Note: This article is taken from the writer Dawn Halley, who tells us about her experience with bad habits that destroy success and how to get rid of them.
When the alarm goes off, all you want to do is repeatedly press the snooze button to prolong your sleep. Then you persuade yourself to skip your workout and grab some food and a cup of coffee on the way to work.
You lack motivation and are enraged today. Does this sound familiar? Why do some days go well while others are utterly disastrous?
This is especially true if we are aware of how good it feels to wake up with the energy needed to complete our most important tasks because a healthy diet and regular exercise make the day go much more smoothly. Why do we succumb to feeling unmotivated and lazy so frequently? Why is it so difficult for us to recreate that ideal day each day?
The top 10 bad habits that will prevent you from succeeding are listed below. Therefore, learn how to change it so that you can advance in all aspects of your life, including your family, health, and financial well-being. It is simple to have that ideal day and remember the important details if you employ these tried-and-true techniques and constantly remind yourself of them:
10 bad habits that will prevent you from succeeding are listed below
1. Not Clearly Defining Goals
What do you consider to be your main goal? Maybe paying off the debt within a year, shedding 25 pounds (12 kilograms), or receiving a significant promotion at work. What is the essential goal you want to pursue?
What it takes to get exceptional results is highlighted by authors Gary Keller and Jay Papasan in their New York Times best-seller The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results. You should be aware that finding your one thing is essential because once you've done that, you can start taking the proper steps and setting up your day to be productive.
Take the following instance
Paying off debts is the goal.
Set this goal clearly: Pay off $20,000 in student loan debt and $5,000 in credit card debt within one year.
Will that internal dialogue, if it occurs, and my decision to take action to pay off my debt be sufficient? I want to pay off my debt for sure, so why not? And why do I even owe this debt in the first place?
I lacked the necessary action plan for that, aspiration, a future vision, a precise definition of the goal, and an organized plan that would have guided me to success.
Once you set a clear goal, you start planning the path you can take toward success.
2. Not Knowing the Necessary Steps to Achieve the Goal
After defining your goal, you should be able to clearly outline the steps required to move forward. Here's what that would look like:
The goal is to get rid of debt.
Set this goal clearly: Pay off $20,000 in student loan debt and $5,000 in credit card debt within one year.
Then outline the steps needed to achieve this goal:
- Defining the monthly amount of money that needs to be set aside for this debt.
- Reviewing the house’s expenses and indicating aspects where improvements can be made.
- Creating a budget that allows for additional income.
- Providing additional income to cover remaining debt.
- Offering some things for sale.
- Working more hours.
- Requesting a pay raise.
- Getting an additional job to increase income.
Now that you have a clearly defined goal broken down into the steps needed to reach it, you can get to work.
3. Not Breaking the Goal Down into Daily Action Steps
What steps can you take today to move forward now that you've defined what needs to be done to reach your goal? What is one thing you can do today to move you one step closer to your goal?
Using the aforementioned example, here is how that would look:
- Monday: I will arrange the accounts and calculate how much should be set aside each month for this debt. Then, in order to calculate my spending clearly, I will list each individual expense I made over the previous 30 days.
- Tuesday: I will review the fields where my spending percentage is high and consider how to reduce it.
- Wednesday: If I had spent $190 on cable/premium and $800 on eating out in the previous month, I would cancel my cable subscription and switch to online TV. Also, I would make a plan for the upcoming week's meals and eat at home on weekend nights.
- Thursday and Friday: Adjusting and developing a budget for all fields and calculating the amount that can be saved to pay off the debt.
- Saturday and Sunday: I will search the closet or warehouse for anything that can be sold, gather it, and enter the sale date on a website.
You can choose to work toward your goal each day or ignore it. If you don't create a roadmap of practical daily steps that will put you on the road to success, you might be setting yourself up for failure.
4. Not to Track or Measure Progress
You need a way to measure your results and track your progress if you're serious about moving forward and keeping your motivation high. There cannot be progress without tracking and measurement. Seeing the results is the best part of achieving a goal, so take pleasure in doing so.
If your goal is to lose weight, start by keeping track of everything you eat and measuring your weight and progress. Use an app or spreadsheet to keep track of your progress over time because you won't have a clear path to follow if you don't know where you started and where you're going.
Again: You won't have a clear path to follow if you don't know where you started and where you're going
5. Fear of Failure
Let's phrase it another way. What is failure? Failure for me is doing nothing. That is accurate.
Failure is doing nothing
Even if you set out to accomplish a goal and failed to do so, you still managed to accomplish a lot more than you would have if you had never started.
According to the singer Pitbull, “Reach for the stars, and if you don't grab them, at least you'll fall on top of the world.”
It doesn't matter what you learn; what matters is that you learn from your mistakes and know what to do differently in the future.
Still afraid of starting?
Your motivation and reason must outweigh your fear. Why do you want to pay off your debt? Because if you don't, you won't be able to adequately support your children, you won't be able to own your own house, and you'll be forced to work past your retirement age.
There are many reasons why you should pay off your debt, but they can all be so stressful that it is simpler to ignore and cover up the issue. So find the personal motivation that is more important than anything else.
I want to pay off my debts in order to send my son to college and give him the education opportunity that I didn't get.
This is the motivation and reason that come from your heart. Regardless of how afraid you are of failing, this is a good enough reason to start writing down your daily action steps and reducing your fear right away. You will be successful when your motivation and reason outweigh your fear.
6. Lack of a Daily Work Routine
It has been said that it takes 30 repetitions to form a habit. Do you agree based on your personal experience?
I am sure it is a no.
Have you adjusted to the healthy eating plan after the 30-day challenge, or do you still feel weak in front of delicious food?
To find out how long it takes to form a habit, researcher Phillipa Lally and her team conducted a study that was published in the European Journal of Social Psychology. The outcomes were: A new habit typically takes, on average, 66 days to form, though this time frame can vary greatly depending on the person and the habit.
During the study, it took from 18 to 254 days. The team also pointed out that this isn't an all-or-nothing process, as you can occasionally fall short and still make progress in forming your new habit.
The underlying message is that this will take time and that you might fail. You will make progress, though no one can predict how long it will take.
Define your goal, break it down into actionable steps, and then break those steps into daily action steps. By adding these actions to your calendar, you can estimate how long they will take. It will eventually become a routine as you practice it more and more.
7. Lack of Interest in Healthy Eating
Take good care of your body if you want it to work for you, because food is the source of your energy.
The worst days for me are the ones when I lose control and overconsume carbohydrates and sugar. I feel sick, lazy, and unmotivated, and then I feel bad and ashamed for putting myself in this situation.
I'm not in the mood to think positively and be productive. The hardest part is that I crave more carbohydrates and sugar the following day; it's a vicious cycle that's challenging to escape.
But once you get out of that circle, you will feel so much better.
8. Not Exercising
The same holds true here, but with a little more effort. If you want your body to work for you, take care of it, as you'll have more energy and feel more motivated to take on the world if you eat better and exercise more.
9. Lack of a Supportive Community
This factor is crucial; if the people around you do not encourage you to achieve your goals, they will bring you down. Don't let that happen because then you won't have any motivation or reason to continue, and you'll end up back where you started. Your goals are your dreams, and the important people in your life are there to help you realize your dreams.
I'll tell you, this reason is very important.
If you want to soar like an eagle in life, you can't be flocking with the turkeys.” — Warren Buffett
You need new people in your life if the people you have right now aren't encouraging and supporting you in pursuing your dreams. You have every right to make this life everything you've ever wanted it to be because it's your life and your dream. You have the power to reach for the stars, and you can choose the people who give you love and support on your journey.
10. Not Holding Yourself Accountable
What are the top recommendations if you are trying to lose weight?
Find a workout partner—someone with a comparable goal—and commit to holding each other accountable. You won't oversleep and hit the snooze button when you know that your workout partner will call you later because you kept them waiting at the gym. Then ask your loved ones to hold you accountable, and make sure to assure them that it's okay if they frequently inquire about your progress.
I let everyone know about new goals that I'm enthusiastic about. If I'm serious, I tell everybody—friends, family, strangers at the grocery store, people on Facebook, etc. Why? Because that is what makes me accountable to myself and others. Failure is the last thing I want because everyone knows what I'm doing. It is enough that all of them will be aware of my failure even if nobody holds me accountable for it, and this is not acceptable.
Reward: When you tell people about your goals, you'll discover that others are pursuing similar ones. Join them, and grow your social network of friends and allies by doing the same.
In Conclusion
Set up a system to track and measure your progress, as this will keep you inspired and make you feel good when you see results. Therefore, pay attention and keep an eye out for any fear that might get in the way. Find out what you want to accomplish, why you want to accomplish it, and how you plan to do it. This goal will help you overcome any fears standing in your way.
If you have a problem with routine, go back to your daily work steps and create a schedule for them. Yes, put it on your calendar and set reminders, and you'll get used to this routine. Exercise and a healthy diet should be your top priorities because they will give you the energy you need to stay strong and motivated. By holding you accountable, the people closest to you will support and help you in your endeavors; just let them know what you hope to accomplish.
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