We often talk about things we need to start doing, but what about the bad habits that you’re already subconsciously doing?
We all have our guilty pleasures at times, things we do even though they sometimes make us feel bad afterwards. I would call these things sources of “instant gratification” – they may give us joy or save us stress in the short term, but come back to haunt us in the long run.
I’m not perfect. Nobody is. However, some people have a better understand and are more aware of their bad habits than others, and are willing to change them.
That being said, here are two of my bad habits!
1) Procrastination
This is one of my worst habits, and something I know I’m doing currently.
Procrastination isn’t an easy cycle to break out of. There are many factors and distractions that lead you to procrastinate, such as youtube, social media, and netflix – all which give you instant gratification, but won’t help you in the long run. Just like these, procrastination often presents itself in my life, especially when you need to do something.
Procrastination is definitely a habit that I want to break, and I’m sure you can relate to this to some extent as well. Some helpful tips to break your bad cycle of procrastination include:
- time/task management
- chunking your tasks
- setting yourself achievable
- having an incentive (something to look forward to once your work is finished)
- using the pomodoro technique
2) Mindless Youtube
Okay, I know we are all guilty of this one!
When we don’t have anything to do, or don’t want to do something, we all have a task or an app that we straight away go to. Mine, of course, is youtube – meaning that the scrolling turns into searching for something else to do.
I often get really bad side effects such as headaches and nausea when I go on technology for too long, and I feel drained and unmotivated to start doing other work.
While too much Youtube can be a bad habit, it doesn’t mean using it altogether is bad. Rather, use youtube as an incentive – and keep a time limit to how much you spend on it! Often, you’ll find yourself ignoring your time limit, and will continue to watch since it’s giving you instant gratification that you know your other tasks won’t give.
In the end, it’s easier to create a habit than to break a bad one. Habits are the foundational building blocks of your life, and without a strong, positive foundation, the whole system won’t be as stable. So what are some of your bad habits? And what can you do to break them?