Career Success in 2021: 9 Things to Change if You Want to Achieve Your Goals11 min read

In theory, we all know that we should sleep more, eat healthier foods, and concentrate on one business task at a time. 

In practice, most working people succumb to their little distracting pleasures and repeating the same routines that have no value in their lives. 

You’ll make ends meet even if you’re an exhausted scatterbrain with bad blood test results. Still, that’s not the road to substantial business success.

For many of us, things went from bad to worse in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and sent billions of people into a social distancing mode. This means working from home, stockpiling tons of (mostly unhealthy, comfort) foods, ordering in every other night, and trying to fight anxiety by streaming shows and movies instead of hanging out with friends and family. 

It became quite a challenge to keep a clear head, let alone plan for success under such extreme circumstances. 

But, this too shall pass, and we want to help you change your working lifestyle, get ready for the new normalcy, and become a truly successful business person in 2021. 

1. Stop Complaining About Your Job

Complaining is one of the strongest mental urges that exist in various cultures across the globe. 

However, complaining is bad for your business productivity, especially complaining about your job. 

Let’s start from the premise of complaining: a certain problem fills you with the feeling of frustration. This mental tension is resolved when you make a verbal complaint. Hence, we can say the complaining is a sort of relief for our stressed minds. 

Some people keep complaining about their jobs without changing anything. When you do this, you simply perpetuate the stress and frustration. As a result, complaining doesn’t let off some emotional steam but it increases the pressure of your boiling mind. 

To cut a long story short: when you start complaining about your job, it’s either time to talk to your manager or find a new, better job. 

2. Don’t Compare Yourself to Others

When we were in primary school, our teachers used to compare us based on our unique and individual talents and skills. From what we can see in modern schools, it’s different today, even though some teachers still do it. 

This is wrong on many levels. 

For starters, every child is a separate individual with his or her specific preferences. If you compare them with some uniform templates, only some of them will fit into them. Those who think outside the box and those who aren’t interested in the given topic won’t be able to fit into that mold. 

The same goes for employees. 

We all have different mindsets and social backgrounds. 

That’s why we should compare ourselves only with our individual goals, preferences, and desires. And if you have a boss who keeps comparing you and your colleagues as if you were middle-school students, don’t pay attention to that.

3. Set Specific Goals 

Every working person needs to set some professional goals.

If you just do your job without any specific goals, you won’t have a momentum behind you that will push you forward. What’s more, your progress will be much slower if you don’t have one or more milestones before you. 

When you’re setting your goals, choose several different intervals for them. 

You can set your short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals. They can refer both to your finances, your professional skills, and your personal life. The more time you spend planning, the more likely you are to make reachable and realistic goals and become a truly great salesperson. 

Also, successful business people make plans on a daily and weekly level. That’s how they cope with their everyday tasks more efficiently.  

4. Don’t Burn Your Old Bridges

We’ve already discussed that constant complaining can intensify the feeling of frustration. Workers who feel frustrated or underpaid are more likely to burn their old bridges once they find a new job.

In the long run, this is a negative characteristic that constructive business people will try to change. 

If you’ve spent some time in one company, you’ve established some social and professional connections. It would be a waste of time and resources to intentionally delete all these contacts.

What you should do is remain polite and friendly until the end of your stint in that business. You can never tell what the future brings. Perhaps you and your formers colleagues will benefit from one another in the future. 

Also, sometimes employers find out more about their potential new employees from their previous managers. If you close the door with a negative impression in your former business, you might not get a chance to close a deal with the new one, as well. 

5. Don’t Underestimate Your Education

The rapid development of programming and Web development has turned the labor market upside down. 

Suddenly, everybody’s trying to retrain and become a software developer. 

So, it might seem today that this is becoming the most wanted profession out there. While the demand for these professionals is high at the moment, it doesn’t have to be the case in years to come. 

It’s good to know that this world still needs other professions, as well. 

That’s why you should respect your education, as well as your working skills. We still need craftspeople, teachers, doctors, hairdressers, plumbers, and many other occupations. 

Therefore, be proud of your job.

If the labor market is saturated with your profession, think about offering your services in a different package. 

Look for opportunities and spaces that other colleagues of yours don’t see. If necessary, add more services but don’t give up on your core profession. 

For instance, a language teacher can start translating, as well, while a sales rep can attend training courses that will help them hone their prospecting and closing skills

It’s even more important to be proactive about this in the current situation. If you think that your profession is in a way limited by the existing crisis, think about acquiring some new skills that will help you distinguish yourself in today’s fiercely competitive job market.  

Simply put, the road before those who decide to fine-tune or expand their existing skills is much shorter than the path in front of those who start it all over again. 

6. Use Your Breaks More Effectively

Unless you work in extremely difficult working conditions, you probably have one or more breaks during the workday. 

It’s scientifically proven that breaks are beneficial for workers’ productivity. 

When you unplug from your working mode, you give your mind some time to think divergently and that way relax from arduous, focused mental efforts. 

But if you waste your breaks on reading trivial news or browsing through social media posts, you’ll neither relax nor refresh your mind. 

So, when you’re taking a break, try to do something more useful. Reading a few pages of a book, learning a few words of a new language or listening to relaxing music with your eyes closed are just some of the possible activities. To avoid ads distracting you from the break, you can either download music for free or use a paid Spotify or Apple Music subscription.

Never miss a chance to learn something new. Sales podcasts that you can immerse yourself in even while you’re doing something else, can help you pick up a lot of amazing tricks and hear new ideas. 

The more energy you regain during these breaks, the higher your potential energy for the rest of the workday will be. 

7. Stop Overeating After Work

Many modern workers refuse to eat at work because they think that it will slow down their work efficiency. 

Truth be told, it’s not easy to work fast when you’ve just eaten a three-course meal. 

And, given it’s expected that we’ll keep on working from home for the foreseeable future, it’s crucial to make sure that your pantry isn’t packed with sugary treats and unhealthy snacks. 

It can’t be denied that working remotely has numerous benefits, but we have to admit that the fact that not having a clear schedule like the one at the office can sabotage your eating habits. 

Namely, all that tasty candy and is just a couple of steps away from you, and what’s even more important – nobody’s watching. When you’re with your colleagues, it’s much easier to hold yourself accountable. 

And, it’s so easy to fall off the wagon when you’re on your own, lounging on your sofa in your PJ’s.

The same applies to skipping lunch, which is both unhealthy and counterproductive. Employees who don’t want to have lunch at work increase the risk of becoming sick. Such behavior can cost a company more in the long run.

Another negative consequence of skipping lunch at work is overeating after working hours. Many such workers eat everything they lay their eyes on when they come back home from work, or when (or if) their workday ends. 

To top it all off, they usually take a nap after such a hearty meal. 

None of these habits is beneficial for your productivity and your business success. 

Remember that you need to eat cooked, healthy food and have three regular meals every day. That way, you’ll stay mentally and physically fit for decades, which will lead to higher efficiency and commitment to work. 

8. Break Your Binge-Watching Habit

The craze of binge-watching has taken the world by storm in the last few years. People of all generations, walks of life, and backgrounds binge-watch different content via websites and streaming services. 

While this can be an exciting weekend activity, the latest scientific research has shown that bingers might be more anxious and exhausted, as well as less concentrated at work. 

Even if you leave these marathons of TV shows for weekends, you might not fully recover for the forthcoming workweek. 

Also, people who like to binge-watch TV shows spend less time outside. And that’s an even bigger problem now that we can’t go out as much as we used to.

If you sit long hours during the week and stay indoors at the weekend as well, your mind won’t get enough necessary fresh air and energy to recuperate. 

So, if you want to make your performances more efficient in 2021, we strongly recommend that you get back to the traditional rhythm – one episode per night.

9. Learn to Set Strong Work-Life Boundaries

While it’s true that WFH is comfortable – you don’t have to waste your time commuting to work, get stuck in a traffic jam, and you’re always around your family, there are some downsides to it.

One is that it can actually kill your productivity if you relax too much. Kids and other family members can keep on interrupting you while you’re trying to work on a challenging task. Your home is full of distractions and even though they’re mostly pleasant, they can hinder your focus. 

Besides that, remote work can also blur the lines between office and home, to such an extent that many people are wondering whether they’re living at work or working from home. 

This means that you can organize your tasks as you want, and if you get carried away, you might end up with a totally messy schedule keeping you tied to your desk throughout the day and evening.