Habits that Impair Our Personal Growth

We don’t want to admit it, but we have habits that impair our personal growth.

Habits are a result of influences, training, observation, and practice. Much as we want to, we only desire habits that would promote personal growth. But unfortunately and sometimes unknowingly, we develop some habits that impair our personal growth.

To improve our personal growth, we must learn to keep good habits and command bad habits to take a hike and not come back. However, getting rid of bad habits is not easy. Though getting rid of bad habits is not easy, it is also not impossible especially if our motivation is to improve our personal growth.

One of the bad habits that must take a hike is making excuses. People wander through life making excuses. Anytime a person sees something complicated, they will often make excuses why they cannot deal with the issue. “This is just the way I am”, is a common statement we hear. We may have even uttered this sentence in the past a number of times.  But if you desire to improve your life, you need to say, “This is something that hinders me from my goal; I have the power to change it!” Stop making excuses about the circumstances around you; stop blaming people, your country or even your family.

One of the keys to stop making excuses is to know the truth and tell the truth. When you know the truth, tell the truth and are committed to following the truth, you can commit to learning new behaviors and habits. Knowing the truth will help you commit to choosing a new habit. The numbers prove it, you are overweight. Yet you put-off taking measures to get you back in shape by making excuses that other people are heavier than you. But if you know the truth and are convinced by the truth, you must commit to do something about that truth to improve our personal life. The habit of daily exercises even for a only a few minutes will make a huge change not only to your physical health but more importantly to your character.

Another common bad habit is judging – either judging others or yourself. Instead of judging other people or yourself, commit to correct what you think is wrong and do your part in helping to make our world a better place.  Nagging and anger will not get you anywhere. Stop judging but keep helping.

Are you a pessimist? “I can’t change this. My life is full of nonsense, I can’t swing it anymore. Why me?”  Let Joy (from the Inside Out movie) rule in your mind instead of Fear, Anger, and Disgust.  Instead of saying life is full of nonsense; accept it as truth yet move ahead to make your life better. Why me is a common question, which no one knows why, yet we have to accept it, make better decisions and move ahead.

If you feel persecuted, ask yourself what you are doing that makes you feel this way. Do you have friends or family members weighing you down? If so, kick their butt down the road and make new friends. You have the power to make changes; you have the power to change yourself but you do not have the power to change other people. Therefore, focus only on that or those which you can change.

Bad habits are harder to kick out than good habits. Thus, you need to take baby steps to success. Too many times people try to change overnight. This only leads to frustration and the tendency to give up. Baby steps will help you improve a little at a time and brings you closer to kicking those bad habits that impair your personal growth.

Ask a friend or a family member to be your accountability partner; someone who will remind you that you are going out of your path to kicking out a habit. The light nudge will help you get back on track and your accountability partner is your cheerer boosting your morale to move on and succeed.