Sometimes people can get in their own way. That's at least partly because we don't recognize our own bad behavior, even if we would recognize it as bad in other people.
That can be a problem in the workplace, where a lack of self-awareness can lead to mistakes that can hurt your career. In addition, even when we recognize our own failures, some people tend to be more forgiving of themselves than they might be of others.
To break this cycle you need to really examine how you operate in the workplace. Don't look at yourself through rose-colored glasses and don't give yourself the benefit of the doubt. Take a harsh view -- the one that someone else might take of you -- and look at whether any of these ways you can sabotage your own career apply to you.
You may do things wrong, but you can fix them. Image source: Getty Images.
You're a glory hog
It's OK to be proud of an accomplishment. It's not OK to devote work time to telling people how great you are.
In most cases, your contributions and accomplishments will be rewarded in the long run. If they aren't, it's fine to prepare a case for a meeting with human resources or for your annual performance review. That's an appropriate setting to clinically lay out what you have achieved, while doing so with your coworkers accomplishes nothing beyond perhaps alienating them.
You're living on the edge
Former New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin had a rule that five minutes late to a meeting was considered on time, while anything after that was late. It was a rule designed to encourage people to not fly by the seats of their pants and cut things too close.
That's a great policy for you to have at work. If you're the person always coming right up to deadlines or the guy who walks into a meeting two seconds before it starts, people will notice.
Get organized and get finished early. That leaves you time to handle the unexpected or take on something else.
You're the negative person
Don't be the person who always sees the bad side of things or the one who expects failure. Thinking that way tends to be self-fulfilling. Instead, expect the best, but prepare for the worst. Be a positive force who offers solutions, not a negative person expecting that things will go wrong.
You're not part of the team
You don't have to go to every after-work event or attend every single group lunch. You don't, however, want to be the person who never takes part in group activities.
Being part of a team is about more than just what happens in the office. Take part in team-building events and be open to growing with your coworkers outside the workplace. Doing so can improve your work bonds, and not taking part may make you less a part of the team, even if nobody intends that.
Be the best you
Everyone has some off-putting or self-defeating tendencies. What's important is that you're aware of your actions and how they impact other people. Make an effort to be better in areas where you are weak. If you do that, and regularly look at yourself with a critical eye, you should be able to stop any of these behaviors before they become a big problem.
