Bad Habits

Everyone has hard to break habits. They become a part of how we do things and we no longer think about them. We just do them. Some are from long ago that have journeyed with us, whether they continue to work or not.

Sometimes these established habits are good, making life easier for us. But it is a real problem for professionals who learned certain career building practices that now have become detriments to them enjoying their profession.

Example

For instance, we grew up at a time when sacrificing personal and home time for work and career “opportunities” was the norm and expected. Like everyone else in the day, we learned to put our personal agendas aside, to the point that now, we don’t even recognize that we’re doing it.  Starting the day early, finishing late and working crazy hours most weeks are hard to break habits. We know better; we just can’t do better.

“Suck it up buttercup” was the phrase that captured that sentiment. In fact, sacrifice became a badge of honor, demonstrating commitment, loyalty and taking our careers seriously. While we now know the foolishness of this habit; nonetheless, it’s what we know. It’s what we do. Those ingrained ways don’t go away easily.

Break Through

But we’re making progress. Last week, at our annual Leadership and BD Conference, it was refreshing to hear how senior partners are (finally) changing their ways. They learned the profession one way and are succeeding in altering some of those ways.

Whether stimulated by acknowledging age constraints, finally saying no, or facing our own mortality, the old habits that (we thought) used to be important are giving way to new practices and ways of thinking that generate freedom, energy and enjoyment.

One of the exercises we conducted was to identify some things that energize you and other things that exhaust you. Everyone had their own lists.  Then we committed to increase or decrease accordingly, some of those tasks for a life and career more to our liking. After all, everyone else seems to be doing it. I expect to hear of some significant turnarounds over the next months. Hooray for us!

Join Us

Would you care to join these senior partners in shaping your career more to your liking? What is one hard to break habit you have that no longer serves its purpose? What if you consciously altered it in some way more to your liking? You would either reduce your feeling of drudgery or would energize your efforts. Both are the result of moderating a hard to break habit.