Top 10 Bad Habits You Need To Avoid
Habits form automatic behaviours ingrained in our brains, allowing our minds to go on autopilot while our bodies take over, underscoring the importance of understanding how they develop.
A bad habit is like a slow poison. It kills you slowly, and you won’t even realise it. At one point, when you hit rock bottom, it will be really hard to break away from it – if not impossible. The sooner you know and try to avoid them, the better you can be at life, relationships and work. Habits form as automatic behaviors, ingrained in our brains to allow our minds to go on autopilot while our bodies take over, which underscores the importance of understanding how they develop and impact our daily lives.
In this blog post, I will discuss the top ten bad habits you must eliminate immediately. Only then can you be the person you’ve always wanted to become. You’re one in a million if you don’t have bad habits. Kudos! But even then, you need to read the blog to be aware of them so that you never develop them in the future.
🚨 Must Reads on Bad Habits
Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones 👉 check it out here
Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick 👉 check it out here
Good habits are hard to develop but easy to live with; bad habits are easy to develop but hard to live with. The habits you have and the habits that have you will determine almost everything you achieve or fail to achieve. — Brian Tracy
Being a Yes Man / Woman
It's a bad idea to say "Yes!" to everything that comes across to you. I have done that, and learned it the hard way. It will only lead to stress, guilt and unhappiness. It is not possible to take up every assignment at work, come back home and attend parties, movies, go on holidays, be there for your kids all the time. You will be exhausted. It's not sustainable, and living a life without priorities will only lead to burn out and unhappiness. Start saying "NO" and be happy. Prioritise yourself and things that truly matter to you.
Don't Compare Yourself To Others
It is a myth that you get pleasure comparing your career, looks, life, spouse, salary, wealth to others. All you get is frustration and envy! You don't get any peace by comparing. Everyone is unique and has a unique life to live and a story to tell. This uniqueness is their source of creativity and personality. If you are getting pleasure and satisfaction from your day job, you're on the right track. Don't seek validation, trust your instincts. If you live a life of comparison, trust me you'll have no peace.
Comparison is an act of violence against the self. – Iyanla Vanzant
Not Being Punctual
Staying up late at night, and hitting that snooze button in the morning ruins your sleep cycle, if done for too long. You wake up late, you'll have to skip breakfast to make up time, and then get in the bad books of people at work or events for coming in late. From my experience, if I start my day in a similar manner, I'll be unproductive and my tasks will be unorganised for the rest of the day. At night, I'll go to bed with "I'm not good enough" thoughts.
Waiting for the Right Time
I’ve done it for so long, now I’ll regret wasting so much time in my yesteryears for years to come. Chuck it! There is nothing called the right time. If I had started blogging at uni, I would have 10x’ed my growth by now.
This very moment is the right time for you. Time doesn’t wait for anyone, there will never be a time that is “just right”. So what are you waiting for? Excuses? Resources? Hurdles? Get started now. Remember, maintaining productivity and overall health is crucial, and getting enough sleep plays a significant role in this. Aim for 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night and establish a regular sleep routine to reduce the risk of health issues and keep your energy levels up.
Do not wait: the time will never be ‘just right’. Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command and better tools will be found as you go along. ― Napoleon Hill
Using Smartphones Before Sleep
Smartphones, laptops, iPads etc can really mess up your sleep. Blue light from these devices can halt the production of melatonin – the sleep inducing hormone. Your circadian rhythm gets disturbed and you'll remain alert till late night. If you continue doing this every night, it may even lead to insomnia. You'll then feel sleepy in the mornings, thereby affecting your productivity.
💡 Pro Tip
Wrap your work at least one hour before going to bed and keep your phone away from your bedroom — so that notifications don’t wake you up.
Good Habits: Avoid Multitasking
Multitasking usually means your brain has to juggle between multiple tasks at the same time, and because our brains are designed to do a single task at a time, it has to do a lot of context switching. It can also lead to higher error rates in the tasks we do. Also, multitasking shrinks your brain, lowers your IQ and reduces productivity by up to 40%.
Not only does your productivity takes a hit, it also affects your reputation. It creates a bad impression, as it signals that you have more important thing to do than anyone else.
💡 Pro Tip
Get More Done — One Thing at a Time
Toxic Relationships
Toxicity is unavoidable. It's there everywhere and all the time. A nasty neighbour? Or a jealous co-worker? Or a school friend who never appreciates you? Or your partner in a loveless relationship?
You have two choices:
Waste your energy thinking about them
Focus on positive people in your life
Going with the second and obvious choice have a myriad of benefits such as:
Low stress and anxiety
Improved mental and physical well-being
Personal and professional growth
Higher confidence
Increase in happiness
Poor Money Management
Just like your physical and mental health is important, financial health is also very important. A spendthrift mentality and too many loans can easily increase your debt and eliminate your savings and emergency funds.
High stress levels arising due to poor money management can increase the likelihood of heart attack by 25%, on top of adding stress, anxiety, influencing mood, appetite, productivity and performance at work, relationships and mental health.
Poor Stress Management
People don't usually bother about stress, until it starts interfering with our daily routines and activities. Here are some common symptoms:
Inability to concentrate
Aches and Pains
Poor judgement
Anger and Irritation
Nervousness
Loss of sex drive
Stress can lead to some serious physical health problems if left unaddressed like heart diseases, stroke etc. It can also lead to some serious mental health problems like depression, anxiety and other psychological problems.
Here are some things you can try to de-stress yourself:
Set goals and boundaries
Work off of a to-do list
Engage in meditation, mindfulness exercises, yoga, reflective journaling, etc
Spend quality time with your family and friends
Play a sport or a hobby outside work
Get a good night's sleep everyday
Break Bad Habits: Stop Being A Couch Potato
If you spend more than 8-10 hours sitting, playing video games, eating fast food, binge-watching Netflix, working off of your couch, you’re considered to be sedentary. Additionally, eating junk food as part of this sedentary lifestyle can have severe negative health impacts, leading to obesity, altering brain activity in ways similar to addictive drugs, and contributing to related diseases. Physical inactivity is a global health epidemic and a leading cause of death according to the World Health Organisation.
Here are some things you can try to escape the sedentary lifestyle:
Prepare your own meals instead of buying fast food. Introduce more fruits and vegetables in your diet.
Brisk walk or run for 30 minutes everyday.
Always take the stairs over elevators or escalators.
Take stretch breaks between work, every 45 mins.
Get a sit stand desk for work.
Walk while attending phone or dial-in meetings.
Spend more time doing household chores.
Thank you for taking the time to read the blog. I hope you were able to learn something from it.
Sanjay.
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