Everyone has a good understanding of which habits are good and which are not. However, some bad habits are much worse than you might realize.
When you understand how damaging many common negative habits really are, you’ll be more motivated to make a positive change to your behavior. A bad habit is generally more damaging than a good habit is helpful.
See how eliminating a negative habit will often be of greater benefit than instilling a positive habit:
- Too little sleep. Failing to sleep enough causes a whole host of problems, from decreased motor functioning, decreased memory, poor decision making, greater risk for heart attacks, and decreased longevity. That’s just for starters. Your body needs regular and sufficient sleep.
- Not flossing. Of course, not flossing is bad for your teeth. Interestingly, there are bacteria that are implicated in different forms of heart disease, and these bacteria are primarily in the mouth. That’s why it’s so important to take care of your teeth.
– Cavities provide an opportunity for these bacteria to make their way into the bloodstream. Floss your teeth. It only takes two minutes at the most. - Eating when you’re not hungry. If you’re not hungry, you don’t need to eat. Trust your body to tell you when you need to eat.
– One of the greatest threats to health is obesity. Eating when you’re not even hungry greatly increases the odds of becoming severely overweight. - Debt spending. Using debt to purchase consumer items is common, but that doesn’t mean that it’s intelligent. In fact, it’s detrimental to your financial health. And, if you have enough financial stress, it’s also bad for your mind and body. Save up your money to buy the things you really want.
- Procrastinating. Waiting until the last minute to do something can potentially cause a lot of challenges. There’s always the risk of being late with a task, not doing your best work or even adequate work due to a lack of time, or not having everything you need to complete a task.
– Starting early allows you to deal with unseen obstacles. Waiting too long to get started requires that everything go perfectly. - Gossiping. Talking about others is rude and potentially problematic. Others don’t trust those that gossip. You might say something about someone that gets back to them. You develop a bad reputation. You also waste your valuable time.
- Spending time with negative people. Negative people hurt you more than you think. You become more like the people you spend time with. Spend time with people that you want to be like and avoid the others to the best of your ability.
- Staying in bad relationships. Some people feel the need to be in a relationship no matter how bad it gets. It’s worse to be in a bad relationship than it is to be alone. Get out of a bad relationship as soon as possible and start looking for a better match if you don’t like being alone.
- Negative thinking. Negative thoughts lead to a distorted view of the world that makes life much more challenging. Negative thoughts lead to incorrect actions. Incorrect actions lead to a difficult life. Negative thinking poisons your mind and your results.
Bad habits can be more damaging than you realize. A bad habit is similar to loading rocks in your backpack while climbing up a hill. Focus on eliminating bad habits before building positive habits. Those bad habits are holding you back!