May 23, 2026

4 Poor Habits That Could Be Slowing Your Career Growth, According to Ramit Sethi

Written by Gabrielle Olya

Edited by Cory Dudak

Discover a female employee in an office at a desk on her laptop with a worried or concerned expression on her face

It's common to feel "stuck" in your career. Maybe you've been in the same industry for a while and are no longer excited by it, or maybe you love where you work but have struggled to climb your way up the corporate ladder. Whatever the case may be, you may be unconsciously getting in your own way when it comes to growing in your career.

Here are six ways you might be sabotaging your own career growth.

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1. Having a Defeatist Mindset

Your own thoughts could be holding you back from excelling in your career.

"I've found that the one thing that stops people from reaching their full career potential is how they talk to themselves," said Ramit Sethi, author of "I Will Teach You to Be Rich" and founder of Dream Job. "It may not seem like much, but negative self-talk can be the thing preventing you from acquiring your dream job and living your dream life. [...] If you don't push yourself to meet your dream career goals despite these negative thoughts and excuses, you resign yourself to a permanent state of waiting."

2. Being Passive About Your Job Search

"The majority of people that are searching for their dream job hand the responsibility of defining and securing this job to someone (or something) else," Sethi said. "For example, trusting a job search algorithm to guide your job search, blindly sending out resumes and hoping for a response from HR, or relying on a recruiter to convince your dream company to give you a shot. Not only is this behavior a waste of the individual's time, but passivity breeds failure, which in turn leads to the slow process of just giving up and staying in your less than ideal -- but familiar -- role or career path."

It's time to get more proactive about your job search if you want to land your dream job.

3. Sending Out the Same Resume to Every Job

If you're not tailoring your resume and applications to exactly the job you want, you likely won't get it.

"To grow your career and find your dream job, you need to be specific," Sethi said. "What job do you want? Name it. What size company? Where is it located? Everything in your resume and pitch should be hyper-focused on the answers you give to these questions. People who don't do that waste time applying for dodgy jobs they don't want anyway and fail to make themselves look like a desirable employment prospect to the companies that actually count."

4. Failing To Negotiate or Ask for What You Want

Very rarely are employees just given raises or extra benefits or perks out of nowhere -- you have to ask for these things.

"Even if your boss notices you, they won't pay you more unless you ask," Sethi said. "Same goes for getting a bonus, a title change, the flexibility to work from home or any other benefit that means a rich life and career growth for you. To see career growth and life improvements, people need to start negotiating instead of just waiting for someone to recognize their genius and hand them money."

This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.

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Written by

Gabrielle Olya

Edited by

Cory Dudak