*this blog is based on ideas, opinions, and thinking.
Have you ever thought about how you can ruin your life with the number of self-destructive behaviors you engage in daily?
Sure, some serious causes can lead you to ruin, but sometimes we just set our lives up for failure.
I want you to take a few minutes and think about all of the things that you do regularly that could be self-destructive. What I want you to do is to identify those behaviors, stop doing them, and find some way of replacing them with more productive actions.
The truth is that we all need to be aware of our self-destructive behaviors. Our irrational, egoistic, and sometimes completely unhealthy habits can creep up on us at any moment.
When we are not aware of these behaviors, they can consume us and ultimately ruin our lives.
The things I have listed below are things that I have seen and experienced first-hand. These often hidden behaviors can lead to ruin if they are not identified and changed.
With just a minor adjustment, any one of you can drastically improve your life without affecting the rest of your world in any significant way.
1. Very bad habit of procrastinating:
I have been procrastinating since I was a child. I’m not sure what procrastination is so easy to do, but it seems like one of the worst things you can do to yourself.
Whenever you put something off, you make it harder to do later on.
This is one of those habits that nobody ever taught me. No one ever sat me down and said, “Look, if you put things off now, they will only be harder to do later on.”
You can probably see that this isn’t a very effective way to live your life. Maybe you’ve been in the same boat before? If so, then keep reading.
Procrastination can ruin your life because it prevents you from having a break.
You always have something to do, never really get to relax, but most importantly, you never accomplish your goals.
When you put something off for two weeks, then two months, and then a year, what was once an easy task has become cumbersome.
If you don’t change something soon, that thing will be almost impossible to accomplish, and I guarantee it will be the one important thing to you.
What to do?
You need to learn to schedule things in your life.
If you keep putting off work because you’ll worry about it later, then what happens when you have a project due? What if something important needs to be done right away and you put it off, thinking that it can wait?
You will always be left wondering why all of the important things are never completed on time.
Procrastination doesn’t just lead to a job loss; it could leave you without friends, family, and most importantly, a sense of self-worth.
2. We are never happy with what we have:
I don’t know where this comes from, but it seems that most people spend their whole lives wishing for things they don’t have.
There is a certain sense of happiness that comes from your current situation in life, and when you are not satisfied with what you currently have or have accomplished, there is usually some deep regret in the back of your mind.
Where is this coming from? I don’t know.
Maybe it has something to do with being raised in a consumerist society that tells us that we always need to have bigger and better things. Perhaps we believe that life would be easier if only we had more money.
The next time you start to feel sorry for yourself and think of how much better things could be, I want you to stop and think about what exactly makes you unhappy.
You can change it; I promise it will be one of the best things you ever do.
What to do?
It would help if you stopped wishing for things you don’t have.
You must realize that some things are left untouched, and some are better off forgotten.
You can’t always control what you get or how much money you make, but you can always control what you do with your life.
Work harder, innovate and make more money if you want more money.
For example, If you have a car that is falling apart and want to get a new one, make sure that you save up enough money to afford it before buying it.
If your old car isn’t working out, sell it yourself rather than spend thousands more on buying a new one only to get rid of it in a few years.
Don’t measure happiness by how much stuff you have or how much money is in your bank account, but by who is around you and how good your life is.
3. Failing to make a goal list or set attainable goals:
I am the king of not having goals, and this has been one of the worst things to happen to me because it seems that every time I don’t have a goal, my life falls apart.
My biggest fear has always been a failure, so I have found myself in the habit of not setting any real, attainable goals and instead leaving my life up to fate.
A goal is something that you want to do before you die. A goal is a dream that will make your life worth living.
A goal is not something you take on because it’s kind of fun or something that you think you might want to do one day.
If your goals are not things that you would be willing to work hard for, then they probably aren’t goals at all.
A goal will positively change your life because it gives you something tangible to strive for.
What to do?
You need to make a goal list.
Yes, I know that you have a lot of things on your mind, so it might be difficult to think 30 steps ahead and plan for every contingency.
That’s OK. You can do it by going through your day and making a list for each of your 30 steps in the future today.
You need to have some idea of where you want to be and what you want to do. You need to have a plan.
4. A lack of gratitude and focus on the negative:
I have seen this widespread problem in many other people. It seems like almost everyone has something that they are constantly complaining about.
There are so many things that you can complain about, and it’s no wonder why they probably find themselves angry, depressed, and lacking happiness.
The best way to keep your focus on life is to manage your expectations and research different areas of interest before you start on a topic.
People often get so caught up in their own lives that they forget about the things they have and the people around them.
If you have a stressful job, focus on the good parts of your life when you are off duty.
What to do?
You need to spend a little time every day thinking about everything you are grateful for. You need to think about how lucky you are.
It’s human nature for us to take some of the things we have for granted, but if you think about it, there is almost always something in your life that you should be grateful for. There is ALWAYS something.
5. Failure to keep your word:
Sometimes you set a goal for yourself, but then you don’t follow through. This is because you didn’t really want to do it in the first place, so you just said that you would do it, and then you backed out when the time came.
This isn’t saying that you shouldn’t change your mind sometimes or that you should make promises that are too difficult to keep.
It’s just that you need to make sure that you are honest with yourself when you make a promise.
When you don’t do what you said you would, then it’ll be harder for other people.
What to do?
Make sure that you always keep your word before anyone else does. If someone asks you for something, then be honest with them and tell them what it is that they can expect from doing their part in helping you out.
6. Always worrying about what other people think:
Last but not least, it’s the habit of worrying too much about what other people think of us. I used to be very insecure about the way I looked and used to worry constantly about what other people thought of me.
The truth is that we don’t need to care what other people think. We don’t need to worry about their opinions of us. We only need to be concerned with our own opinion of ourselves and the way that we perform at work, school, or in our relationships.
If you have been putting off certain things because you are worried about what other people might think, then you really should make a decision as soon as possible because, at some point, it will no longer matter. At some point, your decisions will have consequences, and by then, it will be too late.
What to do?
Make a decision. Decide that you have had enough of worrying about what other people think of you and start focusing on yourself. If you are happy with your life, then decide whether or not this is the type of person that you want to be portrayed as.
Stop believing that everything you do is always being watched because you are on stage and everyone is watching your every move.
I think we all can be successful, and I don’t think that achieving anything really difficult is out of our reach, but it’s all up to you. You have the power to change if you just believe in yourself and make a decision to be happy.
I promise that if you make a decision, it will change your life for the better.
Well, this is a blog post based on opinion, not a piece of professional advice.
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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.
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