Bad Habits Aren’t Big

You can’t be around professionals for very long until you begin to see some of their bad habits. Often, their tendencies are small and seemingly innocuous. But collectively, those practices add up to a personal negative impact.

When asked about their “insignificant” ways, professionals are quick to discount them—no big deal, been doing it for a long time, doesn’t bother them, blah blah. Because they are small and normalized, they are unaware of the impact of those practices on their health and productivity.

Bad Habit Examples

We all have some bad habits and we would benefit by removing them. Here are some common ones. Do you have any of these?

You start your day without having planned it. If you begin planning your day when you wake up or on your way to work, you are already behind. Instead, set up the next day at the end of the day before. Make the necessary preparations so you have a good start.

You eat lunch at your desk while working. Apparently, the research doesn’t seem to matter to you. Your typical reason is that you don’t have time, so you stay put and suffer the consequences. Instead, get up and go to another room to eat. If you have to be in your office, at least sit in a different chair. And don’t get me started on your explanations for omitting lunch altogether. OMG. Don’t even go there.

You don’t pause between work segments. Going from one demanding task to another creates excessive cognitive load. Instead, take a moment to sit back, close your eyes and slow your breathing. Just a half of a minute. 30 seconds. No excuse or explanation about how busy you are will add up to 30 seconds. It’s just a habit that has immediate and long-term benefits.

You don’t clean your workspace. With all the viruses, bacteria and other nasties out there, make it a habit to wipe down your keyboard, phone, desk, and anything you touch frequently. Your health is fundamental to being your best. Buy a container of antiseptic wipes and put it beside your desk.

Make Bad Habits Better

The next time you are feeling drained, rather than blame it on your overwhelming workload, or deadlines, or difficult clients, or under-performing staff or whatever your favorite scapegoat is, first look in the mirror. Your crappy habits accelerate your stress in ways that you don’t know.

This week, identify one habit you have that isn’t helping you and do something different. How quickly can you adopt a new habit in its place?