11 Bad Habits You Should Quit

The reason I study productivity is that I am a very unproductive person. I sleep a lot, talk a lot, I read a lot, listen to music all day, and watch movies. Without my productivity system, I wouldn't do anything, and I wouldn't even write this article, and if you're browsing social media, all you'll see are the most productive, healthy, and wealthy people, but is that the case? 

I know one thing only which is You can't be productive 24 hours a day,7 days a week, and a big part of being productive depends on getting rid of negative habits.

Below is a list of 11 bad habits which I learned to practice less or eliminate. If you have a few of these habits, do not worry as we are all unproductive at times, but if you have five or more, then it is time to change:

1. Overworking: 

Some days I can work for 12 or 13 hours continuously, and just take the rest of the exercise and dining, and I can keep it going for a few days. However, a few days later, I get to the brink of collapse, and I lose my ability to accomplish tasks, or even the desire to accomplish them, but this is not a good thing. So, I learned to determine the appropriate work period for me, and as the American novelist Ernest Hemingway said: "Stop working at the height of your day."

2. Worrying:

What if I go bankrupt? What if I lose my job? What if she doesn't like me? What if I get cancer? What if this plane crashes? What if I lose my sight? And many other questions are all thoughts that always occupy your mind, burying your head deep in the sand like an ostrich waiting for your problems to end to the extent that you can't realize how this way of thinking can absorb and consume your energy. Nonetheless, the truth is that you're not going to die at this moment, so get over yourself, stop worrying, and do something useful.

3. Stubbornness: 

We deal with people all the time, but have you ever said: "Why should I listen to this man?" Or "What information does he have?" I don't know, maybe more than you know. We won't know what others have until we listen to them. When you're always cynical and stubborn, you hurt yourself. 

4. Ignoring your health:

The way you feel determines the quality of your work. If you're always tired and upset, how can you expect to do a great job? However, when you are in good health and well-fed, it will reflect on your work. 

5. Checking things:

What are you doing? We often say something like, "I was just checking Instagram "or something like that, but "checking" is not a useful activity, as it may be an act, but it is not a real act. When I started blogging, I always checked my statistics for no reason, and I could not find a useful result from this checking, so stop doing that. 

6. Not having Goals:

When successful people say: "I do not have goals," I know they are lying. Who can succeed in anything without seeking it? Do not believe the stories because people just want to make you think that they have succeeded without effort, so set a goal, then work to achieve it. 

7. Always Saying Yes:

Most people are afraid of rejecting the requests of others. Maybe they don't want to let them down, and maybe they are uncomfortable with the word no. However, if you keep accepting anything that's asked of you, it's like you're living someone else's life. Think about it well and deep down. We all know that this is true. We cannot control our own time, so if you want to be in full control of your life, you have to say no to millions of things and requests, and say yes only to some important things.

8. Relying on your memory:

Not writing down your thoughts, tasks, etc., is crazy in itself because you waste so much of your mental abilities when you just rely on your memory. When you write everything you know and all you think about, you can use your mental strength for other things, like problem-solving, it's useful and it enhances your career. 

9. Neglecting your education:

We think when finishing the university stage that we are done with books and studying, but who learns one thing and stops forever? I don't know why this idea was instilled in our minds. I have always thought that learning stops when we graduate from university, but the truth is that your life stops when learning stops.

So, invest in yourself, learn something new, read the books, follow the courses, watch videos, do it from home or anywhere else, just learn new things, and you get more productive and more enthusiastic for life.

10. Complaining:

We all know that we complain, and yet we keep complaining. It's one of those habits that we always try to quit, but we go back to doing it. I am no different, so I always remind myself that complaining is a waste of effort, and just realizing that will help you quit. 

11. Loss of focus:

Most successful people say that being able to concentrate is the first reason behind this great success. It is no surprise, as people who don't know their purpose or what they want will not be successful. Often people don't understand why I focus on what I do not want to do. The reason is that I love learning in a reverse way. It is the same strategy used by American Investors Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger to become the world's most well-known investors.

When you want to become successful or productive, see how you become the opposite - failed and unproductive - and turn things upside down. This is what we did in this article as well, and after avoiding these negative habits, you will automatically become more productive, and when you combine this with a few productivity tips, you will have a reliable system.

In conclusion:

I always rely on my system to work better, smarter, happier, and more efficiently. It took me years to find out that having a system is good, and a few more years to create that system, but it was worth it.