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What Is Meant by a Bad Habit?

This is the first article in a 10-part series I’ll be doing on bad habits.

For the most part, a bad habit is something that you do repetitively, that you can stop doing when you really and truly decide to, and that society has deemed to be bad. Often it can break laws, customs or some moral code for society. Most people think that bad habits are something to be avoided because they can often affect your health and wellness.

There are different categories of bad habits. Let’s take a look at some of the most common ones.

Time-Wasting Habits

Not putting things where they go, not creating a home for everything you own, and not keeping your stuff organized can make you waste time. Wasting time can end up affecting your downtime because you still have to make time for work.

I’m guilty of this one a lot. I am a champion procrastinator at times. Having an organizational system in place can really help.

Setting time limits for certain tasks can also help. A Pomodoro timer can be extremely helpful with this. A Pomodoro timer sets time blocks for 25 minutes with a 5-minute break.

Some apps that I like are

FocusBooster (iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Web) free with in-app purchases

FocusKeeper (iOS only) $1.99 at time of writing

Pomello (Mac, Windows, Linux) FREE – This one combines your Trello boards AND the Pomodoro technique

Toggl (iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Web) FREE – chrome extension

Unhealthy Habits

If you have some unhealthy habits like eating unhealthy snacks every night, watching lots of TV instead of doing physical things, and avoiding going to the doctor on a regular basis, you can truly affect your health negatively.

Check out my post on healthy snacking for a few healthy snacking options.

If you can’t miss your favorite TV show, then try getting in some exercise while you watch. Here’s my post on 15 exercises to try at work for ideas you can try. Or click here for my workouts archive.

Lost Productivity Habits

If you don’t have a morning routine and you don’t have some sort of schedule for being productive, you will lose opportunities. These types of bad habits are really lack of good habits.

I always do better in life when I have a plan of attack. I find I am much more productive when I have a plan in place. If I have a free day and I don’t make a plan often I’ll find myself not having done much that day. Sometimes that can be necessary, but it can be harmful in the long term.

Having a good planner be it digital or physical always helps.

Here are a few of my favorites.

This is a link to my current favorite blogging planner from the Purple Teacup

Here is the planner that I use every day to keep track of my weekday activities

This undated planner that will last you 1 year. It also has a gratitude journal!

Habits That Harm Your Financial Health

If you’ve developed habits like gambling, these can ruin your financial health today and in the future. Overspending is often started by a bad habit of not minding your finances.

Overspending is a very common problem today. Keeping a budget can help to control overspending tendencies. You can find many different budget templates online for free. You don’t need anything fancy. I use a simple excel sheet for my budget. Only paying in cash for things is another way to help.

 

Habits That Impede Your Social Life

For some people, their bad habits can hurt their social life. If you have a bad habit of being late, not caring about others much, or doing behaviors that repel others, you may end up with no social life.

I hate being late. Growing up my father always made us late for things. It was frustrating. I promised myself that when I was an adult, I’d do what I could to never be late to things. Being late is a HUGE pet peeve for me.

 

Habits That Harm Others

Some people develop habits that don’t just harm themselves but others too. For example, if you have a smoking habit and you smoke around other people (especially kids), this is a very harmful habit.

Try to always be cognizant of any habits you may have that can be harmful to others. A little consideration can go a long way.

I smoked for a long time. In October I hit the 5-year mark. While I was a smoker, I always tried my best to be respectful of other people not wanting to be around someone who was smoking.

 

Habits That Ruin Relationships

Some people allow their habits to even ruin their relationships. Habits like being sloppy, unclean, and not thinking of others can ruin many relationships, especially if you’re late a lot or gossip too much.

Take care to be considerate of your partner and their thoughts and feelings. Communicate frequently with each other about ways to make sure that habits that can be changed don’t get in the way.

 

Gross Habits

Smoking and nail-biting come to mind when it comes to gross habits that people do. So does nose picking, picking your toes with your fingers, and other rude behavior that you should not do in public (and some not even in private).

If you do have these habits, you can stop them with a plan.

This is the second time I’m mentioning smoking but it fits in both categories. I smoked for a lot of years and I was able to kick the habit almost 5 and a half years ago by putting a plan in place BEFORE I attempted to quit that last time. I used this brand of the nicotine patch.

 

Hopefully, this information increases your understanding of what is meant by a bad habit. Bad habits are simply habits that are not good for you or anyone else around you – whether human, animal or the environment.

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