06.03.2025

5 PHRASES YOU SHOULD NEVER SAY IN FRONT OF YOUR BOSS

In two employees with approximately the same abilities, knowledge, experience, who put in similar efforts and achieve approximately the same results, self-confidence often turns out to be a decisive factor for promotion. The reason is the impression they make on the boss when they get their assignment.

It's clear that he doesn't like his subordinates grumbling "Ah, that can't be done" or complaining to him about how overworked they are. Lack of enthusiasm is not a good certificate and does not lead to career advancement.

However, the boss is also influenced by the degree of self-confidence he sees in the employee. Because he knows very well that it matters how a person is set up at the very beginning - whether for success or for failure. If, before starting a project, he believes he can, he is much more likely to do it than if he thinks he won't do the job effectively.

Therefore, self-confident people advance faster in the profession and climb higher in the service hierarchy. One reason is that they don't let anything stop them and are driven to achieve their goals. And the other is that they pass this on to their boss. He begins to think of them as employees who can handle anything.

In other words, if you seem insecure, annoyed, and hesitant when given an assignment, you're already scoring a minus. You may do a great job, achieve greater success than the manager expects. But no wonder he thinks that it happened due to a good combination of circumstances, and not thanks to your abilities and efforts. Your colleague, who immediately demonstrated self-confidence, has already been imprinted in the head of the boss as a person who knows what to do.

Career development professionals who have spent years studying successful leaders and employees say that at least 5-6 phrases are completely foreign to them. Everyone exudes a negative mindset. Several of them are a direct sign of hesitancy. In others, a lack of enthusiasm is evident, and the external or internal resistance so hated by any superior.

"It won't happen" you have the right to say only if you are ready to ironically motivate yourself why it won't happen. Otherwise, the boss will rightly think of you as a pessimist who is probably too lazy to work.

A variety is "It's impossible". Are you sure? Difficulties are challenges that a self-confident person is not afraid of, but finds a way to overcome. Yes, some things are truly impossible. But your boss is not incompetent and is aware that the task can be done. You are giving him a doubly bad impression, because not only do you sound like a pessimist who is probably too lazy to work, but you also make him look like a fool who wants some chimeras.

"I can't do it" means admitting that you don't have the necessary knowledge and abilities. If so, make an effort to acquire them. Otherwise, the boss, having heard this phrase several times, will be quite right to think about the dismissal, and not about your promotion.

You can say it only if it is really about something very complicated and difficult, for which you are 100% convinced that you are not up to it. And in this case, however, it's better to say "I'm not sure I'll be able to do it, but I'll try and do my best."

Personal and career development experts advise building your self-confidence by starting to say to yourself "I can do it" often. Over time, you will believe that you are capable of achieving anything you ask for. If you need proof to brag, make a list of things you've mastered and overcome. There are probably examples in your life that you can overcome any challenge.

For the boss, the phrase "I don't know how" is harmful. If you don't know how, find out. Find someone who knows to help you. The employee who deserves promotion believes that he must constantly improve himself, seek new knowledge and skills, because they are the way to achieve more. And this is his commitment and ambition. There's no point in bothering your boss that you don't know how to complete the task.

However, this does not mean that he does not ask questions to clarify what he should do. Only a fool does not ask when he has not understood the goal or needs to specify details about the methods of achieving it, say. But the boss is not your governess to lead you by the hand. Do not reveal to him what you do not know. And if it happens to be clear to you, say "I don't know how, but I will figure it out". This is exactly what a person who believes in his powers does.

It is not good to answer the initial question "Will you succeed" with "Do I have any other choice". This is reconciliation. Even when he is forced to accept a task that is not interesting to him or that overwhelms him, a self-confident person does not show resignation to his boss. He explains what it will cost him to succeed, and thus makes it clear that he is ready to make certain sacrifices, for which he expects a corresponding reward.

And don't say to yourself "I have no other choice". For a good professional with self-confidence, there are always opportunities, you have to look for them. By telling yourself that there isn't, you limit your own thinking.

No matter how you phrase your "That's not fair" thought in front of your boss, you'll still be wrong. Yes, he gives you another task, and you've had enough. But if you think you can't do them all well and on time, explain exactly that and motivate yourself why. Otherwise, you are telling your boss that he is not a good manager and cannot distribute work fairly.

You have no use for this confrontation once you take the task. You're just making a bad impression right from the start. Finally, even if you do better than your co-worker who didn't complain, your boss will probably prefer him for a promotion.

------- And the errors of the self-confident -------

They are mainly of two types, and while you don't make a bad impression on your boss with them, they hurt yourself.

One type of mistake involves the complete conviction that "It's done this way." It feeds your self-confidence. But it is possible that this conviction will play a bad joke on you. The more open your mind is to other ways, the more easily you accept the new, the more chances of success you have. Otherwise, you get stuck in a routine, you get stuck.

If you very often think that you know exactly how things are done and don't even consider that there could be a different way, your self-confidence has reached a level where it is already hurting you.

The second type of mistake comes from being overconfident in front of the boss when he gives you a task and he thinks you will handle it easily. True, you score a plus at the very beginning. But if you overdo the dose of self-confidence, he gets the impression that you do everything without effort, that you don't have enough work, that he can burden you more and more.

It is dangerous to appear to magically pull successes like a magician pulls rabbits out of his hat. It's to your advantage that the boss thinks that, yes, nothing really can stand against you, but it's because you work hard for him.

So find a way to let him know that you face problems that you overcome, that you have to come up with new things, even stay after hours, to get everything done in the best possible way.

For this purpose, it is wise to consult with him from time to time and show him that success does not fall from the sky. This will remind him that you are an employee who gives his best and is worthy of a promotion - in salary or in the hierarchy.