Are These Habits Getting in Your Way?

Imagine the energy when you put 10,000 women in one room … The Pennsylvania Conference for Women hosted 10,000 guests and 100 speakers for one day!

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One panel discussion was about habits that may get in your way of moving to your next level. The higher you get in organizations, the more likely you need to adopt new habits and behaviors versus just adding more skills. Neuroscience shows that you can rewire your brain to support new habits and thought patterns. You have to be willing to repeat them until your brain gets comfortable with them.

Related: 3 Myths About Confidence That Stop Women From Being Heard

These are the three habits that often get in the way of women rising to their next level and what you can do to flip them:

1. Overvaluing expertise

Being an expert in your field is great, but it's not everything to get you to your next level. Understandably, it might be more comfortable to keep your head down hoping that others will notice your contributions.

Flip it: Rather than knowing every detail to perfection, spend time building the relationships you need to move to our next level. Find opportunities to gain visibility outside your immediate job.

2. Building versus leveraging relationships

Building relationships is likely one of the abilities you excel at. It is actually one of the top strengths for women. Spending time to get to know others, offering help and advice comes naturally.

Flip it: Leverage your relationships in a strategic way to achieve your career goals. Remember, leverage is a two-way street, either explicitly promised or implied, to create opportunities for each other.

Related: Powerful Professional Women Don't Get Paralyzed by Guilt

3. Aligning allies from the get-go

Women generally put their heads down to master their job first before reaching out whereas men ask: Who do I need to know to be successful? That being said, you always want to combine making connections with delivering solid results.

Flip it: Find allies across all levels of the career ladder from the get go. The more inclusive your network of allies, the more robust your support. My challenge for you is to re-connect with allies you haven't spoken to in a while!

(By Sabina Reinhardt. Reinhardt is a leadership and transformation strategist at Rocketing Life LLC.)