5 Habits You Need to Ditch in 2020

While 2020 isn’t over yet, it’s worth doing some self-reflection early so we can start 2021 strong.

Along with my inconsistency in leaving tracker sheets empty all month, I also have several other bad (like, really really bad) habits that I need to leave this year.

It’s hard to stick with the good habits or try to even build one when your bad habits outweigh them. Most likely you would be so caught up doing the same thing over and over again even though at this point you might be aware of those things that you do aren’t necessarily help you make your life improved.

“Be comfortable with being uncomfortable with negative habits.”― Edmond Mbiaka

In order to be uncomfortable with your bad habits, you need to write them down because unless you put it in a piece of paper you wouldn’t know how bad they have been affecting your life so far.

Here are the 5 top things of bad habits that you definitely need to leave this year so you can make room for positive self-improvement.

1. Putting too much value of others’ opinion about your life

I’m all for being open to feedback from others because I still think it’s crucial to help us grow especially when it comes to career-wise.

However, if you reach that point where you need to constantly ask other people whether what you are about to do is the right call or not show how much you trust yourself.

I did it a lot in my early 20s and honestly, I wish I listened to myself more and made my own decision based on what felt right at that moment. Because of it, there were many years in the learning process that I had to spend in order for me to be more confident and trust myself more in my own journey.

Not saying those opinions people gave you are all bad, especially when they are your close friends/family members, they might know you a lot better. But at the end of the day, it’s your life and nobody knows exactly what’s best for you.

And guess what? If you keep questioning your own decisions just because they don’t align with what other people suggested you, then you wouldn’t be able to take full responsibility for your own life.

You also tend to have less control over where your life should be going because you are waiting for other people’s validation.

What to do:

Next time when you are unsure about the decisions that you’re about to make and all you want to do is calling your friends, sit down and write down the pros and cons right away.

Analyze them carefully, take your time though. Sleep it out if needed. Lastly, trust yourself that you are gonna be okay and life will not be over even if things didn’t work out as you planned.

2. Connecting to social media 24/7

This might be the hardest thing to ditch. I get it. I myself encountered this problem more than I could count since I joined the social media.

However, being constantly on social media 24/7 makes you lose touch with reality. Unless your job required you to be online all the time then it’s necessary to take a break once a week at least or reduce your time on it.

As much as I like editing pictures and posting on Instagram, I’m also aware I’m not as productive as I would like to be when I stayed on it for too long.

I also noticed my mind would be filled with unnecessary thoughts and those are definitely things that I don’t want to spend my energy on.

What to do:

Look up some free social media detox planner on Pinterest that you can print out and use every day. Most of them will help you reduce your consumption time and track how much time you actually spent.

The result then can help you re-evaluate your activity and hopefully, you can make a conscious decision about cutting it off bit by bit.

3. Underestimating yourself

How many of us think we do not deserve this or that while in reality, we are so much capable of achieving and having them in our lives?

You might not be aware of the negative impacts but this is definitely one of the most highlighted habits that you need to ditch this year.

It’s true what people say that mindset plays a huge role if we want the best things in life — whatever your ‘best things’ definition is. Point is, it’s hard to get the things that we always dream about if we didn’t even believe that we deserve it.

I lost my job early February and I was so depressed for a couple of months because I thought I wouldn’t get any better jobs than that. It was my first job that I felt so proud of because after so many years I finally made it to move to another field which is digital marketing, something that I’ve been wanting to pursue so long.

But it’s gone and I wasn’t prepared at all. I even remember telling myself that I would have just moved back to my old field but at the same time, I could feel the unbearable pain on my chest of even thinking about it.

So after more than a month dwelling with the so-coward-thoughts, I finally forced myself to believe that something better out there is waiting for me. I just needed to prepare myself for it.

2 months later I signed a contract with a digital marketing tech company which let me dive in more into the field and made a lot more money than I was in the old job. If only I didn’t change my mindset about what I deserve in life, I don’t think I would be able to get it.

From that moment, I learn to never underestimate myself ever again.

What to do:

If you start doubting yourself to the point where you couldn't make any better decisions, then make a ritual where you’ll have a conversation with yourself.

I would say do it when you are all alone or go to the park nearby so you can focus fully. Even 15minutes a day will bring so much progress you wouldn’t believe the positive impacts it can bring you.

Ask questions such as; what’s holding you back, what’s your excuses and other negative thoughts that have been blocking your mindset from wanting something bigger and also challenge your limiting beliefs.

4. Not caring enough about your body

I’m most guilty of this and committed to doing exercise every day has always been challenging especially when life puts you in such a roller-coaster mode.

However, I still think taking care of our body is our number #1 priority, no matter how busy we are during the day. Abandoning it for a long time will cause you so much pain in the future, including the mental health impacts that you’ll encounter.

The negative impacts are also pretty obvious; lack of focus, tend to get sick easily, and affect our overall health in the long run.

By staying healthy we would be able to achieve and do more things in life. If you can’t commit to going to the gym every day, there are still lots of things that you can do in order to take care of your body.

What to do:

Either doing full workout sessions, going for a run, or even a small walk every day, make it your priority. You can also put it on your habit tracker to make it easier.

Don’t forget to reward yourself when you reached certain points or finished off a full month without skipping it. Eventually, if you do it long enough, it’s gonna feel strange if you don’t do it because your body has already gotten used to it.

5. Setting your expectations too high

This has also one of the things that I had to learn in a hard way and for that, I promise to leave this habit in 2020 and set my expectations right.

If you are a goal-getter like me then chances are it’s so easy to add more and more pressures into yourself without you even notice it. And before you knew it, you’ll get burnout.

Even if you are convinced that you have all the energy in the world to do all of the things you tell yourself to do, not everything you plan will go as you wanted them to be. It’s just how life is.

The problem is with more goals in our bucket list, there come higher expectations. It’s important to know how much we actually can take. Not saying that we underestimate what we are capable of, but the main purpose of setting the expectations right is to avoid burnout.

What to do:

I keep repeating this but writing down your thoughts has been one of the most helpful ways to keep you on track. This goes the same with setting your expectations right.

Before you decide how much you can take, you need to see the pattern that you are having.

Do you tend to write down too many goals and barely achieve any of them? Or do you try too hard to reach all of them because you’ve told yourself that that’s what you are supposed to do? But then ended up feeling so overwhelmed instead? then you need to start writing those feelings down.

By recognizing your own pattern you’ll have the level of confidence to set your expectations right in the future.

There are so many other bad habits that need to be left in 2020. However, I also want you to enjoy life fully.

There is only so much we can change in a year and setting too many goals in mind will only make us achieve less because it could get too overwhelming.

So only do one thing at a time and trust the process.

To wrap it out, I’ll leave you with this powerful quote right here:)

“Bad habits are demons that often push us into isolation because they know that in our loneliness they stand little chance of being overcome.” ― Richelle E. Goodrich

This story has originally appeared on Medium.