A new job, like a new year, is an opportunity to start fresh and to pursue career advancement opportunities that may have been lacking in your prior position. Maybe your first job ended poorly because you took on an opportunity you thought would be very exciting. Maybe you were stuck with a manager who didn’t care about your development or undermined you. Having chosen, and been chosen by, your employer, you are full of hope (and maybe some anxiety) for what the future holds. You’re ready to begin writing a new chapter.

But, as I’ve observed in my executive coaching practice time and again, even if you want to start with a clean slate, you’re very likely dragging along a few bad habits or behaviors from your last role. In our first jobs, we learn by observing and doing since we come with little or no experience. If you saw your manager putting things off for the last minute or repeatedly starting meetings late, you might have thought it’s okay to do so yourself occasionally. Little did you realize that the pattern kept repeating and became engrained as a bad habit.

To truly start fresh, you’ll have to commit to making some changes. Certain habits may be lifelong challenges for you, like procrastination or overworking. Others may be behaviors that were inherited from your former colleagues, like gossiping or abusing privileges such as flexibility and may not be appropriate in your new situation.

Whatever habits you want to change, with self-awareness, support and vigilance, you can set yourself up for success.

Take stock of your (bad) habits.

Start by identifying the habits, whether they are behaviors or ways of thinking, that have gotten in your way in the past. Go through your emails, messages, and performance evaluations from your previous job to pull this data together. Think about projects you worked on, how successful you were on each, the roadblocks you had, and why. Take inventory of the feedback you have received.  It could be from your prior job or from professors, classmates, or friends. Also document any negative tendencies you regularly practice (and are aware of). As you pull notes together try and answer the following questions.

• What performance feedback have you received? What elements of your behavior or ways of working can help you advance? What can hold you back? (Do you spend too much time perfecting things? Do you need to be more proactive? Do you tend to procrastinate?)
• What complaints have people had about you? What areas have you consistently been told you need to improve? (Do you shy away from speaking up? Do you walk in late for meetings often? Or have difficulty managing multiple projects at once?)
• How do you predictably get in your own way? What would serve you better in your new role? (Do you take on too much? Do you undercommunicate? Do you get stuck in the weeds?) 

Identify what you’d like to change.

Once you have identified some behaviors or patterns that have gotten in your way, consider your new role. What habits will set you up for success? What behaviors will show up in the early days and weeks that could make people form a poor impression of you? Identify a few key behaviors that you want to change right away. Prioritize behaviors that are related to reliability and relationship-building, such as staying professional, being open to feedback, or honoring commitments as they are a critical foundation to building trust.

Next, make sure the changes you want to make are specific and tied to observable behaviors (look for opportunities to participate in stretch projects) as opposed to focused on generalities (be more proactive). Phrase them in the positive (do this) as opposed to a negative (don’t do this). A positive, active voice will reinforce the desired behavior, motivate you, and help you visualize your new identity.

Here are a few more examples.

• If you have a history of late submissions: “I will submit my projects a day in advance.”
• If you often operate as a “lone wolf” but want to collaborate more: “I will set frequent check-ins with my manager and co-workers.”
• If you tend to be critical: “I will listen and acknowledge other points of view and ask at least one question before I give my opinion.”
• If you are prone to negativity or cynicism: “I will cultivate a balanced perspective by acknowledging what is going well and practicing gratitude daily.”
• If you have a tendency to ramble: “I will prepare for meetings, think before I speak, and keep it concise.”

Hold yourself accountable.

It’s important that your aspirations aren’t just ideas in your head. To keep yourself accountable, it can help to create a few systems. Research shows that documenting your goals and physically recording your progress increases the likelihood of achievement. It can be as simple as using a chart or a habit-tracking app. Daily behaviors, like punctuality, can be easily tracked every day. For other goals, like those related to changing your mindset or less measurable behaviors, you might set aside some time every week to reflect and give yourself a rating: “On a scale of 1 to 5, how balanced was my perspective this week?”

In some cases, you may want to share your intentions with your manager or co-workers. They can keep you accountable and even provide you with feedback. For instance, after a meeting, ask your co-worker how well you demonstrated the behavior you were trying to practice. Did you ramble, or were you thoughtful about giving other people space to talk? You can also find support from colleagues who display the traits you want to change in yourself. Spending time with people who engage in a behavior you want to cultivate (exercising, being punctual, speaking up), helps support the formation of that habit, research shows.

Anticipate some resistance to change.

If all goes well, your new environment, clear intentions, and diligence will help you reset. But often, changing your ways takes time and comes with challenges. Even if you make progress, old habits can resurface under stress. The part of your brain that controls willpower and executive function, the prefrontal cortex, becomes less active and the parts of the brain that are concerned with safety (or what feels comfortable) take over, making you more likely to revert back to your old ways.

If this happens to you often, consider whether the behavior you identify as a “bad habit” is serving a hidden commitment to self-protection. For example, if you want to break your habit of micromanagement, you may need to confront your fear of letting go of control. Or if you have a tendency for perfectionism, overworking, and over-delivering, you likely were rewarded for that behavior at an earlier point in your life or career. Since you believe that this behavior helped make you successful, part of you may be afraid that if you relax, you will lose everything. That fear-based belief makes it difficult to change.

If you uncover a fear-based assumption that’s underlying a habit you consciously want to change, you may need to challenge or test the assumptions before you can change your behavior for good. For example, if your habit of overworking is based in a belief that you will fail if you don’t give 110%, you might experiment with setting boundaries. Put in a reasonable work week (not nights or weekend); take a lunch break; set attainable deadlines and expectations. Reflect on whether your initial fear-based assumption about the need to overwork was true. What feedback did you receive? If it was generally positive, perhaps it’s time to let go of your belief that a sustainable pace is not good enough. Only when you change the underlying beliefs and assumptions, can you make truly lasting change.

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Starting a new job is an excellent opportunity to break up with the past, leverage and build on your strengths, and chart a new course. Nobody is perfect, but if you put in consistent effort and focus on progress and learning, your new job can help you jumpstart some new habits and accelerate your career growth.