Your career train is speeding along toward that light at the end of the tunnel. Suddenly, a blizzard hits, you slam on the brakes, and the train goes careening off the track. That light? It’s going to take you a lot longer to get to it now. What a colossal blunder! Maybe if you had checked the weather conditions and adjusted for travel to begin with…

But we all make mistakes. It’s just that some career mistakes are avoidable, like these:

• Ignoring your mistakes. So you derailed your train. You could walk away from it, whistling like nothing happened, or you could own that smoking wreck and choose to learn from it. When something goes wrong, figure out why it happened and how you can avoid it in the future. We learn more from our failures than our successes. You might even be able to help someone else avoid this same mistake.
• Burning your bridges. You never know when your train might derail, so don’t burn the bridges you’ll need to move on (or go back!). In this time of social media connections, frequent job changes, and growing opportunities, your network—and your industry—isn’t as small as you think. You can run into former supervisors, colleagues, or clients at any time, and you never know what position they’ll be in relative to what you want. So when you must leave a company behind, stay positive and professional. Don’t badmouth or gossip on your way out. And never, ever, hang your dirty laundry to forever flap in the internet’s breeze.
• Neglecting your health. You can’t successfully steer your train when you’re physically or emotionally unhealthy. Overworked and under-rested employees are less happy, less efficient, and more likely to be absent. So when your work environment feels demanding or overwhelming, mind your health first. Take your meal and rest breaks, take PTO to refresh, and afford yourself the personal care you need to run at full steam.
• Not setting goals. You know what was waiting in that light at the end of the tunnel, right? Maybe it was a higher salary, a transfer to a different department, or a promotion. Whatever it was, it was the goal you were steering your train toward in achievable and measurable steps—kind of like your personal Google Maps to tell you when and how your train will reach the next station. Without goals and a plan to achieve them, your train might be steaming in a circle.

When you’re speeding to your next career milestone, it can be all too easy to make a mistake that tosses you off course. But with planning and determination, you can avoid making these big, but predictable, mistakes, and increase your chances of arriving safely at your next destination!