Avoid at All Cause

Based on my observations and reflections, I’ve come up with 35 of them. Avoid these at all costs, even if all you want is to be a better worker!

1. Refuse to learn any new skills.
2. Complain about anything and everything.
3. Gossip about your colleagues.
4. Behave as if your company owes you a living.
5. Spend most of your time at work on Facebook and YouTube.
6. Don’t give your boss regular updates.
7. Don’t set daily goals and targets.
8. Be disorganized.
9. Try to change the culture at work without first understanding the culture deeply.
10. Continually ask yourself “What can I get?” instead of “What can I give?”
11. Be late to work and to meetings.
12. Don’t reply to emails in a timely manner (especially ones from your boss).
13. Criticize your colleagues in public.
14. Don’t periodically reflect on how you can do things better.
15. Don’t show basic courtesy in your emails, over the phone, and in person.
16. Don’t proofread your emails before sending them.
17. Don’t set career goals.
18. Refuse to ask for feedback from your boss and your colleagues.
19. Don’t read any books.
20. Never say “thank you” to anyone.
21. Go to your boss with questions, instead of options and recommendations.
22. Talk bad about your boss to other people.
23. Socialize when you should be doing work.
24. Say “no” to every opportunity to give a presentation or a speech.
25. Talk as if you know it all.
26. Try to use power that you don’t have.
27. Refuse to perform a single task that’s outside of your official job description.
28. Spend most of your time on urgent tasks that aren’t actually important.
29. Start working on a project without first coming up with a plan.
30. Continually demand more pay and more benefits.
31. Never apologize, even when you’re in the wrong.
32. When things don’t go according to plan, come up with a whole list of reasons why it’s not your fault.
33. Delegate tasks to your peers without first asking them if they’re willing to help.
34. Annoy your boss by asking him or her questions that can be easily found on the Internet.
35. Frequently apply for leave at the very last minute without consulting your other team members.