5 Bad Habits to Break This Year

Yes! It’s a whole new year, now it’s time to become a whole new you, right? Whether you started before now or today’s your first day toward a whole new you, I’m just glad you started!

I know you are itching to break some habits you’ve perhaps picked up over the last 1, 4, 10, 20 years. We all pick up something bad – we’re not perfect. And the longer we have the bad habit, the longer it can take for us to drop it.

But, don’t worry it can happen. Patience is the key.

Maybe you can relate to these and maybe you have a whole new list you want to work on, but you can use these to jumpstart your transformation. Here are at least 5 bad habits to break this year:

1. Negative thoughts

I think this one gets to all of us. We are our own worse enemy. We get inside our own head and talk ourselves out of something good for us (or talk ourselves into something bad for us).

Negative thoughts can affect our self image, our behavior, and our relationships with others, including our spouse and children. What you need to realize is that you ARE worth it and you CAN do it. Who cares if no one else thinks so? Stop. Think. And do something about it to finally turn your negative thoughts into positive ones.

2. Prejudging

Do you prejudge? I know I do. I have to catch myself sometimes.

We may look at a task, or even an individual and decide what the outcome or interaction with that person will be before we even give it (or them) a chance.

I know with so much bad news going on in the world it’s so easy to shut out others and different ideas. Learn to approach situations independently of each other, while still using your instincts and wisdom. It may sound difficult to do, but with practice it’ll come easier. This is personally a work in progress for me.

3. Bad relationships

When I speak of bad relationships, it’s in relation to people and food.

You know those people that do nothing but keep you down. They don’t do anything but complain, they’re never happy, and they perhaps talk down to everyone around them. You’ve known them since grade school and can’t seem to shake them because…you’ve known them since grade school. But guess what? They could be holding you back.

And bad food relationships can be just as damaging as a bad relationship with people.

The next time you come into contact with that person or that food where your relationship is questionable ask yourself the following:

Does this food/person mostly make me feel good or bad? Meaning, do you have more good days than bad days when around this person or when you have eaten the food in question? In other words is this person or food better for me in moderation?

4. Being sedentary

This is it right? You’re going to start exercising? Exercise has so many benefits, but you also want to choose the right one for you. How do you do that?

Make two columns. In one column list activities you absolutely LOVE to do. Then, in the other column list activities that you think you’d like to do, but haven’t tried. Go through each list  and challenge yourself to do one activity you LOVE to do at least twice a week. Then, at least once a week challenge yourself to do one activity that you want to try.

See how many things you can try that you can place on your LOVE to do side. Have fun with it! Recruit a friend or two if you need to – exercise is always better with friends! And you never know what will turn into your favorite activity – then exercise won’t be so bad.

5. Procrastination

Do you procrastinate like me?

Oh boy – I’ve always seemed to work better under pressure. In college I remember having a paper due for class. I would be given the assignment three weeks in advance but let a week and a half go by before even starting it. Then BAM! My ideas just flowed onto the paper. I still sort of work like that today. For some reason it’s like my brain has a reason to suddenly kick into high gear.

To avoid doing that for everything and driving yourself crazy, use checklists, to-do lists, calendars, reminders, whatever works for you. Working on things little by little each day also helps. You have to force yourself to do it sometimes, but in the end it’s worth it when you don’t have a million things that all need to get done at once.

What’s one bad habit you will try to break this year?