What?s Offline: Your Workplace Enemy Is You

SEARCHING for a reason you are not being promoted fast enough? Look in the mirror.

So suggests Gil Schwartz, a corporate executive writing in Men’s Health. He says some people unwittingly sabotage their careers by falling into any number of self-created traps.

Some workers, for example, think they work best under pressure and, therefore, leave everything to the last minute.

But “the night before it’s due is not the last minute for a 40-page speech to investors, or a strategic planning document that’s going to be presented to the board of directors,” he writes. “The last minute, in those cases, is a month prior to the night before.”

Another factor that may hold a worker back, Mr. Schwartz said, is “hardness of listening.” He says: “You have to be a really big wheel to enjoy a total lack of obligation to pay attention to other people.”

Finally, Mr. Schwartz suggests making sure you handle the issue of credit and blame well.

“As a rule of thumb, attempt to receive no more than 70 percent of the credit that’s due you,” he writes. “Give away the rest.” As for blame, he says, “Real players never dodge it when it belongs to them.”

NOT A TEAM PLAYER If you are employed, being part of a team at some point is probably inevitable. And so, too, are dysfunctional teammates.

Writing in O, the Oprah magazine, Suzy Welch, the former editor of The Harvard Business Review, offers tips for coping with some of the common types of what she calls “un-teammates.”

One type she points to is boss haters — people who have never met a person in authority they like. Ms. Welch suggests trying to isolate them. “Once they’re cut off from the group, Boss Haters tend to lose their energy.”

Stuck with an obnoxious “star” whom the company loves? Accept their best ideas and try to ignore the preening, the ego and everything else that comes with them, Ms. Welch writes. “Few bosses want to hear nattering about a goose that is laying a golden egg.”

And there is the person who has “an excuse for every act of inaction,” Ms. Welch says. “Their computer melted down. Their elderly aunt came to visit.”

Do not do their work for them, even when they beg, she advises. If they get really cloying, suggest they go to the boss for help.

GULP! The boss just called to say she wants to hear your big idea at 4 p.m. Health offers three suggestions:

¶Snack well. “To avoid feeling jittery, keep your blood sugar levels even with a quick nosh containing complex carbohydrates and protein. Try some hummus on half a whole wheat pita or a handful of almonds with an apple.”

¶Rehearse differently. Read your presentation out loud twice, just before you have to give it. Not only will that keep everything uppermost in your mind, you will loosen up your vocal cords.

¶Present powerfully. Most people stand with one foot in front of the other, which tempts them to rock back and forth and makes them appear unfocused. Plant your feet shoulder width apart and balance on the center of your feet, not your heels.

FINAL TAKE Here’s depressing news courtesy of Glamour: Work can make you fat even if you do not eat more. “A new British study found that chronically stressed female workers were 73 percent more likely to become obese than their more relaxed colleagues — despite similar diets and exercise levels,” Elise Nersesian writes. One theory is that long-term stress increases levels of cortisol, a hormone that promotes the storage of belly fat, said one author of the study, Tarani Chandola, of University College in London.

PAUL B. BROWN