Cut These Habits Out of Your Routine for a Better Personal Life

By guest writer Emma Grace Brown at emmagracebrown.com

Everyone strives to improve their personal lives, but it seems like only a few are truly able to make a permanent change. Unfortunately, many people are too busy focusing on the larger picture rather than the more relevant, everyday problems. Habits make up our daily routines, and our daily routines have a massive impact on the trajectory of our personal lives. If we can cut out the negative habits, we will be able to improve our circumstances gradually and effectively.

Stop moving without a clear direction.

Concrete and achievable goals are the cornerstone of any self-improvement plan. Without a tangible goal, you can’t expect to gain any traction in the direction of your dreams. At best, you’ll remain stagnant; at worst, you’ll begin to degrade. Studies into human behavior have proven the effectiveness of setting small goals and its impact on our psychology. Stop trying to improve yourself with random self-help tricks without having a clear direction. Start by settling on a defined goal and map out a strategy to achieve it. Make sure to set smaller goals en route to the larger ones.

Stop eating junk food.

There is a close connection between diet and self-esteem, and junk food can negatively impact your emotional health. Healthy foods are important for physical health as well. There’s a colony of microscopic organisms living in your body known as your gut microbiome. When you eat foods that increase healthy microbes, such as kefir, yogurt, aged cheese or fermented foods, your entire body—including the digestive system, immune system, and other functions—is in a healthy and stable balance. This is a great step towards a more holistic personal life.

Stop spending money right away.

It’s well known that money can’t buy happiness. However, it’s equally true that financial stability is an important component of leading a healthy and fulfilling life. If you have a tendency to spend money right when you get it, there’s a good chance that your personal life isn’t reaching its full potential. Furthermore, when you don’t save money, you make it impossible to change your circumstances. Change and self-improvement can happen without money, but some savings will put you light years ahead in terms of opportunity.

Stop giving up too easily.

Change is never easy, especially when it flies in the face of a routine you’ve settled into for the past several years. If you have a desire to improve your current situation, you’ve probably attempted to change in the past without much success. You need to realize that self-improvement isn’t about being perfect or never making mistakes. Instead, it’s a constant battle of doing the right thing. You will make mistakes; it’s an inevitable part of the process. To survive this constant struggle, you have to stop giving up too easily.

Stop overusing social media.

Social media has transformed the way that humans connect on a daily basis. While these sites have clearly impacted how people interact online, some people think that the negative aspects of social media are permeating into face-to-face interactions as well. There’s nothing wrong with spending a healthy amount of time on Facebook or Twitter for some fun, but there is a point of diminishing returns which should be avoided. Limiting your time on social media can ensure you continue developing healthy relationships in the real world.

Stop living a cluttered life.

Our homes are our refuge from the rest of the world. In addition to providing shelter, our homes function as an extension of us and our families. It’s where we eat, sleep and spend time together. When that extension is over cluttered and disorganized, it inhibits positive growth and can be just downright frustrating to live in. To build on your journey to remove negative habits and instill new ones, take the leap and clear the clutter and organize your entire home. Not only will this bring a fresh perspective, but it can also be a boon for ridding your living environment of negative energy. To ensure your house stays this way once you’ve made the effort to whip it into shape, employ hacks that make it easier to keep it up, and involve family members so everyone shares the burden.

Habits are the foundation of our personal lives. When we develop positive habits, our lives will inevitably improve. Our focus should always be on the smaller, achievable goals rather than the larger picture.

Photo Credit: Pixabay.com