Career Mistakes People Don't Realize They're Making Until It's Too Late

We all make mistakes, and fortunately, they're often reparable if we're willing to put in the effort.

But sometimes, the mistakes we make are too extreme and too lasting for us to overcome. And that is devastating when that kind of mistake is made while you're navigating your career path.

Concerned, Redditor riazuddinroney asked:

"What's a career mistake most people don't realize they're making until it's too late?"

Proof Of Value

"Not documenting everything, every task, you did, every achievement and acknowledgement you get. Most people don’t keep track, and later they can’t prove their value when it really counts."

- SourceWasTrustMeBro

"Yes, your main job isn't necessarily to do your work; it's actually to show that you've done your work."

"At my place, if you don't wrap up everything in a neat quarterly presentation that outlines in excruciating baby steps why you did something more so than what you actually did, upper management would drop your evaluation. Largely because they don't know why your project even exists anyway."

"Perks of working in a large company, eh?"

- PM_ME_A_NUMBER_TEN

"The single most important thing to document: the things you've done that have made YOUR BOSS look good."

"Things you've done to improve processes and help out your team are cool and all.. sure... but reminding your leader of the things you've done that made them look good to their own leader absolutely helps your career prospects more than anything."

- absentmindedjwc

Proactive, Not Retroactive

"Avoiding accountability every time you make a mistake. You’re better off demonstrably learning from a mistake rather than spending a significant amount of your time playing defense whenever you’re not perfect. Everybody already knows whose fault it is anyway."

- awsqu

"Better yet, if you make a mistake, get ahead of it. Do a quick root cause analysis of the why, the impact, and the potential ramifications if it is of any significance."

"If it ends up being a problem, your manager will be informed and have an answer for leadership if it is escalated."

"What you don’t want is leadership to be the one informing your manager of the issue you caused, and your manager has a deer in the headlights look."

- caverunner17

Appropriate Commitment

"Caring too much. No one at work is really worried whether you're killing yourself. Just show up and do a decent job. The reward for hard work is more work."

- Serious-Potential-96

"When it comes time to write a eulogy for you, you don't want the best thing people say to be, 'They were a fantastic worker!'"

"You want them to talk about how you were a great parent, sibling, partner, and friend, so focus on being great at those things... Do your job, but don't let it own your life."

- zed42

Popularity Contest

"Being liked is more important than your skillset. They will keep the id**t that they like over the grumpy guy every day!"

- 77sleeper

"Literally how I have my job that I’m pretty underqualified for."

- u2aerofan

Scope Creep

"Going above and beyond doesn't always get you much besides more work."

"Letting them know something can take you one hour instead of five will lead to work accumulation."

- RoseApothecary88

"A mate of mine I worked with once said, 'I do 85%. You don’t get credit for 100%. You get more work. Plus, if you do have to step it up, you’ve got room to do it and go back to 85%. All machines break by doing 100% and no one gives a toss. 85%, my man!’"

"It was kinda genius when I heard it."

- PilgrimOz

Stopping Your Own Promotion

"Making yourself indispensable in the position you're in, so you never move forward in your career because it's a pain for the company to replace you."

- FScottFitzgeraldhere

"Back in the 80s, my father used to say, ‘Never be irreplaceable. If you can’t be replaced, you won’t get promoted.’"

- Yanigan

Pay Isn't Everything

"Staying at a job just for the paycheck and realizing years later you hate your life."

- kjmcneal

"The problem is, I don't know what job I would like. My job is fine, but I don’t feel like I have a 'calling' when it comes to work, at least right now. So I just try to get the most money I can, to be honest."

- JustIntroduction3511

"You don't need a job you like, just one you don't mind and doesn't cause you undue stress. Work doesn't have to be fun or enjoyable; it just has to be bearable."

- SuccessfulSquirrel33

Expecting Rewards

"Thinking my supervisor will reward my loyalty and sacrifices. There is no such thing as loyalty from your employers to you. The company will always save its a** and save money. Your boss, the same (even if they are nice)."

- gszyd

It Adds Up

"Max out that 401k, dawg."

- Hicon84

"Or at the very least contributing enough to take advantage of the company match."

- IMarriedAGoose

"This so much. It's a regular occurrence on the GenX subreddit where someone asks, 'What's your retirement plan?'"

" And most of the answers are 'to die at my desk doing email,' and then everyone laughs about how poor they are."

"I get it, there are nuances and everyone's situation is different, but contribute at least enough to get the match, and that s**t will grow over time, guaranteed. Contribute the max and you'll be a millionaire when you retire. It's not complicated; it's just a function of the magic of compounding and momentum over time. It's hard to see at first, but you will see it."

- sev45day

Physical Challenges

"Staying at a job that's starting to seriously harm your physical health."

- En__fuego_

"I worked a job for a little over 4 months that had me doing pretty grueling physical labor. 90 to 95 hour weeks, no days off for the first three months, no breaks, nothing. Crazy exploitative and the pay wasn’t even that great."

"Ended up with carpal tunnel in both hands. I couldn’t go to a doctor, so it went untreated for a long time, and now I have permanent nerve damage in my left hand. Fuck food service forever, so glad I finally got out this year."

- ThatVoiceDude

Stay Open-Minded

"Not respecting everyone's perspectives. If you include their own perspective in that, it covers a lot of bases. Many people are too meek and don't respect their own opinion, but then there are also lots of people who don't respect others'."

"Especially amongst the young. A lot of young professionals mistake the ideas they get when new to the job as being new to everyone. When in fact, a lot of 'new ideas' are actually just the same ones that have failed before."

"That's why they're not being used. Respecting the veterans is how you avoid this."

- MuNansen

Keep Your Lives Separate

"Dating at work. Telling coworkers your business. Bringing friends/significant others around your coworkers."

- aVileSon

"Or... you know... basically... Don't take a coworker to a Coldplay concert."

- JadaNeedsAHug

Keep Options Open

"Not sure this counts as a mistake, but just because you have a job doesn't mean you shouldn't keep looking for a better one."

"There is nothing wrong with taking personal days to go to interviews at other companies. So I guess the mistake is accepting the job you have and not actively seeking a better one."

- could_use_a_snack

Learn All You Can

"Take advantage of as much 'free training,' especially certifications and cross-utilization training, as you can while still getting your job done."

"It will make you more valuable to the company, better prepared for the job market if you need it, and make doing your annual review a lot easier on you and your boss."

- ITestInProd1212

"I would also add that training doesn’t have to be presented as that to count. Learning new things just by helping out on other things can help you so much, both in your current role but also future ones."

- Graztine

The Shrinking Distance

"Your company is just two bad quarters from firing you..."

"Don't care about the amount of efforts you put, the profits you raked, the amount of sacrifices you made, the health you ruined..."

- Benneldli

"My roommate worked for the same company for years, ever since they were a startup, and she was fired a few months ago. Their last round of investor funding didn’t meet quite as high as predicted, so they made layoffs."

"The most f**ked up part? The only reason they could afford to fire her in the first place was because she had written such great code scripts and SOP binders for everything. If she’d been less thorough, she might have stayed."

- ThatVoiceDude

It's interesting to realize that the biggest mistakes in the workplace aren't about making work-related mistakes or even doing something terrible, like committing fraud. It's not advocating for yourself, encouraging yourself to grow through additional training and seeking out opportunities, and letting the work become too important to you.

Basically, respect the job, the hours, the responsibilities, and the paycheck, but remember to keep respecting yourself and the rest of your life, too. If the work you're doing doesn't allow you to respect both, that should speak volumes.