By J. Mason
Online Career Tips Staff
Excuses are used all too often to get out of potentially beneficial opportunities. At work, you may have turned down a lunch with co-workers or a new hire because you had too much work to do. It’s a good reason, but while you’re eating and working at your desk you’re missing out on networking opportunities outside of the office. Break through this habit by writing your excuses down.
Changing doesn’t happen overnight, and something like this will be a gradual process. For the introverted type it’ll be hard to overcome turning down the invite so quickly. One method I suggest is writing down the response you give to a colleague when you turn them down.
[Avoid Isolation and Be More Present]
Put the excuses on sticky notes in a remote area of your desk that only you can see. After they start to build you’ll be able to really see just how far you go to avoid these networking lunches and coffee chats with others. Even avoiding a simple walk to the kitchen could hurt you. Becoming isolated is never a good thing in an office environment. You need to be seen to be heard. Once you start accepting the invitations take a that sticky excuse down, or put a big red X through it. After a while you’ll be able to see how far you’ve come in erasing excuses from your daily work vocabulary.
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