5 Bad Habits You Can Use to Your Advantage and Succeed

Do what makes you feel most alive.

Don’t hide your baby monsters under the carpet.

They’ll find a way to come out, grab you by your wrist and tell you they’re unstoppable.

By reading the book 12 rules of life by Jordan Peterson, I realized we all have tiny little demons inside of us named: “Bad Habits.” Prior to the discovery of Science, nobody knew which habits to keep and kick.

And, of course, our gut feeling interfered too.

Habits are thin fibers making up threads as a whole. A bad habit goes all the way beyond the thread and unfastens your good ones too.

For some people, bad habits are unique stuff. Clearly, bad habits serve no good unless you can curve them and use them to your benefit.

According to Celestine Chua — Founder of Personal Excellence:

We can now use plenty of disregarded habits in our favor. Since we’ve come a long way sticking to good habits, some of us are still guilty of having bad ones.

You may not speak, but a tiny portion of your heart is happily reading this article. Don’t worry. Below, you’ll find some great bad habits that you can continue using if you have them. Also, you might want to pick some chunky habits to add some (flavor) to your lives.

1. Double-checking

Putting it on #1 as it mirrors many of us.

So how many of you (raise your hands) are guilty of double-checking and even triple-checking things? This struggle never ends!

Later, when you were unpacking your things — you suddenly realized you had forgotten something. The shame never lets you sleep. Happens to me often.

Thanks to Science, double-checking is now an acceptable pattern. A focus group study by biomedical claimed that Nurses’ Preferences for Single or Double Checking of Drug Administration improved patients’ safety.

Smart people use double-checking formulas all the time also because double-checking has minor setbacks compared to advantages.

How to improve?

Think this way: you’re doing an exam and double-checked your answers. The time is up, and the teacher takes away your paper. You’re not even sure if you made silly errors.

You lose everything…

However, double-checking repeatedly and making it part of your personality is not ideal. It will then become a harsh habit, fogging your memory.

Once or twice (1–2), before traveling, submitting work, or doing an important task, you can take help from double-checking.

It’s better to check but not indulge yourself in self-doubt.

Love and trust yourself.

2. Being messy

• A cleanroom is a sign of an organized person.
• A messy room is a sign of a creative person.

Yes! According to a recent study by Kathleen Vohs, being messy boosts creativity. Despite being a tough verdict, we all accept that messy people are egghead sensible.

Lazy and messy people put so much thought into one thing that they ultimately find a *shortcut* for it. The work we do in 3 hours takes half-hour for a messy person to do it.

I live with my messy friend, and she’s not a hopeless creature. She simply feels organizing is not her piece of cake. Fact.

We all have that one person in our lives that’s both messy and useless. Now you know why they’re like this, as they’re too messy to listen to your self-improvement chitchats.

How to improve?

Being around messy people is no harm.

You might continuously pinpoint them to improve — but they won’t. This way, you’re simply wasting your energy on something that will never happen.

Instead, I sit alongside her, talk to her about many things, and let her mind wander in every direction. According to www.independent.co.uk, messy people are intelligent and find shortcuts easily,

FSblog also believes messy people think 1000 times before they make a move. Lucky them!

3. Curb the cravings

Our cravings drive, and we don’t know how to stop.

They climb above our heads, making us mad, pointing sticky fingers at every piece of food they see.

It happens. Interestingly, Science suggests that when we throw our cravings away, we ultimately get into a fight with our brain, making us unhappy and tired. But according to dietitian Meg Salvia, snacking between meals can help manage and prevent hunger.

This means you can now satisfy your appetite and eat healthy too. This will also help you maintain your weight if you keep your cravings in inactivity.

How to improve?

Also…

Cravings help to melt away anxiety from our bodies. If you’re depressed, have a brownie, and you’ll feel better.

Satisfying your cravings is also linked to having the guilt of keeping your body in shape. Since your mind knows you’ve eaten the promised cupcake, you can now (focus on shedding) it.

Meg Salvia recommends picking great snacks: like fruits and nuts paired with peanut butter to balance it.

This way, you can turn the bad craving habit into a good one.

4. Resting often

Not following a strict schedule gets us in a: turmoil loop.

Rather than wasting our time, we are all advised to work hard and hard, but until WHEN? It’s hard to train our brains to rest.

You continuously grind the beef in your brain, and then there’s no room left for a nap doze. Don’t do that.

Evidence from the American College of Cardiology suggests that people who took naps and rest often experienced a dip in blood pressure while those who preferred to de-snooze their afternoon.

Resting during daylight hours also improves A) mood and B) sex desires.

How to improve?

Since most of us work 9–5, finding short intervals to sit in a quiet place and close your eyes can do the trick.

Finding a moment to feed yourself with rest isn’t that hard. Rest assured that you will ultimately go home, and the day doesn’t end before 8 pm.

Taking naps is good for increasing productivity.

If you do and are criticized a lot, then take a look at people who don’t. You will immediately spot the difference.

5. Daydreaming

“Zoning out” and “out in space” are a few compliments everyone has received.

But hear me out: Daydreaming, night dreaming, any kind of dreaming is healthy. Whatever you’re thinking might never happen, but it prepares you for the worst.

Yet, the University of British Columbia has found that daydreaming is often considered thinking. But unless it toys with your mind, daydreaming can actually help solve your problems.

The study found that when participants minds wandered, the parts of their brain associated with problem-solving became more active than when focused on routine tasks.

How to improve?

In the past, being a daydreamer was not at all liked.

But since we all know it helps A) problem-solving, B) daydreaming takes the same credit as journaling does. So if you don’t have time to journal or write your ideas down, simply *wander* when you’re bored.

Your gaze will catch the problematic points and help you find the solution.

Try it now!

Bottom line

Habits don’t change or build overnight.

It’s a process that takes 18–254 days. Possibly, you might get stuck between which habits to choose and which to let go of. This story has provided you with cues to pluck your habits correctly.

Remember:

A quitter never wins, and a winner never quits — Napolean Hill.