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Success, whether at work or in other areas of life, is strangled by certain bad habits. What’s more, these bad habits can last a lifetime – which means they can shackle you to a lifetime of failure. Don’t make that your future! Here are three big bad habits that, when kicked, will finally invite success and satisfaction into your life.
Bad Habit #1: Taking Things Personally
When a waitress messes up your order, or when your date flakes out on you, or when a customer gives you a bad review: Do you take it personally? Do you feel as though these little offenses are personal attacks on you?
Here’s my advice: In life, don’t take ANYTHING personally. That’s right – even if it WERE a personal attack, don’t take it personally. Seriously. Don’t.
Why not? Because when you take anything personally, a good chunk of your time, energy, and attention gets relegated to self-pity, plotting vengeance, or simply wishing ill fortune on whoever offended you. Your REACTION to personal attacks keeps you away from success – not the attacks themselves!
To kick a bad habit of taking things personally, simply promise yourself, from this moment onward, to never engage in any arguments, whether online or in the public square. If you offended someone, apologize and make it right – then re-focus your time, energy, and attention to your goals.
Bad Habit #2: Playing the “Victim” Card
Answer this question honestly: Why aren’t you successful yet?
If your mind immediately came up with a person, situation, or event as the reason why you’re not successful, be careful. You may unconsciously have the dreaded “victim” mentality.
The problem with thinking you’re a victim of past circumstances or events is that, deep down inside, you’re expecting someone or something to save you. Unfortunately, that rarely happens in life. People with the victim mentality tend to realize too late they’ve wasted their lives waiting for nothing.
Think you play the “victim” card too much? Here’s how to get out of it: Simply remind yourself that no one’s going to save you. After all, people are often too busy saving themselves. Your past doesn’t define your future, but your present does.
What can you do TODAY that’s going to make you more successful TOMORROW?
And lastly:
Bad Habit #3: Approval Addiction
Do you crave people’s approval? Do you feel it’s better to be “well-liked” that to be successful?
Guess what: Seeking people’s approval is a sure path to mediocrity. You’re so worried about what other people think of you that it keeps you from making the BIG changes in life – the changes that matter, the changes that break you out of the endless cycle of failure and disappointment!
To get rid of approval addiction, remember that no matter how hard you try, or no matter how successful you get, you can’t please everyone. There will always be people who will criticize you and say bad things about you.
So instead of trying to win their approval, try to win ONLY the approval of those important to you: Your customers, your family, your staff, your colleagues, etc. Simply decide who’s important in your life, and forget about the rest.
Kick the Habit Now!
Do you have any of the three bad habits I mentioned in this article? Then you know what to do. Make the right adjustments, and you’ll start to see your efforts pay off.
Previously published on Kevin J. Donaldson
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Photo Credit: Pexels
Years ago I took most things personally. I took them as an attack on my characters and work.
After talking with many mentors I came to understand that these attacks were not attacks on me but rather the attacker venting their frustration of their own situation. Very few people purposely set out to hurt others. By that token, very few people have an outlet from the pain of their own life. If they need to get it out on you, I say let them. It doesn’t affect your life anyways (unless you allow it to).
Thank you for reading and sharing your personal story Joel! It’s true, things only have the meaning that we assign to it. Therefore we should not assign meaning, instead ask clarifying questions to determine intent. Cheers!
Hi there,
I subconsciously knew about these habits but never really acknowledged. Halfway through the article I realized I have done these things at some point in my life. I never realized these tiny things could affect my life so much. I’ll take extra caution to not repeat them in future. Thank you 🙂
Cheers!
My pleasure, Debshikha! I’m glad the article reminder you how more powerful you can be! Thank you for reading and commenting! Cheers! 😉