Your habits are your building force. When you let bad habits grow, they gradually impede your path to success. A lot of people out there have mindsets and attitudes that set them up automatically for failure. These habits are malignant, slowly dividing without you knowing how much damage they’ve done till they’ve aggravated. People often make the mistake of blaming their lack of success on not being smart or talented, but the truth is, the habits they’re keeping are probably their destructive factor.
Warren Buffet was right when he said “Chains of habit are too light to be felt till they are too heavy to be broken’. Breaking bad habits require a lot of self control and determination and the first step to this is acknowledging this habits. Here are five of the most egregious habits you must eliminate if you ever want to reach successful heights.
1. Procrastination
“You know, the weather is so cold today, I better sleep in and do that task tomorrow” Or “Just one more episode of these drama series, then I’ll go study”. I’m well certain a lot of us have been in positions were we made statements like the above, choosing our comfort at the moment over success in the long run. We do not realize how dangerous procrastination is until the deadline is near and we’re forced to rush through our work with no perfection. No one is immune to this raging disease, but you need to identify the symptoms and tackle it as fast as it comes. Before I started work on this article, I was scrolling through twitter and I kept telling myself this was the last video I was going to view or five more post then I’ll focus on my work. One hour later, I was still on it. I had to take drastic action by shutting down all my apps all together so I don’t get distracted by another notification on instagram, spending God knows how long there. Procrastination has been since the beginning of time and ancient Greek philosopher called it “Akrasia”-the state of acting against your better judgment. Doing one thing when you know you’re supposed to be doing something else. It takes a lot of self-control to deal with procrastination and a lot of people agree that it can’t be outrightly eliminated but can be greatly reduced. Most times we tend to procrastinate because the task looks so difficult we don’t want to get to it immediately. You can try taking time to break down that chore into bits before it grows into a pile load, overweighing you. You can also learn to multitask and fit your leisure in such a way that they don’t eat up your free time. Watch your favorite TV show while having dinner or get a pedicure while scrolling through emails from work. Have a to-do list and set your priorities right. Make sure they’re immediate consequences for your procrastination. Learn consistency and with time procrastination will be kicked out.
2. Bad association
The types of friends we keep go a long way to determine how successful we’ll be. Your acquaintances can either pull you up or down the success ladder. Never underestimate the power of influence. Peer influences most times are subtle and we’re blind to them till they’ve eaten deeply into us. Who are the people around you? If your friends are goal getters, you’ll most likely be an achiever too, but if you find yourself around lazy people that constantly drag you down, you might never amount to greatness. You need to cut off the wrong people in your life. These excess baggage keeps weighing you down and nudging you off course till you find yourself wondering how you got there in the first place. Limit or totally bar these types of people from your life while you still can.
Humans are not the only bad associations you can keep. Your environment also does a major one on you. What are you constantly feeding into your mind? Are you listening to negative podcasts or reading books that keep weighing you down. Disassociate yourself from them now.
Replace this negativity with the right people. Get role models; people that have gone ahead of you and you admirably want to become. These people might be close to you physically or you can read their books, listen to their podcasts or even try to work close to them if you can. When your mind is unwavering and constantly focusing on the future, you begin to possess a drive nobody can stop. You look ahead and consistently seek to get better. If those around you don’t love you, care about you or incessantly seek your progress, then they don’t deserve you. Find and build the right association.
3. Talking with no action
Dreams can come so big at times that all we just want to do is talk about it. The truth is, nobody cares if you want to be the next Beyonce until they start seeing you onscreen. Study has shown that the more time you spend talking about an idea, the less time you actually spend taking action towards it. Dreams like children are to be nurtured and properly groomed till they grow. It’s perfectly normal to want to brag about them but you must be careful not to let that get in the way of achieving them. Work hard and put so much drive into your dreams that your success and not just mere words make a statement for you.
You can keep constant reminders of your goals in other to set your focus. Talk less and write your vision down instead. My dad does something I find funny but seems to always work for him. He gets pictures of places he wants to be, his dream cars, houses and pastes them on the wall in his room. He wakes up every morning and this is the first thing he sees. This automatically propels a drive in him to aim higher which gives makes him more productivity throughout the day. Take time to properly break down your goals into achievable bits till it all starts coming together. Seek advice from the right people and be careful not to take to discouraging words from people that just want to put you down. Take to constructive criticism and do not stop educating yourself till you’re at the top.
4. Self debasement
Do you find yourself constantly thinking you’re not good enough? Are you keeping those talents under the wraps cause of fear of what people will say? If you find yourself in this category then I want you to do something really quick. Stop whatever you’re doing and stand in front of a mirror. Who do you see? Your reflection I suppose. I want you to stare deeply at your reflection and say “I am exceptional” at least five times. This looks like a pointless exercise but it’s very important for you to know that what you think and the words you say to yourself matter a lot.
You might have tried in the past and failed, but that has nothing to do with what the future holds for you. What mistakes did you make in time past that hindered result? Do your research and think of ways to eliminate that error till you get it. Famous inventor, Thomas Edison tried 1000 times before discovering the light bulb. Have you even tried up to twice?
It is also important to not rest on your past laurels. You might have written a best seller once and right now you are faced with the fear of never getting past that. You absolutely can. Pick that pen up and give us a more mind blowing bestseller.
You need to stop blaming your backgrounds and other factors beyond your control. Make what you have work for you. If you take a personal interview of the top people on Forbes list, you’ll realize that most of them started from nothing and didn’t necessarily come from a wealthy background. Comparing yourself to others won’t get you anywhere but only make you feel bad about wherever you’ve worked to reach because like it or not, you’ll always find people who are better than you. Take control right now. Speak positively. Don’t let self hate hinder you.
5. Making assumption
Never assume a plan wouldn’t’ work out until you’ve carefully done your research or perhaps tried it out. A lot of people have missed great opportunities in life because they were afraid to take risk. Yes, you should be very careful and meticulous with your plans but don’t play it so safe that you end up trying nothing. Outline your goals and work on facts not heresays. Your best friend tried it and it didn’t work doesn’t mean yours would amount to the same fate.
Before you go into a business, take a brief overview of all your competitors. What are they doing the same way that you’ll like to do differently? Evaluate your steps and be sure you’re yielding positive outcomes. Do not confuse being busy with being productive.
The path to success may seem to be filled with a lot of obstacles but dropping the wrong habits will definitely make walking that path easier. Build your future with the right habits.
BIG THANKS FOR VISIT!
Yours
Manoj….
Online Health Fitness Store 