Let’s be real… we all have at least a few self-destructive habits we know aren’t doing us any favors. Maybe it’s doom-scrolling until 2 AM, saying yes to things we don’t actually want to do, or spending money on every Instagram story ad you see. Been there, done that, still trying to do better myself too guys. But…
The thing about self-sabotage is that it sneaks up on you. One minute, you’re just “taking a little break” from your responsibilities, and the next, you’ve procrastinated your entire to-do list and convinced yourself that you’ll “fix everything later.”
Spoiler alert: later rarely comes unless you make it happen.
So, if you’re ready to break the cycle and stop standing in your own way, this article is for you. Let’s talk about 15 self-destructive habits you need to shake because you deserve better, and it’s time to start acting like it my friends!!
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15 Self Destructive Habits You Need To Shake!
Habits that are actually destroying you:
Self destructive habit: Negative self talk
Would you ever talk to a friend the way you talk to yourself?
If your answer (like most of us!) is absolutely not! Never!
Talking negatively about yourself even just to yourself impacts your confidence, how you feel, and your mental state. So it’s time to start talking to yourself the way you talk to your loved ones.
Self destructive habit: Procrastination!
Guys you can’t be surprised to see this bad habit on the list.
Procrastination is something most of us struggle with to some level. But that doesn’t make it any less of a self destructive habit. When you are procrastinating you are holding yourself back and harming your future self. You aren’t setting yourself up to do your best work.
So do yourself the biggest favor you will ever do and learn how you can push through feelings of procrastination. I have a guide you can read about how to do so here: Pushing Past Procrastination: Stop Procrastinating Tips
Self destructive habit: Over committing
Saying yes to everything is one of those really sneaky habits but one that will quickly drain you.
Learning to say no sometimes can be life changing because you are probably exerting too much energy into things that not only don’t help you. But also chances are you are not the best person to be doing it if you are saying yes to any and everything!
Self destructive habit: Comparing yourself to everyone else
Thanks to social media, it’s easier than ever to fall into the comparison trap!
Constantly measuring your life against someone else’s highlight reel can leave you feeling inadequate which is not only inaccurate it’s also cruel.
This bad habit can easily sneak into our minds when we aren’t looking for it too. Making it a habit we all have to make a conscious effort to both spot and fix.
Self destructive habit: Mindless scrolling
So I might be a little hypocritical here because I haven’t shook this bad habit. But I do believe with my whole soul that mindless scrolling is one of the most detrimental things in our modern society.
We lose hours and hours to consuming more content than anyone should take in during a day. We get thrown news from all over the world at us, we get opinions shoved in our faces of people whose opinions we would never value in real life. And when we aren’t intentional about our social media time we really can hold back our personal growth and even more our mental health backwards.
Self destructive habit: multitasking
So if you are new here- hi I am Korra and my worst enemy is multitasking.
It’s something that we immediately correlate with productivity. However, it does the opposite in reality! When your brain is rapidly switching between tasks (aka what multitasking has to be) you are actually causing down time between in switch.
This means that instead of spending 20 minutes on one task and 20 on another if you just started and finished each by themselves. But multitasking involves so much switching time that your total will end up taking 45 minutes instead of 40.
And those 5 minutes add up when it happens over and over!
Self destructive habit: Unproductive screen time
I made sure to add the word unproductive because not all screen time is unproductive. There is screen time that you could be working on personal development and that is awesome!
But there is also a lot of unproductive screen time- i.e too much social media, games, 32 articles on the Bachelor, etc.
Self destructive habit: Indecisiveness
This is a huge and deep habit that probably needs an entire post (stay tuned for that! subscribe to my emails if you haven’t!). But in a nutshell indecisiveness can hold you back in so many ways. It takes up time to debate different decisions but it also wears you out mentally. Decision fatigue is REAL and it’s a huge problem for a lot of people!
Learning to be decisive is not easy at all but anything you can do to move towards being more decisive will help you achieve your goals in the long run.
Self destructive habit: Avoiding Change
Staying in your comfort zone might feel safe, but it also keeps you stuck!
If you avoid taking risks, whether in relationships, careers, or personal growth, you’ll never experience real progress.
Feeling inspired to get out of your comfort zone? Then check this out next: How To Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone.
Self destructive habit: Overthinking Every Little Thing
Replaying conversations in your head, second-guessing decisions, and spiraling into “what if” scenarios? It’s exhausting. Overthinking steals your time, energy, and peace of mind guys!
I find the best way to overcome this self destructive habit is this-
When you find yourself thinking about a certain situation or problem non-stop you ask yourself this question: “can I do anything to fix or change it?” and chances are the answer is no and you are worrying about something that is out of your control!
Self destructive habit: Letting Toxic People Stay in Your Life
If someone is draining your energy, constantly negative, or making you feel bad about yourself, why are they still in your life? Cutting ties with toxic people is an act of self-respect, not selfishness!!
Self destructive habit: Falling for distractions
Distractions are all around us and with all of the technology available to us it’s becoming increasingly easy to get distracted.
Phones and TV aren’t the only distractions (though they are some big ones). Chatting with a coworker for 45 minutes or noticing that the dishes need done and deciding to do them and not finish the task you were working on are also distractions.
And the solution is easy thankfully- start by making a conscious decision to finish each task you start without switching to another task. I have a whole guide on minimizing distractions and working through the temptations of distractions.
Self destructive habit: Numbing Your Feelings
Numbing instead of addressing feelings is one of the quickest ways to destroy yourself.
Avoiding emotions with food, alcohol, binge-watching, or mindless scrolling might help temporarily, but in the long run, it just delays dealing with what’s really wrong.
Self destructive habit: Reckless spending
Retail therapy is fun until you check your bank balance and realize you spent $300 on things you don’t even need. Money stress is real, and avoiding financial responsibility makes it worse.
So don’t put yourself in the awful situation of of regretting financial recklessness and start working on being a financially smarter version of yourself!
Korra-Shay
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