Reach Your Goals By Eliminating These Bad Habits

No bad habit is insurmountable. Your goals are always within reach.

What do you want to do?

Write a book? Get in shape? Learn an instrument? Get a promotion at work?

Setting goals is great. I’ve always felt we should always be reaching for something. That’s how we grow.

The trick is when we fall into habits that lead to self-sabotage, and we end up giving up on our goals before giving them a real chance.

Most of the bad habits that get in the way of you achieving what you want are pretty simple to overcome. It takes some effort. It takes some will.

But you can overcome self-sabotaging habits. Of that, I have no doubt.

Let’s look at some of the most common bad habits getting between you and your goals so you can wipe them out one by one.

Saddling yourself with self-doubt

Stop that.

So very tempted to end this section here.

In short, you’ve got more talent than you think. And you have more agency than you think. Whatever your specific goals might be, you’re likely in a better position to achieve them than you believe.

A lot of times, our self-doubt comes from how others treat us. Try to shed those people and shed those attitudes. Start off knowing you can reach your goals, and you’re halfway there.

Pep talk over. Let’s move on to the rest.

Waiting for ‘the right time’

If you wait for conditions to be perfect, you’ll never get off the ground. If you want to reach your goals, there are times when you’re just going to have to take a chance and dive right in.

Looking to start a small publishing imprint but think you need to know everything about distribution or marketing beforehand? Think you can’t become an artist until you have the “right” art supplies? Think you can’t start a blog until you’ve researched every possible platform?

Are these reasons or excuses?

Remember what I said about self-doubt. That may be related to what’s happening here.

Put faith in yourself that you can learn along the way. And that, over time, you’ll amass the best resources for your specific needs. Remember, you can always change, revise, and improve.

But if you wait until everything is “perfect,” you won’t get underway at all.

Comparing yourself to others

This can be a tough one — especially in the era of social media.

I experience the anxiety associated with comparing myself to others all the frickin’ time. The other artists, writers, and freelancers on Instagram are all so much more talented than I am. They’re so much more successful.

Are they?

Or are they putting their best face forward and not showing you all the crap they’ve produced?

Think about it. Do you show off your lousy work online or your best work? Do you share your failures as much as you share your successes?

You share your successes. Everyone does. It’s perfectly natural.

But if you’re feeling any self-doubt, you become a bit more vulnerable to that when you succumb to the temptation of comparing your progress with someone else.

Try, instead, to focus on your progress and successes, not someone else’s. It’s a bit world. A huge world. Someone else’s success does not take away from yours.

There’s room for everyone to succeed.

Ignoring your mental health.

I had a pretty bad period of depression last year. I made it worse by ignoring it. I threw myself into my work, and then when work overwhelmed me, I threw myself into distractions.

I ended up a bit of a mess.

Hey, it happens. If you’re a creative type, it happens quite a bit, from what I understand. It might be depression. It might be substance abuse. It might be something else.

Whatever your baggage, there exist a multitude of options for dealing with mental health issues. I found therapy. Others find it’s a medical issue and get help via that path. For some, twelve-step programs are a lot of help.

Everyone’s needs are different.

But what universally doesn’t help is ignoring it. Trust me on this one.

If you’re concerned you may not be at your best — or even acceptably functional — get some help. You may find it through a professional. You may find it through talking with a good and trustworthy friend.

Take care of your mental health in the way that best suits your needs, but whatever you do, don’t ignore it.

We need you.

Chronic procrastination

This is a sneaky one.

Putting something off always seems so reasonable:

There’s something more important to do.

Wouldn’t it be better to do this late along with a bunch of other similar tasks? Maybe after I finish binging this season of [insert hot new Netflix series here].

Here you have to make some decisions. Is it a short task you’re putting off? Take a deep breath. Count to five slowly. Before you reach five, get the task started. You’ll be done before you know it.

Is it a more extensive task? Could you at least break it up into small, more digestible tasks? Or should you ask yourself now… what is more important? Your goal or this distraction or weak rationale for putting off your plan?

This is put up or shut up time. Procrastination has a tendency to build over time. Put off one thing, then another, and before you know it, you’re facing a massive mound of incomplete actions and a goal that seems to grow further and further away.

Best not to let things get out of hand.

Goals achieved!

Setting a goal is easy. Achieving a goal can be hard. Self-destructive or self-sabotaging habits are really the only things standing in your way. I have no doubt you have the ability to achieve your goals, and I have no doubt you have the will.

The trick is, can you get past the bad habits that get in the way?

You can. It may take some work. It may take a few tries, but I’ve no doubt you can beat bad habits.

And then… goals achieved!

Thank you for reading. I’d love to share more with you via my Bi-Weekly Word Roundup newsletter sent to subscribers every other Sunday. It will feature news, productivity tips, life hacks, and links to top stories making the rounds on the Internet. You can unsubscribe at any time.