If you feel like you have been stuck on the career ladder and your chances of promotion are low, you might have stress to blame. You feel overworked, underappreciated, and less motivated, and as a result, you appear less suitable for a higher level of job by your supervisors. You might try your hardest, but stress gets in the way, and it is always the other person who gets the promotion. Find out below how stress can damage your career on more than one way.
1. Stress Negatively Affects Your Performance
If you are stressed out, you will be unable to do your job to your best abilities. Stress can make you negligent and forgetful. You will have too many things on your mind and not worry that much about your work performance. Stress can make you a less thorough worker, and you will care less about promotion, personal development, and become less motivated to seek a promotion. You might work long hours, but your productivity might suffer if you are under stress.
2. Stress Makes You a Worse Planner
Planning your career and development is an important step towards getting a promotion. If you are stressed, you are less likely to be able to research your options and seek out opportunities. You might need to be prepared and ready to act when a new challenge comes up, but if you are stressed, you will not be able to grab the opportunity. Your timekeeping will suffer, and you will turn up late or forget about important meetings. You will be judged as unreliable and unstable, and unsuitable for a management position.
3. Stress Makes You Look Unprepared
When you are stressed out, you look less ready for change. Even if you have all the knowledge and skills to take the next step in your career, you might be passed down for promotion because you don’t look ready. In simple words, your supervisors might not trust you that you can cope with the extra responsibilities and requirements. Even if you are organized, due to your your high stress levels, you will send out negative signals to your co-workers.
4. Stress Makes You Less Focused
No matter what the cause of your stress is, you will feel distracted and easy to distract. You will feel overwhelmed by your workplace tasks more often, and more prone to complaining about the work you have to do. This means that your bosses and colleagues will believe that you are not happy working for the company, and they will not recommend you for promotion. You might develop bad habits, such as gambling or skipping work, and this will make your supervisor question your commitment to the company. When you are less focused, you will make more mistakes, and create more risk for your company. Even if you are not fired for your high error rates, you will definitely not be recommended for a promotion.
5. Stress at Work Can Make You Ill
Being stressed out because of working too much or having to put up with too many changes can make you physically ill. The number of stress at work claim cases has risen in the past decades, due to the increased pressure workers have to face. There are different targets of stress at the workplace, such as conflict with colleagues, supervisors, increased hours, lack of work-life balance, and irregular hours, If you feel like you are unable to cope, you should seek help from your company’s medical team or seek counseling services to help you reduce your stress levels.
If you fall ill due to illness, you will miss crucial weeks in the office when you could interact with your colleagues and find out more about promotion opportunities. Illness is often frowned upon by managers, who will consider your regular cold or back pain as a risk.
6. Stress Causes Poor Judgment
Career development doesn’t happen by accident, and it takes a careful planning and thought. When you are stressed, you might make harsh decisions and go for offers that are not suitable for you. You might be focusing on more money and prestige and accept a new managerial position that increases your commute by one hour each day. You will end up having to wake up earlier, sit in traffic for longer, and having less time socializing and relaxing.
Stressed people are less successful in considering all the options and the consequences of their decisions. If you don’t have a clear judgment when making career-related decisions, you might regret your choices.
7. You Will Take More Risks
People under stress can take more risks than those who take their time and calmly consider their options. You might not think twice about what to say on a day out or what to post on your social media, not realizing that it will hurt your career choices. Risk-taking behavior is often associated with high levels of anxiety and stress.
8. You Can’t Control Your Emotions and Anger
It is important that you remain calm and connected when you talk to your boss and co-workers. Stressed people, however, lose their temper easier, and become snappy, instead of thinking twice about what to say. If you cannot control your anger and emotions, you will be considered unstable, and stress will keep you from improving your career chances.
9. Stressed People Are More Isolated
One of the problems with stress is that it makes you avoid people, including old friends, colleagues, and family members. Your relationships will suffer, and you will be less liked at the workplace. You will become angry and isolated, and your colleagues will not include you in their meetings or discussions. As a result, you will not hear about the latest opportunities, training programs, and career plans, essential for you to plan your career. If you appear to avoid people, you will be less likely to be selected as a team leader or a person to organize a project in the workplace.