Shocking Bad Habits That Keep You from Growing

Getting rid of bad habits can be even more difficult than creating new habits. Therefore, it is not a surprise why a lot of people just rather “accept” and embrace the way they are.

However, the truth is, every person can work on him or herself to become a better human being. Although, I admit that it is easier said than done. Why? Because most of our actions are a reflection of our habits.

Usually, we form habits unconsciously, to perform tasks efficiently without having to deliberate every single time about the actions we must take in certain situations.

According to Psychology Today “Habits are built through learning and repetition. A person is thought to develop a habit in the course of pursuing goals by beginning to associate certain cues with behavioral responses that help meet the goal. Over time, thoughts of the behavior and ultimately the behavior itself are likely to be triggered by these cues”.

Simply said, a habit is a repeated behavior triggered by certain cues. These repeated behaviors save themselves in our brains and work the same way a code does for a computer, triggering certain actions under certain circumstances, making our responses quick and efficient.

But, what happens when the habits we form are bad habits?

The best thing about a habit could also be the bad thing about it: they are hard to break. While good habits make our life easier, bad habits can complicate it a lot.

A bad habit is formed the same way as any other habit, through repetition, and it is engraved deeply in our minds. Therefore, even when we become conscious about them, they are really hard to break. “Habits are a person’s behavior running on auto-pilot” (Psychology Today, n.d.). Most of the time, we do not stop to think about why we behave a certain way in a given situation.

So, is everything lost then?

No. Bad habits or unhealthy habits are difficult to break but, certainly, it is not impossible.

After all, one can change the code that runs a computer, right? In the same manner, a human being is capable of analyzing its own conducts and patterns and understanding when they are harming its performance.

To rephrase it, you are capable of noticing when you are ruining your own life with your actions.

Hence, the first step to breaking any bad habit is noticing and acknowledging it. In addition, understanding the cues that trigger those habits, or the motivation behind them, will also help you to modify your behaviors.

In other words, when you understand what’s wrong with the algorithm and where the problem is coming from, it is easier to fix it.
Yet, as I said, the first step is to acknowledge those bad habits.

You might be doing some of them without even realizing it!

So? Let’s take some time for some introspection and self-reflection.

Here a list of 107 bad habits that harm people physically, mentally, and emotionally. Therefore, if you find yourself doing any of these, then you’ve found the problem with your algorithm and it’s time to work on it.

107 bad habits to break this year

Sleeping too little or too much
Sleeping with your lights or TV on
Not dressing your bed for yourself
Body shaming yourself
Trying to fit in society’s unreal beauty standards
Exercising only to reach a specific number on the scale
Eating too little or not eating at all
Skipping meals
Cutting out certain groups of foods from your diet because they are ¨unhealthy¨
Not including vegetables or fruits in your daily meals
Dieting all the time
Missing out from dinners and parties because you are on a diet
Not enjoying your food
Not indulging yourself when you have cravings
Eating solely based on emotions
Drinking too much caffeine or alcohol
Not drinking enough water
Eating while watching your phone
Not eating slow enough
Gossiping about friends and family
Shaming other people
Bringing other people down to feel superior
Competing instead of hyping up your partners and friends
Criticizing behaviors you do yourself
Giving uninvited opinions
Wanting to force your will or belief on someone else
Fighting with anyone who thinks or acts differently than you
Not apologizing for your mistakes
Not taking responsibility for the damage you might have caused someone
Victimizing yourself
Gaslighting other´s people feelings
Thinking your feelings invalidates the other person’s feelings
Not admitting when you are wrong
Fighting fights that you aren´t going to win (even if you are right)
Thinking you are right about everything
Trying to get back at someone when you feel offended
Taking everything for granted
Thinking friends and family should text YOU constantly, because if not they don´t care about you as much as you do for them
Caring too much about what people think
Thinking people you´ve helped are indebted to you in any way
Getting mad when someone says no
Fighting to have the last word instead of keeping silent in an argument
Being discourteous or rude just because you aren’t in the mood
Not being thankful
Expressing anger with tantrums instead of words
Blaming someone else for your failures or mistakes
Thinking everything that people do to you is personal
Not wanting to grow or learn
Thinking you’ve acquired enough knowledge in life
Not working on your self-improvement
Not setting personal and professional goals
Underestimating yourself
Not organizing your priorities
Not saying no
Carrying grudges from the past
Not being assertive
Not analyzing your behaviors to see what you can be better at
Comparing yourself to others
Not taking care of yourself
Spending too much time on social media
Not having boundaries
Procrastinating or avoiding a task because of how it makes you feel
Not acknowledging your negative feelings
Not finishing what you start
Spending money on things that aren’t worth it
Living trying to impress other people
Thinking about what could´ve been
Apologizing for everything
Oversharing information
Putting someone else’s need before yours
Not spending time with your loved ones
Being a people pleaser
Not saving money
Constantly imagining the worst cases scenarios before acting
Not being proactive
Being afraid of starting something new
Staying in places you are not welcomed
Not knowing or valuing your worth
Spending all your day sedentary and idle
Not being honest about your feelings
Not planning ahead
Trying to fix someone else’s emotional problems (unless you are a mental health professional, duh)
Not having fun
Using honesty as an excuse to be hurtful
Hitting the snooze button
Not asking for help when you need it
Measuring your success with other people’s success
Making shopping your therapy
Not living in the moment
Feeling lonely when you are alone
Not tracking your habits
Feeling superior to other people for any reason
Not taking any risks
Living alienated from other people
Waiting for special occasions to give love or celebrate
Keeping clutter in your house
Complaining about everything
Not putting things back where they belong
Being late for everything
Writing negative comments on the internet
Not living in the moment
Telling white lies
Not tracking your finances
Beating yourself up after any failure
Not taking care of the environment
Trying to do more than you can handle
Not believing in yourself

Bad habits and you…

Breaking a bad habit is not an easy task. After all, the first step for doing so is to admit that we are doing something wrong, which, honestly speaking, is incredibly difficult for a lot of us. Furthermore, ending a bad habit also involves stepping out of our comfort zone.

Regardless, human beings have proved to be able to adapt and transform their behaviors whenever it was necessary. We proved ourselves to be resilient… and quite smart too.

So, if you’ve found yourself repeating a bad habit, first acknowledge it. Second, understand why you have this bad habit. Third, state why you want to change it, and finally, work on a plan to do so.

As usual, if you can’t do it alone, search for help either from your family, friends, or a professional…

Oh! And I forgot something else we’ve proved to be able to do… We are capable of growing and improving ourselves and you are not an exception.