Addictions Are Obstacles To The Best Things In Life

Do you think it is possible to lose your job over cigarettes? The answer is strangely obvious, of course you can. Any addiction carries this risk. Addictions are obstacles to the best things in life, and success in your career is no exception.

Now if you believe this sounds extreme, then think again. The price you pay at work for your cigarette addiction may be more subtle and unfold over a longer time, than say an addiction to hard drugs or to alcohol, but it can happen. Well let us be more a little more blunt here. It does happen.

The reason why cigarettes can hamper your career is myriad. The main reason has to do with those ever changing statistics in the workplace. In the world of modern business, cigarettes separate you from the mainstream. The reason is that most workers do not smoke. Therefore most people do not like you at work, because you smoke. You are a minority, and a somewhat reviled one. That translates into every day tensions that you may or may not be aware of.

For instance, whether they articulate this or not, bosses do not much like the fact that you spend lots of time in the parking lot or on the sidewalk outside the building feeding your habit. They prefer that your priority be your job.

They do not much care for the habit if you practice it in your office either. They don't like the smoke, they don't like the smell, they don't much like the diminished performance that comes over time with a smoker; they don't like the consequences, the health issues, the absenteeism, The list on the side of the column which labels you 'baggage' instead of 'asset' grows exponentially as times ticks on.

Finally, one small point; you smell when you smoke, right? Your boss does not want to sit next to you for the next 20 years. That is a given.

Arguing these points in the workplace seems both pointless and self-destructive. While you have rights, the world of business operates on the laws of the jungle. It is not always fair, and you must know that when you are a constant smoker. If you insist on kicking up some dust, standing up for your liberty, and screaming, "I have to smoke, okay! Get off my back!" then go ahead, knock yourself out, as they say. But when you look at it this way, you will begin to sense how fruitless that strategy is. It is doubtful that this is the way to rise to the top of the ladder.

Also consider the stress factor. If you are aware of these tensions and you continue to try and walk the tightrope which allows to smoke and to work then you do yourself no good. You will not rise to the top this way. More likely, you will quit, placing yourself in the margins when you might belong in the mainstream.

The easier solution might be to consider quitting...