Has your career stalled? Is that raise or that promotion always out of reach? There may be several reasons for this, or just one primary reason. Why are others always getting the promotions ahead of you?

Here are some common pitfalls that hold people back, no matter how much they try or how long they have been working for the same company.

Complacency

Promotions go to the people who work for them. If that takes politics or night courses on management, that’s OK with them. Basically, if you sit around and wait for a promotion, you will probably be overlooked.

People skills

Why does that person with polished people skills get a promotion, despite the fact that they botched the last assignment? Because the higher up the chain you go, the more people skills matter. If you get promoted to a managerial position, being the best worker doesn’t matter as much as being the person who can work with people effectively.

They say “no” and you say “yes” and it backfires

This is called co-dependence at work. You say yes to every extra assignments that comes up. Then some new guy who says no to any extra work gets the promotion. Why?

Simply put, managers are people who have to say no once in a while. If you can’t say no, you’re not managerial material. Saying yes makes you think you are a top worker, but to everyone else it looks like insecurity. Managers, first and foremost, are people who look like they can take care of themselves. Saying yes to everything does not send the right message to others.

Who Do You Work For?

Get used to this idea: You don’t work for the company. You work for yourself. As such, work at a job only so long as you get something out of it. Maybe it’s the training. Maybe it’s he experience. Maybe it’s having the job title on your resume. Don’t wait a minute longer to start looking around and if that means leaving the company, then go for it. The only only one you owe any loyalty to is yourself.

Addiction

If you have substance abuse and/or addiction issues, you probably don’t see the damage it is doing to your career.

What you don’t notice is that addictions immediately impact your work quality. You will be slow and distracted. You will rush to leave and arrive late. Moreover, people with addiction issues stop maturing the minute they become addicts. If you talk to a 50-year-old addict and he says, “I lost two jobs in the past two years and I can’t seem to keep a girlfriend,” you are confronting someone who sounds like a teenager. Ask that person when they started drinking or using drugs and, like clockwork, he will likely say, “in my teens.”

As such, if you have addiction issues, you often don’t get promotions because you strike people as someone who is immature for your age.

You are too well known

In the world of politics, it is said that even if you make a perfect decision on every issue that comes your way, after 10 years or so, you will have made too many enemies to win re-election.

The same situation exists at work. After 10 years in a company, you may be too well known to get a promotion. There are too many people who have seen very minor flaws here and there that don’t make you a bad worker, but add up to a promotion for someone else.

Money problems

Do you have money problems at home? If so, keep this to yourself. Managers have to handle budgets and complaining about your own lack of money will not help your cause when you are gunning for a managerial job.

Help for this article came from the HelpGuide.org at http://www.helpguide.org/articles/addiction/overcoming-drug-addiction.htm, the National Institute on Drug Abuse at http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/treatment-approaches-drug-addiction and from The Canyon Malibu at http://thecanyonmalibu.com/drug-addiction/access-to-excess/