Give your professional life a fresh start by tossing these bad habits. 

To make way for professional growth, you must take responsibility for it, explains Amy Blaschka for Forbes. To start, reflect on parts of your work-life that may not be serving you and move on from whatever they are. 

“This time of year, many people find themselves with an urge to purge what’s no longer useful, clearing away the outdated and unnecessary stuff cluttering their lives. The same concept can be applied to your professional world, too,” writes Blaschka. 

Here are 5 things to leave behind as you pursue career growth: 

• Bad advice. It’s easy to take advice from friends and colleagues who know you, and there’s often no shortage of it. But consider the advice you are given and ask yourself, “Is this helpful or just an opinion?”  

“Instead, seek counsel from those who have done what you want to do, and even then, use it as a suggestion rather than a rule to inform your own career journey,” writes Blaschka. 

• Perfectionism. It may be hard to acknowledge, but perfection doesn’t exist, and the pursuit of it will hold you back from realizing your full potential. When you strive for perfection, you are less likely to take risks. But without risks, you miss out on two things: success and learning, she explains. 

• Comparisons. If you find yourself comparing yourself and your career path to others, now is a good time to reset and stop that bad habit. You learn nothing from comparing yourself, so instead, look to those individuals as a way of informing your own career growth.  

• Negativity. Are you as kind to yourself as you are to your colleagues and friends? Negative self-talk causes you to work from a negative space that limits you.  
  
  “Words have power, especially those you say—or don’t say—to yourself. By replacing self-sabotaging talk with self-affirming talk, you’ll abandon limiting beliefs and adopt a growth-focused mindset,” she explains. 

• Fear. What often holds people back the most isn’t lack of talent or experience, it’s fear. Letting go of fear will allow you to get out of your own way and take responsibility for your professional growth, writes Blaschka.  

Read more in Blaschka's article "The 10 Best Things To Discard To ‘Spring Clean’ Your Career."