(From Careerrealism)—Are your bad habits harming your career? When I have a pause in my day, I slump. Literally. I lean forward in my chair, rest my chin in my hand, and ponder what I’m reading and writing about. It’s a posture that feels right to me.

It requires no thought or effort. It’s the pose I used for my online picture. You might even call it my comfort zone. As it turns out though, my slump is not working for me, and has actually been doing me some harm.

I got my wake up call last week when I went to the chiropractor for a pinched nerve in my neck. By slumping in that particular position, I have managed, over time, to knock my neck, jaw and shoulder out of alignment.

So now, in addition to enduring some sounds-like-gun-shot chiropractic adjustments, I am having to do “sit up straight” exercises so I don’t fall back into my slumping habits. I can tell you, it isn’t easy.

Our careers can be prone to slumps – professional bad habits that become our comfort zone, but are highly detrimental to our long term career health.

10 Signs You May Be Career Slumping

• Your answer to, “How was your day?” usually involves gossip or complaints about your colleagues and clients.

• The last workshop you took was a company-mandated workplace safety course two years ago, and you can’t remember anything except the chocolate-chip cookies that were served.

• You haven’t added any new people to your network of contacts in the last month, and some of the contacts you do have won’t take your calls anymore.

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