The real you is not who you like to think you are or how you dream of living your life, it’s who you are, what you’re doing, and how you’re living right now, day to day. While we all have our flaws, certain bad habits can impact our lives negatively—they can damage our health, ruin relationships, hold us back, hurt our reputation, and make our lives much harder than it has to be. So, if you’re guilty of these bad habits, you need to break them so you can live a richer and better life.
1. Waiting till the last minute to do things.
Maybe you’re procrastinating because you’re nervous or dreading doing something. Or maybe completing tasks under pressure gives you a thrill so you keep pushing them till the last minute only to end up causing delays or problems. Regardless of the source of this bad habit, it can be very frustrating for others to deal with and even earn you a bad reputation. You can end the habit and save everyone a lot of stress by starting tasks early and finishing them on time.
2. Scrolling through social media endlessly.
You say you wish you had time to exercise, try new hobbies, arrange your room, or do all the things you want to do. Yet, you spend several hours a day tweeting, watching TikTok videos, and getting lost on Instagram’s For You page. Rather than watching people live their lives online while your own simply passes by, put down your phone and focus on enriching your real life.
3. Being dishonest.
There are times when you may be forced to lie to get something or avoid a certain outcome. But when you have a habit of lying, your dishonesty eventually catches up to you and gets exposed. Not to mention the toll that keeping track of all your lies so you don’t get found out takes on your mind. The only way to break that cycle and live a freer life is to choose honesty as much as possible.
4. Not taking accountability.
It takes a fairly secure person to accept their actions and the consequences that follow. When nothing is ever your fault and you refuse to be accountable for your mistakes and bad behavior, it paints you as an insecure person who thinks taking responsibility lowers your self-worth. If you want to have long, healthy relationships, you have to be able to accept the blame without needing to share it around.
5. Breaking your word.
One rule of life that helps you live with dignity is to say what you’ll do and do what you say. When you disappoint people over and over, their faith in you dies a little until, eventually, they stop trusting you altogether. Try to not commit to things when you know there’s a good chance you won’t follow through. If you make a promise, keep it.
6. Minimizing other’s accomplishments.
Downplaying other people’s success is never a good look and is usually a subtle sign of envy. If it were you who accomplished something, would you be happy to see others treating your success disdainfully and making it look small or meaningless? Probably not. You don’t have to be captain of anyone’s cheer squad, but you can learn to stop looking down on other’s success.
7. Spending all your savings.
It’s not fun running out of money and having to beg to afford your needs. You have to start arming yourself for rainy days and emergencies by keeping some of your cash aside. Work on developing good financial habits like planning, budgeting, investment, income diversification, and leaving your savings alone so you can reach your goals, or in case of the unexpected.
8. Living a sedentary life.
Sitting or lying around for the better part of the day, week in and week out, takes a huge toll on your mental and physical health. If you want to avoid unnecessary hospital trips and bills and complete physical tasks efficiently without feeling like you’re about to pass out, you should find ways to stay active. Stand up and walk around during work breaks and after meals. Sign up for the gym. Ditch the elevator for the stairs. Get a jump rope and start skipping.
9. Always showing up late.
It might be a cute joke now amongst your friends or coworkers when it’s pointed out that you’re always running late. However, there may come a time when people stop treating your penchant for lateness with levity and it starts breeding resentment or getting you into trouble. You can break this habit by respecting people’s time and planning your schedule well so you can arrive early.
10. Dating the wrong people.
If you have a habit of pursuing relationships with people for the wrong reasons, you create a cycle that always ends with you getting hurt. Hanging on to your abusive or emotionally unavailable partner and hoping they’ll change only exposes you to more harm and pain. Your dignity and self-esteem will be better off if you end bad relationships sooner, rather than later.
11. Constantly complaining about stuff.
Complaining is one of the ways we process and regulate emotions. It helps us let off steam and find understanding and closure. However, when you’re always complaining, your grumbling starts to get old. People will tire of being around you because of the negative energy you radiate. If you don’t want to be seen as a whiner, you need to find a healthier approach to dealing with stressors.
12. Spending all your time planning.
You dream of all the ways you can improve your life but keep procrastinating taking steps towards them, so you end up doing nothing. You may even spend your days strategizing how to reach all of your goals and utilize your time efficiently, leaving yourself with little time to get the job done. Planning and the quest for self-development are good traits, but they won’t amount to much unless you take action. Stop making excuses and dive in already.
13. Flaking on plans.
When you have a habit of constantly canceling plans last minute, people get the message, internalize the rejection, and eventually stop including you in things. No one wants to be around someone unreliable, so unless you shape up and show up for the people in your life, you’re going to have a rough time with relationships.
14. Drinking too much.
Nothing wrong with having a few drinks now and then, but if you’re constantly drinking a lot or to the point where you black out, that could be a sign of a more serious problem (to come). You can get addicted to alcohol and sabotage your life, career, and relationships, wreck your organs, develop cancer, and even kill yourself. If you’re drinking excessively, you can break this habit by seeking help from support groups like AA.
15. Hanging around people who don’t like or appreciate you.
You feel invisible in your friend group. Your coworkers treat you poorly. Every conversation with your parents involves them blasting you with criticisms, guilt, judgment, or unwanted advice. Yet, you keep returning to these people because you think having them in your life is better than being alone. But, the truth is, you still feel lonely, devalued, and miserable with them around. The only way to reclaim your dignity is to limit interactions or stop associating with people who make you feel like crap.
