4 reasons your colleagues don’t take you seriously at work

When it comes to careers, everyone dreams of the day they will get a promotion or secure a top position.

What they don’t tell you is, to reach those career milestones you need to have a combination of hard work and good interpersonal skills.

These two are key for a successful career life but, something that’s often ignored is the small daily habits you have at work.

There are things you might be doing that prevent people from taking you seriously and that can cause you to stagnate in one spot in your career for a long time.

Of course no one wants to be taken as a joke in the office and that is why you need to take a step back and re-evaluate the situation and yourself in case that is how you come off.

To add to that, here are other reasons why you’re not being taken seriously by your colleagues at work:

1. You are not competitive
Often, people reach a point where they’re merely okay with being where they are in their career. You might have started with so much zest when you first got the job and then gradually became bored with time.

Maybe your colleagues aren’t really taking you seriously because they’re making an effort to advance while you’re content with being in the same position for years so long as the money keeps coming.

To turn things around, you should try and reignite the passion you had for your work at the beginning and push yourself to reach full potential.

2. You are timid
Being invisible at work guarantees that you will not be taken seriously. Even if you’re a bit shy and introverted, you should still be interested in interacting and networking with your colleagues.

So, don’t be too quiet otherwise you will fade into the background. Slowly learn to be more proactive and be open to communicating more instead of shying away.

3. You always put yourself down
If you don’t believe in yourself, it will be hard for others to believe in you. People at work will notice that you constantly decline tasks because you don’t think you can handle them or that you’re someone who jokes a lot about how incompetent you think you are.

Understand that no one is perfect and that everyone is basically trying to perfect what they do. If you keep belittling yourself at work, no one will take you seriously.

4. You are not professional
Being too casual at work is also another contributing factor. Doing things like coming to work late all the time, dressing inappropriately and coming to work hangover with the smell of liquor still lingering in your breath will quickly make a bad impression.

Even when your job isn’t too strict, you should still do your best to present yourself in a professional way. Those small details could actually propel you to the next level in your career.

5. You are trying too hard
Trying too hard to be taken seriously always backfires. There is a huge difference between commanding and demanding respect.

If you demand respect in a controlling way, you will end up looking like a fool and people will dislike you instead. Chances are you will be feared especially if you’re in a position of power but not respected.

To get the outcome you want, move with humility and collaborate with your colleagues.