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

1. Sleeping too little or too much
2. Sleeping with your lights or TV on
3. Not dressing your bed for yourself
4. Body shaming yourself
5. Trying to fit in society’s unreal beauty standards
6. Exercising only to reach a specific number on the scale
7. Eating too little or not eating at all
8. Skipping meals
9. Cutting out certain groups of foods from your diet because they are ¨unhealthy¨
10. Not including vegetables or fruits in your daily meals
11. Dieting all the time
12. Missing out from dinners and parties because you are on a diet
13. Not enjoying your food
14. Not indulging yourself when you have cravings
15. Eating solely based on emotions
16. Drinking too much caffeine or alcohol
17. Not drinking enough water
18. Eating while watching your phone
19. Not eating slow enough
20. Gossiping about friends and family
21. Shaming other people
22. Bringing other people down to feel superior
23. Competing instead of hyping up your partners and friends
24. Criticizing behaviors you do yourself
25. Giving uninvited opinions
26. Wanting to force your will or belief on someone else
27. Fighting with anyone who thinks or acts differently than you
28. Not apologizing for your mistakes
29. Not taking responsibility for the damage you might have caused someone
30. Victimizing yourself
31. Gaslighting other´s people feelings
32. Thinking your feelings invalidates the other person’s feelings
33. Not admitting when you are wrong
34. Fighting fights that you aren´t going to win (even if you are right)
35. Thinking you are right about everything
36. Trying to get back at someone when you feel offended
37. Taking everything for granted
38. Thinking friends and family should text YOU constantly, because if not they don´t care about you as much as you do for them
39. Caring too much about what people think
40. Thinking people you´ve helped are indebted to you in any way
41. Getting mad when someone says no
42. Fighting to have the last word instead of keeping silent in an argument
43. Being discourteous or rude just because you aren’t in the mood
44. Not being thankful
45. Expressing anger with tantrums instead of words
46. Blaming someone else for your failures or mistakes
47. Thinking everything that people do to you is personal
48. Not wanting to grow or learn
49. Thinking you’ve acquired enough knowledge in life
50. Not working on your self-improvement
51. Not setting personal and professional goals
52. Underestimating yourself
53. Not organizing your priorities
54. Not saying no
55. Carrying grudges from the past
56. Not being assertive
57. Not analyzing your behaviors to see what you can be better at
58. Comparing yourself to others
59. Not taking care of yourself
60. Spending too much time on social media
61. Not having boundaries
62. Procrastinating or avoiding a task because of how it makes you feel
63. Not acknowledging your negative feelings
64. Not finishing what you start
65. Spending money on things that aren’t worth it
66. Living trying to impress other people
67. Thinking about what could´ve been
68. Apologizing for everything
69. Oversharing information
70. Putting someone else’s need before yours
71. Not spending time with your loved ones
72. Being a people pleaser
73. Not saving money
74. Constantly imagining the worst cases scenarios before acting
75. Not being proactive
76. Being afraid of starting something new
77. Staying in places you are not welcomed
78. Not knowing or valuing your worth
79. Spending all your day sedentary and idle
80. Not being honest about your feelings
81. Not planning ahead
82. Trying to fix someone else’s emotional problems (unless you are a mental health professional, duh)
83. Not having fun
84. Using honesty as an excuse to be hurtful
85. Hitting the snooze button
86. Not asking for help when you need it
87. Measuring your success with other people’s success
88. Making shopping your therapy
89. Not living in the moment
90. Feeling lonely when you are alone
91. Not tracking your habits
92. Feeling superior to other people for any reason
93. Not taking any risks
94. Living alienated from other people
95. Waiting for special occasions to give love or celebrate
96. Keeping clutter in your house
97. Complaining about everything
98. Not putting things back where they belong
99. Being late for everything
100. Writing negative comments on the internet
101. Not living in the moment
102. Telling white lies
103. Not tracking your finances
104. Beating yourself up after any failure
105. Not taking care of the environment
106. Trying to do more than you can handle
107. 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.