6 Ways You Could Be Kidding Yourself In Your Career

Often accompanied by denial, rationalization is used to justify things we do that we know are wrong. For example, the employee who submits fake receipts on his expense report to get a few extra bucks every month and says to himself, “Everyone does it. And besides, the company doesn’t pay me enough.” Or, the job seeker who lies on their resume to get the interview and validates it with, “Their candidate criteria is unrealistic…it’s the only way I’ll get the chance to prove I’m the right person for the job.”

To sum it up, rationalization is the way we allow ourselves to take short cuts, avoid extra work and exploit resources.

QUESTION: What have you rationalized recently to make yourself feel better about a choice or decision at work that, deep down, you knew was questionable?