For a completely wild reason for us: colleagues and bosses might think that you have too much free time and, instead of working to the fullest, including in your free time, you bake some kind of cookies.
People might decide that at heart you are just a housewife or, even worse, a person completely devoid of career ambitions.
It sounds like an anecdote, but if you remember, outdated or controversial advice on career growth haunts us to this day.
Keep your privacy private
“Go ahead, don't hesitate to talk to your boss, but be careful about revealing any details of your private life.
In no case should you tell anyone at work what you did on the weekend or where you are going.
All your boss needs is exactly when you are going on vacation and that your weekend was “okay”.
If you are going on a vacation in the Alps, he will decide that he is overpaying, or worse, "jinx" (just kidding). If you stay at the dacha or at home, it will decide that you are too boring and why such a promotion needs to be raised at all.
Stacey Lasto calls the advice literally "antique . " Of course, there is no need to harass the boss and colleagues with hours of speculation about the prospects for the cucumber harvest this year or, if you didn’t work out with vegetables, the details of each descent along the red trails.
But you and your boss and your coworkers are ordinary, normal people. And you all (hopefully) have lives outside of work. However, you spend enough time at work to want to get to know your coworkers and / or subordinates better.
When you carefully hide all aspects of your privacy, it looks odd and a little arrogant. Even if your only goal is the desire not to bother others with your problems and joys.
Pretend you don't need help
“Pretending you can do anything, even when you’re not and you really don’t have the slightest idea how to do this or that job? And rightly so! You cannot demonstrate your incompetence! Especially to the bosses.
Keep up the good work: pretend you know everything, but still take the time to figure out the incomprehensible subject on your own. "
Not everyone is able to hold their tongues tightly and blindly follow the first outdated advice, but most of us really find it very difficult to admit that we do not know or understand something about our work.
Especially at first.
But in a normal team led by a business-oriented manager, this is a very bad tactic.
First , if you pretend you know everything when you don't, you start to slow down, lose efficiency, and sometimes just screw up. This is hardly better than asking for help from your boss or colleagues.
Second , most normal managers like it when subordinates ask them for help.
Unless you are a complete dumbass who runs to the boss for every nonsense and is not able to remember anything from the first, second, and sometimes even the third time.
Avoid social media interactions
“Do not try to make your boss a friend on Facebook, and even more so on VKontakte, in no case subscribe to him on Instagram, use instant messengers only to resolve work issues.”
This was once very good advice. For some executives in some companies, it remains relevant to this day.
But in most cases, this advice sounds anachronistic. Social networks have long ceased to be a meeting place for classmates who share with each other details of gatherings and photographs of their household members.
If you don’t post something completely out of the ordinary on the network, don’t curse your immediate supervisor in it, don’t spit saliva with hatred of your own company and don’t collect dirty gossip about its CEO, then a friend request - quite a natural manifestation of loyalty and friendliness.
Do not hesitate to like and leave comments on the pages of colleagues in social networks, because they have long become a part of our life, including our professional life.
Separate your personal and professional life
“The working day ends at 6 pm and starts again at 9 am. In your free time, avoid contact with email or CRM systems.
Try not to think about work at all, even if a good idea accidentally entered your head, put off thinking about it for working hours.
Conversely, as soon as you appear at the doorstep of the office, leave everything personal at its doorstep, pretend that family and friends simply do not exist. For the next 8 hours, your brain should be busy only with work. "
In theory, this is great advice. It is very important to be able to disconnect from work when you are resting, otherwise you risk earning professional burnout. Digital detox won't hurt anyone either.
But good ideas often don't ask exactly when to knock on our head. Sometimes answering work mail on weekends is easier and more comfortable than ignoring it. As well as answering a child's call during the working day is much more pleasant and correct than ignoring him. Thanks to modern technology, our work and our private life are increasingly confused. This process needs to be controlled, but it is impossible to completely and painlessly switch modes from "work" to "home" and vice versa, because this only complicates the situation.
