Categories: Success

27 Simple Habits to Give Up If You Want to Succeed

There are a lot of habits that you should learn and adopt in order to be successful. In the same time, it is equally important to let go of the bad habits that you have.

Just like a sponge, you need to squeeze it and get the water out of it so that it can soak up the new water.

And this is exactly what you need to do here. Give up on your bad habits and you will move to a higher gear to success…

1. Watch Too Much TV

If you spend too much time on the TV, guess what will you achieve in your life? Nothing much. When you spend too much time watching TV, you are watching how people live their lives, not yours.

All you do is sitting on your couch and not moving much. Of course, there are good programs and some are worth to watch, but don’t overspend your time looking at the ‘box’.

Suggestion about what to do: spend a maximum of only 1 hour to watch TV a day. Better yet, stop watching how people live their lives, get on and make your life meaningful and exciting.

2. Keep starting and not finishing

Do you always start a new project or task but never get it done? It is said that better to have a fully completed project than to have 10 half done on your hand.

Aim at getting things done than keep starting a new goal, or a target or add items into your to-do list. If you can’t even finish 5 tasks in a day, why keep adding when you need to focus in getting those tasks done?

Suggestion about what to do: Adopt the “finisher” mindset. Stop adding new things to do or adding new targets until you get your important things done.

3. Having too much of sleep

I’m not a fan for 50 Cent, the rap singer. During an interview with him, the reporter asked 50 Cent when he sleeps, to the amazement of the reporter, 50 Cent answered:

“Sleep, sleep is for those people who are broke. I don’t sleep; I might miss the opportunity to make a dream become a reality.”

I’m not saying that you can’t sleep if you want to be successful. I’m saying that you need to rethink your sleeping time as most successful people out there sleep a lot lesser than most people who are doing just ordinary.

This quote sums it best, “Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.”

Suggestion about what to do: Cut down your sleeping time and use those time for productive activities.

4. Skipping meals

When you’re hungry, you will know because your stomach sends you the signal tell you that you are hungry. So what happen if you ignore the signal? Well, what would happen if you did not give signal when you make a turn while driving?

Accident might happen. The same goes with your body. When you are hungry, your body tells you that you should grab something to eat. And if you ignore the message, ‘accident’ might happen.

Never skip your meal if you want to have a healthy body. The food you consume will give you the energy to go further. Just grab something to eat even when you are busy.

Suggestion about what to do: Never skip a meal. Eat things like biscuit or energy bar when you don’t have the time or when it’s not convenient.

5. Spending too much for unnecessary items

Will Smith once said, “We spend money that we do not have, on things we do not need, to impress people who do not care.”

So stop spending on unnecessary items. I’ve seen people buy clothes and they never wear them. I’ve seen people buy magazines but they never read through the first page.

Don’t over spend on things that are not what you really want. Use your money wisely. Spend lavishly only when you have the money and when you reward yourself.

Suggestion about what to do: Think twice before you buy.

6. Multitasking too much

What? Multitasking isn’t good? Yes, you read that right. We should focus and do only one thing at a time rather than multitask and do many things at the same time.

Our brain can only handle one thing at a time, especially on tasks that require a lot of your attention. Focus is the real key to productivity, not multitasking.

Read this book, The One Thing from Gary Keller and you will understand the principle behind.

Suggestion about what to do: You can’t chase 2 rabbits at the same time, else you will lose both. Put in 100% concentration and focus in getting your most important thing done without multitasking.

7. Not exercising

Alright, I know you’re busy and I know you don’t have the time. I’m not asking you to spend hours to workout. You just need to have at least 15 to 30 minutes of your previous time to do this.

Do some stretching, workout and stretch your muscles for a minimum of 15 minutes each day. There are just way too many benefits of exercising and sweating.

If you can’t even spend 15 minutes for this, make this your priority. Exercise is one of the top keys to peak performance.

Suggestion about what to do: Every morning before you start your day, workout and exercise.

8. Not trying new things often enough

When is the last time you try out the new restaurant? When is the last time when you use a different route to travel? To live a charged life, you need to inject newness into your life.

Life is full of adventure and you need to expand your horizon to experience new things. Go to a shop you never been to. Visit a country you never been before. Try food that you never seen before.

Suggestion about what to do: Do something new at least once a week. If you never read a comic before, try it. If you never try sushi before, it’s your chance this weekend.

9. Getting distracted most of the time

Some people fall into this trap quite often. They don’t know how to reject others’ invitation. Remember, the most important person to you is you. So you absolutely have the right to be selfish and focus in doing your stuff.

When you are working on your goals, stop letting others distract you and tell them that you are not free at that moment.

Suggestion about what to do: Learn what is important to you and what is urgent to you. Urgent stuff may not be important and important things may not be urgent. Work on the important things and you will have a productive life.

10. Not adopting the habit of reading

I just love to give this example… Imagine if you read 2 books related to your industry each month. Within 3 years, you will have read 72 books. Do you think this is going to make a huge impact with your life? You better believe it will.

Most people never read a book after they graduate. And if you can make reading a habit, you will be able to stay one step ahead of most people.

Suggestion about what to do: Spend at least 30 minutes to an hour to read good books each day. Make it your habit to do so.

11. Always limit yourself

Don’t set limit on yourself. When you want to do something, observe your thoughts. If your thoughts are not supporting you, probably you have a limiting thought.

When you want to have a getaway holiday somewhere, what thoughts come to you? You don’t have the budget? You don’t have the time? You can’t go alone? Your boss won’t approve your leave?

Some thoughts will limit you, get rid of them. Tell yourself that you have unlimited potential and you allow yourself to be powerful.

Suggestion about what to do: Observe your thoughts. Get rid of those that limit you. It is alright to try something and fail. Just learn from it.

12. Not investing your money

Some people just don’t like to talk about money, but I love to talk about money so much. It is said that where your focus goes, energy flows. Thus if you are not talking about your money, guess what, probably you don’t have much.

Well, regardless of how much money you have right now, you just need to learn how to invest it. If you’re no good in investing, commit to learn. Look at money as a tool than as something evil.

You can use money to do something good or you can use it to do something evil. It has nothing to do with the money, but it has everything to do with that person. So learn to invest your money.

Suggestion about what to do: Learn to invest your money. Commit to invest at least 10% of your income to grow more.

13. Living life too serious and not having enough fun

You don’t have to be too rigid. Sometimes things will just go not according to your plan. You just need to accept the situation and believe that God has a plan for all of us.

When you are too serious, it will be too difficult to change. It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.

So learn to be flexible and have fun along the journey.

Suggestion about what to do: Smile, laugh and enjoy life more often. It is alright to fail and to make mistake. You just need to learn from them.

14. Go through your day without planning

What happen if you go through your day without planning? You will be in the reactive mood all the time. When you don’t have a plan, your plan is to wait for things to happen and then you react.

Productive people always have a plan with them. They know what they need to get done for the day. If you don’t have a plan, you will fall into other people’s plan.

Suggestion about what to do: Write down your to-do list the night before or plan it the first thing in the morning.

15. Wasting too much time online

Are you wasting too much time checking updates from Facebook and watching unnecessary YouTube videos too often? These activities are not going to do you any good unless they part of your goal.

Spend more of your time into quality activities such as calling and talking to your parents, reading, reviewing your goals than swiping your phone or iPad all the time.

Suggestion about what to do: Cut down the time you spend online for unproductive activities and utilize the time for more productive work.

16. Additive to overwhelming gaming

How often do you see people nowadays are addicted to playing games with their phone or tablet? It is true that technology has brought us the convenience and eases our workload, but if we did not make good use of it, it will actually distract us.

There is a survey saying that in 2015, jaws killed 8 people. At the same time, people get involved with accidents while playing with their phones and died, there are 13 of them.

Seems like playing phones kill more than jaws. Again, I’m not saying that you should stop playing games altogether. I’m saying that you should restrict the time you spend with your phone. Don’t let it replace your life.

Suggestion about what to do: Restrict your time playing with your phone. If need to, spend at most 1 hour for games a day.

17. Always late

Are you always late for appointments or any event? If so, you should seriously look into this. When you’re late for appointment, it simply shows that you don’t have a good planning for it.

Yes you may get stuck in the jam, but if the appointment is important enough, you will actually take the congestion time into consideration.

Make it a commitment from today on that you will never be late for any appointment or function. It will impress people and boost your credibility.

Suggestion about what to do: Adjust your phone’s time or your watch to at least 5 minutes faster. Commit and never let lateness be your excuse.

18. Not spending time in solitude

Albert Einstein said that imagination is more important than education. When you spend time in solitude and alone, you let your imagination run wild. In fact, your imagination is the idea for your dreams.

We imagine and dream about things all the time. Some people imagine and dream about being a pilot. Some people imagine owning a private jet, some people dream of building a successful business.

So what is your dream? If you can imagine it, you can accomplish it. When your imagination is strong enough, it will force you into taking action. And that’s when you make your dreams become a reality.

Suggestion about what to do: Spend time in solitude and practice meditation. Use a few minutes each day to do this.

19. Doubt your own potential

Making mistakes and fail to achieve your goals within the time frame you set are not the biggest defeat in life. The biggest defeat is to doubt your own potential.

You have to believe that you are powerful beyond measure and you have the ability to accomplish whatever you want in your life.

Suggestion about what to do: Use affirmations to boost your confidence level. When you have the confidence, nothing can stop you.

20. Thinking too much on the wrong thing

What do you think about most of the time? Do you know that successful people think about their dream and achieving it all the time? On the other hand, ordinary people will spend most of their time thinking about what to eat, what movie to watch, where to go and what to do.

You become who you think about most of the time. Jack Ma of Alibaba says he thinks about his business almost every waking hour. You have to think about success if you want to be successful.

Suggestion about what to do: Think about what you want most of the time. Write down your goals, read them, remind yourself about them and take action on them.

21. Not spending time with friends and family

Your family is part of your life. You can never be truly successful without your family. And do you know that taking care of your family and connect with them is as good as taking responsibility?

In Chinese, there’s a proverb that says, “Build family and then build your career”. Family always come first. When you have a great family, you will build a great career.

As for friends, you will want to mix with those that are positive and are supporting. If you want fly like the eagle, don’t swim with the ducks.

Suggestion about what to do: Spend more time with your family members. Enjoy the time together. Go for holidays and travel together. And mix with friends that will encourage you to achieve your dreams.

22. Letting your past stops you

It’s a brand new year and it’s a brand new day. You don’t have to spend time thinking how sad or regret about your past. You cannot change what has happened, but you can definitely focus and create the future you want.

A lot of people are getting chained by their past. They invested in the stock market and got burned. And they never ever dare to talk about investing in the stock market anymore.

Some people think that their math is bad because they fail to score A in school. But that does not mean that they can’t excel in the future. Now listen up, your past does not equal the future.

If you are broke now it doesn’t mean that you will be broke forever. If you failed in your business now it doesn’t mean that you can never build a successful business. You define your own future.

Suggestion about what to do: Understand that your past is not your future. You can become successful and become rich, as long as you decide and commit for it.

23. Blaming, complaining and giving excuses

Blaming, complaining and giving excuses won’t get you anywhere. There’s no point to blame things or complain because it won’t change anything. It’s better to focus on the solution than to think about whom to blame or complain.

Learn to take full responsibility for things that happen in your life. Even though that sometimes thing may not seem to be directly related to you, but the point that you are involved with the event simply means that you are part of the cause.

When you understand and take full responsibility, you will have the control of your life.

Suggestion about what to do: Learn to take responsibility. For all the bad things that happen, focus on the solution and don’t think about the problem.

24. Too comfortable with current situation

When you’re too comfortable, you won’t grow. And if you’re not growing, you will become obsolete. This is especially true in the business world.

Look at the big names such as Nokia or any other local malls. These businesses innovate a little slower than the competitor and they become obsolete.

Comfort kills. You must not let this happen to you. Dare to change. It may seem ugly in the beginning, but the end will be beautiful.

Suggestion about what to do: Constantly learning, improving and changing when need to. Remember, if you’re not growing, you’re dying.

25. Never manage your own finances

The easiest way to become rich is to manage your finances. You need to know how much money to put into your saving account, investment account, long-term saving account, etc.

For example, here’s the money management system suggested by Harv Eker, the author of Secrets of The Millionaire Mind

Financial Freedom Account (FFA) = 10%
Long Term Savings For Spending (LTSS) = 10%
Education (EDUC) = 10%
Necessities (NEC) =55%
Play = 10%
Give/donation = 5%

You don’t have to follow through exactly, but I would strongly recommend you to apply this system if you’re not good with managing your money.

Suggestion about what to do: Even for just $1, you will make it a habit to manage it. Start with whatever amount you have. Create a system and follow through it, strictly.

26. Holding grudges

Like I mentioned above, everyday is a brand new day and you don’t have to let your past to decide who you are or what you can accomplish. Your past doesn’t mean anything except that they are history.

So look forward and don’t hold grudges. Whoever hurt you before, forgive them and let go of that resentment feeling.

I know it is not easy sometimes, but if you want to move forward, you need to learn how to let go.

Suggestion about what to do: Learn to let your grudges go. Forgive and forget.

27. Not living in the present

Too many times, we don’t enjoy living in the moment and we don’t enjoy what is happening right at this moment. If you are stuck in the jam, enjoy the ride since you’re on it.

When it is raining, learn to dance in the rain. If problems occur, feel great that you got the chance to test yourself and learn to solve them.

Dream about your future, but work on today. Whatever you do at this moment will determine your future. So learn to live at this moment.

When you’re reading this article, enjoy it and feel good about it. Not only when you’re reading this article, you should enjoy every moment you have with you.

Suggestion about what to do: Observe your thoughts and enjoy your current moment. You can’t change your past and you can’t make your dream a reality unless you work on the now.

Shawn Lim

Shawn is a passionate coach who empowers individuals to achieve their goals and reach new heights of success. With his experience in the personal development industry, Shawn has guided countless people towards fulfilling their potential and achieving outstanding results in life.

View Comments

Recent Posts

Humor as a Motivational Tool for Positive Psychology: Harnessing Laughter for Well-being

Let’s take a fun journey into the world of humor and discover how it keeps…

7 days ago

How to Write a Powerful Resume for Hospitality Industry? 6 Dos and Don’ts

The hospitality industry offers a wealth of job opportunities that can be both satisfying and…

1 week ago

5 Creative Mindsets to Boost Your Fashion Designs

Your mindset profoundly shapes your art and creativity, especially in dynamic fields like fashion design.…

2 months ago

10 Effective Action Plan Templates You Can Use Now

Having a clear and exciting dream for the future is important, but what is equally…

2 months ago

10 Powerful Tips to Keep Romance Alive and Strengthen Your Relationship

How to keep relationship alive? Keeping the romance alive in a relationship can be challenging,…

3 months ago

100 Powerful Jordan Peterson Quotes To Change Your Life

Jordan B. Peterson is a renowned  Canadian clinical psychologist and professor of psychology, He shares…

4 months ago

This website uses cookies.