My best friend does the same thing every morning. When she hears her alarm go off at 7, she doesn’t get up and start getting ready. Oh, no, she turns it off, and goes back to sleep until she wakes up all of a sudden, crazy worried that she’ll be late to work. For the next 30 to 40 minutes, she runs around her apartment trying to do everything at once, cursing herself for always doing the same thing and never getting up when she has to. Most of the time, she manages to get to work on time, but she still hates herself all day for the unnecessary stress of her mornings.
Every time we talk about this habit of hers, we reach the same conclusion: she’s not being smart. A truly smart person would create a morning routine and follow it every day, so that at least that part of her day is under control. The problem is that one thing is knowing that you have a bad habit, and another thing is changing it. Here’s a list of seven bad habits most people have that are just not smart. You might think they’re not end-of-the-world bad habits, but getting rid of them will make a huge difference in your life.
Not sticking to your morning routine
Think about it: you have to get to work on time at the same time every day. Why wouldn’t you follow a routine that lets you do that? Sure, sometimes you’re really tired, and all you want to do is stay in your warm, cozy bed and postpone the inevitable for a few minutes. However, is this smart? No. The smart thing to do would be to figure how much time you need to do everything you have to do in the morning and create a routine based on that.
Not getting enough sleep
This is another sleep-related bad habit. When you don’t get enough sleep, you feel tired all day, and you’re not able to focus properly on the things you have to do. Basically, as soon as you wake up, you start thinking about when you’ll be able to go back to sleep again. So, do yourself a favor and go to bed when you feel tired, not when your eyes can’t take anymore social media. When you wake up the next morning, you’ll feel like a whole new person.
Not taking care of your health
This one’s a really bad habit to break, but it might be the most important one, and the reason is simple. You need your body to do everything, so if you don’t take care of it, you’re only making it harder on yourself to accomplish your goals. The solution is not as difficult as you might think, though. Eat good, healthy food as much as possible, get some exercise every day, and see your doctor at least once a year, not just when you’re sick. If you don’t take care of yourself, who will?
Thinking you know everything
The older we get, the more we find ourselves thinking we’ve seen everything, done everything, and know everything, but actually, the smarter thing to do would be accept that we don’t. The world is too big and life too complex for us to know everything about it. When we think we do, we close ourselves to new information and new experiences. So, from now on, challenge yourself to question and doubt what you think you know, and you’ll see how much you’ll learn.
Not listening
This bad habit goes hand in hand with the previous one. Listening is one the main ways we obtain new information and learn. When we don’t pay attention and listen actively, we remain inside our heads with all the old information we’ve always had. For instance, imagine you’re arguing with someone. A truly smart person listens to other person, whether they’re right or wrong, because it helps them understand their arguments better and make their own that much stronger.
Photo by: @amaalsaid
Lying to yourself
The smartest people in the world know that before anything or anyone else, they only have themselves, and that the most efficient way to go about life is being 100% honest with themselves about who they are, their strengths and weaknesses, what they want, and what they don’t want. Lying to yourself is a waste of time and a form of denial that will only keep you from accomplishing your goals.
Not planning
Last but not least, another time-consuming bad habit: not making plans. No one’s saying you should plan out every second of every day of your life, but making some plans every now and then is one of the smartest things you can do. Planning things like what you’re going to do when you get home after work or the budget for your next vacation will save you time, money, and headaches. Isn’t everything easier when you know what you have to do?
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A piece of advice from yours truly: don’t freak out if you have all of these bad habits and don’t know how to break them. Making smart and responsible choices all the time is impossible, and we all struggle with it. You can always keep trying, though, and the longer you try, the easier it’ll get (I hope).
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Check out these articles:
10 Common Habits That Might Be Ruining Your Skin
10 Routine Habits That Are Damaging Your Mental Wellbeing