one, and maybe the most important one. The Chinese philosopher and politician Confucius said, “The green reed which bends in the wind is stronger than the mighty oak which breaks in a storm.” Rigidity may be impressive in the moment, but the ability to keep a semblance of momentum while rolling with the punches is more valuable in the long haul – especially at work, where new ideas are necessary and encouraged.
