--- title: Career Success: 2 Underrated Skills Every Professional Should Develop description: Be reliable and keep track of yourself canonical: https://time.com/3938551/underrated-career-skills-workplace/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-27T11:00:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-11-13T07:11:24.164Z article:section: Ideas og:title: These Are the Most Underrated Skills That Many People Lack og:description: Be reliable and keep track of yourself og:url: https://time.com/3938551/underrated-career-skills-workplace/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Are the Most Underrated Skills That Many People Lack twitter:description: Be reliable and keep track of yourself twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # These Are the Most Underrated Skills That Many People Lack > Sponsored content. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=5bcc03d3-0991-4ceb-acda-b3d43b324233&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Quora](https://time.com/author/quora/) ## Quora Jun 27, 2015 11:00 AM UTC by [Quora](https://time.com/author/quora/) ## Quora Jun 27, 2015 11:00 AM UTC [_Answer_](http://www.quora.com/From-the-perspective-of-a-CEO-what-are-the-most-underrated-skills-most-employees-lack/answer/Auren-Hoffman)_by_[_Auren Hoffman_](http://www.quora.com/Auren-Hoffman)_,_ _CEO of LiveRamp_ _,_ _on_ [_Quora_](http://www.quora.com/)_._ Two skills are incredibly rare: (1) Doing what you say you will do (be reliable); (2) Keeping track of yourself **Doing what you tell people you will do** If you can teach your kids a useful skill that will always help them with their career: teach them to be reliable — to do what they say they will do. (It is harder than it sounds.) If you consistently do what you say you will do, you will almost certainly be someone people desire to have on their teams. It is so rare that when you work with someone who is reliable, you never ever want to work with anyone else. You will do anything to keep that person on your team. Doing what you say you are going to do starts with setting the right expectations. If you tell someone you will get them the deliverable by Tuesday, you need to understand that it can actually be delivered by Tuesday. If you are good, you are probably factoring in slack in case someone in corporate slows you down or your child gets sick. And so if your boss wants something done Monday and you think it cannot be done until Wednesday, you need to be up-front. Because once a date is agreed to, you’re on the hook for accomplishing it. On the less-skilled end of the job spectrum, many people cannot commit to showing up to work consistently and on time. There are many external factors in their life that make even these commitments hard to achieve. So do everything you can to be reliable — because there are very few people that one can rely on. **Keep track of yourself** The corollary to being reliable is to make sure you manage yourself. If you can manage all your tasks and deliverables without reminders, you will be treated like the golden child. If your boss or colleagues never need to remind you about a project, deliverable, an answer to an email, etc., they will be able to take a load off their mind and be allowed to focus on other areas. And they will appreciate not having to have the uncomfortable conversation with you (“where is that item that was due yesterday?”). This takes a lot of hard work and organization, but most people can do it. You don’t need a PhD (or even a college degree) to be on top of everything. You just need to be organized and prioritize its importance. Of course, while most people CAN do this, most people DON’T do this — so doing it will be a huge differentiator for you. **The underrated skills** If all you do is be reliable and keep track of yourself, you will be indispensable to any company. _This question originally appeared on_ [_Quora: From the perspective of a CEO, what are the most underrated skills most employees lack?_](http://www.quora.com/From-the-perspective-of-a-CEO-what-are-the-most-underrated-skills-most-employees-lack) ### 5 Horrible Habits You Need to Stop Right Now  Do Not Email First Thing in the Morning or Last Thing at Night “The former scrambles your priorities and all your plans for the day and the latter just gives you insomnia,” says Ferriss, who insists “email can wait until 10am” or after you check off at least one substantive to-do list item. Chris Pecoraro—Getty Images  Do Not Agree to Meetings or Calls With No Clear Agenda or End Time “If the desired outcome is defined clearly… and there’s an agenda listing topics–questions to cover–no meeting or call should last more than 30 minutes,” claims Ferriss, so “request them in advance so you can ‘best prepare and make good use of our time together.'” Sam Edwards—Getty Images/Caiaimage  Do Not Check Email Constantly Batch it and check it only periodically at set times (Ferriss goes for twice a day). Your inbox is analogous to a cocaine pellet dispenser, says Ferriss. Don’t be an addict. Tools like strategic use of the auto responder and Boomerang can help. Jetta Productions—Getty Images  Do Not Carry a Digital Leash 24/7 At least one day a week leave you smartphone somewhere where you can’t get easy access to it. If you’re gasping, you’re probably the type of person that most needs to do kick this particular habit. by nacoki ( MEDIA ARC )—Getty Images/Flickr RF  Do Not Let People Ramble Sounds harsh, but it’s necessary, Ferriss believes. “Small talk takes up big time,” he says, so when people start to tell you about their weekends, cut them off politely with something like “I’m in the middle of something, but what’s up?” But be aware, not everyone agrees with this one (and certainly not in every situation), and you may want to pay particularly close attention to norms around chit chat when traveling internationally. Reza Estakhrian—Getty Images _More from Quora:_ * [How can I accelerate my personal growth?](http://www.quora.com/How-can-I-accelerate-my-personal-growth/answer/Auren-Hoffman) * [How do I know if I have leadership qualities?](http://www.quora.com/How-do-I-know-if-I-have-leadership-qualities/answer/Auren-Hoffman) * [What is the most overrated skill?](http://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-overrated-skill) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3938551/underrated-career-skills-workplace/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3938551/underrated-career-skills-workplace/"},"headline":"These Are the Most Underrated Skills That Many People Lack","datePublished":"2015-06-27T11:00:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-11-13T07:11:24.164Z","description":"Be reliable and keep track of yourself","url":"https://time.com/3938551/underrated-career-skills-workplace/","keywords":["Careers & Workplace","Business","Workplace","career"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Quora","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/quora/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3938551/underrated-career-skills-workplace/","name":"These Are the Most Underrated Skills That Many People Lack"}}]}] ```