It's hard to see major differences between people when we were young and still studying, but what comes after is a slow and growing separation and distinction. Some try to make a living and barely survive, some come from nothing but still make it big. So what are the habits that are holding you back from success?
1. Procrastination
Not willing to start the assignment given by your professor at the start of the term until the very last week? Always burning the midnight oil when completing a project that was given long ago? Even simpler things in life such as taking out the trash or doing the dishes are being pushed to "maybe later". If you don't get rid of procrastination, you will never improve be able to efficiently utilize your time.
2. Addiction to Entertainment
Don't get me wrong, entertainment is great, especially to relieve stress or lighten the mood, but if you are playing harder than you work, then it becomes a problem. Do that for a day, the effects might be too subtle; do that for a year, and you'll realize that, all in all, you're worse off than you started the year with.
3. Avoiding Social Interactions
Humans are social animals, and although excessive or low-quality social interactions might hurt more than help, some minimal and basic social interactions are still necessary. Socialization is a value exchange activity, where people exchange values and opinions, whether they are abstract thoughts or objective views. Only through socialization can you progressively learn and improve how to see the world and strive in it.
4. Inability to Control Emotions
They might not have taught this in school, but emotional intelligence is a crucial part of everyone's life. It determines many things, often times a person's success or failure. People who have lower emotional intelligence tend to bump heads with people around them, whether personally or professionally, causing many to dislike them and ruining their interpersonal relationships.
5. Aiming Too High
It's good to be ambitious and have goals, but it's best not to bite off more than you can chew. If you aim too high, you set yourself up to fall far. Besides, if the goal seems too unattainable, you might lose motivation when you fail. Therefore, it's much better to set smaller, achievable goals.
6. Poor Time Management
A person who constantly examines where their time is spent have the most time. All things aside, time is the fairest commodity on earth. Everyone has the same amount of time in a day, but the quality of life differs according to how you use it. On any normal day, if you go to work during the day and come back to just play games or stream drama, it might just be slowly ruining you.
7. Dependent On Luck
Those who are poor or prone to failure usually have an impetuous mentality. They look for shortcuts wherever they can and are very resistant when it comes to working hard and investing honestly. Compared to their own efforts, they look forward to a lucky break such as playing the lottery or gambling, and believe only in the gods of luck and fate.
8. Lacking Self Control
Contrary to popular believe, those with self-discipline have the most freedom. Self-discipline widens the gap between the successful and less successful. Those who have good self control often do things within a set time; while those who don't get distracted easily and held back by procrastination. Procrastination might be human nature, but allowing it to dominate our lives goes against our nature of wanting to be successful.
9. Not Improving Daily
Yesterday is a carbon copy of today, and that is a sad fact. In these competitive times, not getting up to speed might be the fall of us. According to the law of compounding, if you learn and improve yourself daily, you are said to be 37 times better after a year. On the other hand, if you don't, you start falling behind at a rate of 97% a year. Therefore, stick to daily self-improvement. You might not see the results in a day, but they add up through the year.
10. Diligence Without Direction
Some people seem to work very hard, whether it's camping in the library or working overtime until the wee hours of the next morning. But, if you look closer and see that they are scrolling on social media in the library, or just gossiping with their colleagues, then it's all just an act for nothing. This might be why they only work hard towards an exam or deadline. Those who seem to work hard without know why or how will end up failing and blaming others for their failure, complaining about why things doesn't seem to get any better even after "working so hard".
Good habits are priceless as they form your lifestyle and life choices. The next time you have time, think about where the rest of it went. Only by properly utilizing your time can you get the returns you seek. It's almost a new year, so perhaps it's time to set a new and achievable goal. Pick a bad habit, work hard towards changing it, then rinse and repeat until you've cleared the list!
