Even if you haven’t read the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, you don’t need a lot of imagination to see the connection between habits and success.
Our life is shaped by the habits we’ve taken from our childhood and into our adult years. The people enjoying the most happiness and success (whatever success might mean to you) have very different habits from those who feel unfulfilled.
In this blog post, I want to focus on five habits that aren’t so good for us. These are the things we do consciously or unconsciously that do not help us get closer to what we want to achieve.
1. Not Getting Enough Sleep
I’ve worked as a nurse for several years now, and I admit that juggling family and work can make it tricky to get six to eight hours of sleep. But it is extremely important for our overall health.
Life may sometimes make it challenging for you to get good sleep, but if you are intentionally living a lifestyle that includes sleeping for five hours or less, then you are not living to your full potential.
Sleep does wonders for our thinking, our mood, and our physical performance. It is where a lot of the repair process happens! So don’t take it for granted.
2. Focusing On The Negative
People can get too comfortable with negative thinking, too. It’s like they’re incapable of looking at the brighter side of things, and this can actually be the reason why some people never change their situations for the better.
Don’t let negative thoughts and fear control your life! The goals you have should be more important than fear and discomfort. They should be bigger than temporary failures and rejection.
Your thoughts are more powerful than you can imagine. It decides whether you will feel as small as a mouse from a setback, or as large as a giant that can overcome even the greatest challenge.
In the words of Henry Ford, “whether you think you can, or you think you can’t—you’re right.”
3. Listening to the Naysayers
We all have people in our lives who love to play devil’s advocate. They can be our friends or even our family members. My personal advice is to stay away from those who love to tear down our ideas and dreams.
But if that’s just not possible, then here’s the next best strategy: use their words as rocket fuel to blast you to success.
If we can’t get away from them, make it a part of your goal to prove them wrong. You can watch them turn from your biggest critics to the ones saying, “Hey, I know that person back when he/she was just starting out.”
4. Stress-Eating
Eating whenever you’re stressed, anxious, or disappointed will not get you any closer to living a happier and healthier life.
What you’re doing is filling a void that puts you down a vicious cycle. Because let’s face it, if you eat when you’re feeling bad, and gaining weight hurts your self-esteem and confidence, then you’ll likely end up continuing to eat, gain weight, and still feel bad.
To put a stop to this negative habit, learn to manage your stress. Get into the habit of being able to control your emotions instead of letting your emotions control you.
5. Not Taking Lessons from Mistakes and Failures
It’s not a nice feeling for us to dwell on our failures. But here’s another important insight: not reflecting on failures can be even more dangerous.
Being human means making mistakes, but it also means having the ability to correct ourselves and learn, so that we can do better in the future.
As we’ve mentioned above, our thinking has immense power over our lives. And when we start viewing mistakes and setbacks as tools for progress instead of sources of constant shame and unhappiness, we can truly begin to appreciate what life is all about.
Takeaway
I can talk about habits all day but it won’t be as effective for you if there’s one ingredient lacking from the equation, and that’s self-awareness.
We first need to accept that we all have habits that should be removed or replaced. It’s only when we see ourselves, complete with all our strengths and weaknesses, that we can become better.
In the following weeks, I’ll be talking more about habits, including the different ways that we can start replacing the bad with ones that help us get closer to our goals.
I hope you enjoyed this post and that you managed to take some insights from it. I’ll see you next time!