Unlearn these 6 Bad Habits before they Ruin your Life!

Bad habits

Bad Habits,  we all have unfavorable habits that we talk about changing and never get around to.  Or,  we attempt to change those unwanted behaviors and fail at sticking to it.

This is were I have to raise my hand,  because like many of you,  I am guilty as charged!

Habits are formed by doing the same thing over and over again until we form a pattern.  Then,  the behavior becomes automatic and embedded in our day to day lives.  If the behaviors that we form are unfavorable,  they cause problems and unnecessary stress at every turn.

[mks_dropcap style=”letter” size=”52″ bg_color=”#ffffff” txt_color=”#000000″]So,  how do we change this?  What can we do to get rid of bad habits?[/mks_dropcap]

Habit Forming and Changing

Well,  on average it takes 66 days to form a habit.  Now,  this can differ from person to person and by what we are trying to change.

For example,  if I decide that I’m going to drink more water.  At every meal I could replace my normal beverage with water.  This would be easy because I already have a habit of drinking something with every meal.  I would just be switching that drink to water.

But,  it would take longer for me to form a habit of going to the gym everyday.  Why?  Because it is not something that I do everyday and it would take a much bigger effort to do so.  I would have to drive miles away to get to the gym and switch up a few things in my schedule.

See the difference?

It may only take me 28 days to drink more water, while taking up to 70 days to incorporate the gym.  The amount effort in each is different.

6 Bad Habits that need to change

Now that we know a little about habits,  lets jump into The 6 bad habits that we need to unlearn before they ruin our lives.

#1  Procrastination

This is number one on the list of Bad Habits.

Do you find other things to do before completing what needs to be done?  Do you make excuses as to why you have to put it off?

What I have figured out is that,  I procrastinate because I don’t like feeling stressed.

So,  I subconsciously find less stressful things to do in place of the task at hand.

Makes sense right?

Well,  at the time it does,  but guess what?  You still have to complete the task.  And,  when you finally do,  the stress is 10x’s more than if you wouldn’t have put it off in the first place.

So,  do yourself a favor an get rid of the added stress of procrastination.

#2 To much TV/ Social Media

Bad habit number two is too much TV/ Social Media.   This is one of the things I use while perfecting bad habit number one.

When I feel stressed about a task  I grab my phone or the remote control.

Listen,  I love TV and social media as much as you do,  but to much of it takes away from your life.

I’ll give you an example,  how many times have you been at a concert and instead of watching the performance you are twitting, snap chatting, Facebooking , and instagraming  what’s going on.

If this is you,  life is passing you by.  You are not enjoying the feeling of what’s going on in the moment.  What are you feeling?  Joy? Excitement? Happiness?  You’ll never get the full experience because you’re not in the moment.

And as for TV,  getting lost in a great movie was my excuse for procrastinating.  I’d tell myself,  “I’ll do it after this movie”  Ha!

Unfortunately,  on those days I would look up at the clock and hours had passed without getting anything done on my to do list.  Then,  I had to stay up late which only caused more stress!

So watch out,  TV and Social Media will ruin your life by keeping you from being productive

#3 Lack of Sleep

Speaking of staying up late.  Lack of Sleep is Bad Habit number three.

I’ve seen many post and quotes floating around saying things like,  “while you were asleep I was up grinding.”  Or,  “until I’m successful sleep can wait.”  Well,  it sounds good,  but it really isn’t.

You see,  sleep deprivation causes a dip in cognitive performance.    Without sleep you’re not as alert or as sharp and it’s harder to pay attention to details.

So,  you may think that you’re getting more things done,  but in reality you probably would have finished quicker and performed at a higher level,  had you gotten enough sleep and were able to function better.

Let’s change this bad habit and make our lives easier.

#4 Putting yourself Last

Putting yourself last is number four on our list and may be one of the most important.  No matter how many times I think that I have changed this behavior it sneaks up on me again.   I’m a wife and mom with a business to run and many other things to do.

Like most of you,  there’s a lot on my plate.  So,  in order to keep my family happy and stay on top of things I take matters into my own hands.  I’m a supervisor, chauffeur, counselor, coach, motivator, maid, nurse, cook, etc., etc, etc,  the list goes on and on.

And,  once I’ve been all these things to everyone I’m to tired to take time out for myself.

Does this sound like you?  Well,  if it is lets change that,  today.

One thing I do notice is when I don’t make time for myself,  I become grumpy, and grouchy.  I feel irritated for no reason at all and everything is a big thing no matter how big or how small the task.  Sound familiar?

Putting yourself last is a bad habit.  You have to make sure that you’re ok so that you can function.  Do it for your family, your career, and most importantly,  do it for yourself.  Self-care and “Me time” is crucial.

When you are operating at full capacity your entire life benefits.  This leads me to number five on our list.

#5 Not Excepting Help

I am the queen of “I can do it myself.”  It’s hard for me to accept help for anything because….. “drumroll please”…….I’m a control freak.  Yep,  I said it.  I’m a control freak.  I want everything to be done a certain way and if it isn’t I’ll redo it myself.

Do you do this?  If you answered yes,  Guess what?

This needs to change.

You can not do everything on your own and if you can why should you.  The pressure that comes with being a control freak is not worth the headache.  If someone is offering to make life easier for you take the help.

It doesn’t mean that you’re weak or incapable.  It means that you’re human.  Two hands are better that one on any day.

Do you have any of these Bad habits?  If you do,  unlearn them.  You will find that life is much better without the added stress that these five bad habits cause.

You’ll thank yourself for the change in the long run.

Love,

Toni

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