20 Habits To Quit This Year
Makes a resolution to quit these 20 habits for a happy life this year
1. Using Your Phone While Eating
Make your eating time a ‘no screentime’. Similarly, make your dining table a ‘no-screen zone’. Instead of looking at your phone, feel the sensation of your food i.e. the taste and smell of your food.
Put the phones away and enjoy conversing with your family members.
2. Not Spending Time in Nature
Challenge yourself to go on a walk every day. Do this without music. Observe, feel, smell, and simply be in Nature for this time.
Go to a park, lie in the sun and take a nap. Watch a sunrise or sunset. Sit outside and watch the clouds go by.
3. Watching Too Much Television
Time to kill your television. Television makes you dumb, and books make you smart.
Move your television out of your bedroom. Cancel your Netflix subscription.
4. Oversleeping and Undersleeping
Make a sleeping schedule and stick to it. Hang that schedule in your bedroom. If you use your mobile late at night, switch it off when it’s time to sleep.
5. Not Waking Up Early
Nobody is asking you to wake up at 4 am. But wake up early enough to hear the birds chirping and the sun rising.
Pray. Meditate. Plan your day. Take a walk. Fill your lungs with the fresh air of the morning.
6. Not Exercising
Get your heart rate up. Lift weights. Exercise at least 4 times a week, even if it’s just ten minutes. Start small and then gradually increase the intensity.
If you can’t afford a gym membership, do home workouts. You can find many tutorials on this topic on YouTube.
7. Overspending
Make a budget and stick to it. Cancel any unused gym memberships. Also, cancel online subscriptions to the services you longer use.
Pay yourself first. Save 10% of what you earn. Start a side hustle on the weekend.
8. Not Learning Something New
Learning doesn't end when you graduate. It is a lifelong process.
Read books. Watch videos. Enroll in online courses. Pick up a new hobby.
9. Spending Too Much Time In Front Of A Screen
Set screentime limits on your computer and mobile. Install apps that track the amount of time you spend on your devices. At the end of the day look at your total time. See where you could trim back and fill in the time with other activities.
I installed a screentime app on my phone and it helped me reduce my screentime from 7–8 hours to 3–4 hours.
Reserve 2 hours of ‘no-screen time’ every day. In those 2 hours, go to a peaceful place — in your home, or somewhere outside, and sit silently.
Read: Tips to reduce technology usage
10. Not Making Your Bed
Start your day making your bed. By making your bed, you will be completing the first task of the day.
For more on this topic read this book by Admiral William H. McRaven: Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World
11. Using too Much Social Media
The best approach is to schedule 20-minute time blocks for using social media and email, maybe twice or thrice a day. Don't check your email and instant messaging apps first thing in the morning.
To go extreme, delete the email and instant messaging apps from your phone and only use these services on your computer.
A word of caution, never read social media comments.
12. Not Taking Care of your health
A healthy body has a healthy mind. Remember this. Eat healthily. Exercise. Mediate. Go for morning and evening walks.
13. Watching Too Much News
Most of the news is negative. The main purpose of the news outlets is to feed you sensations, so they can keep you hooked, and in turn sell you their advertisement.
I do read the news. It makes me knowledgeable. It makes me aware of my country and the world. It improves my writing. But, it is more harmful than beneficial when you read it every day. There should be some boundaries. Reading news two or three days or a week is reasonable.
14. Eating Junk Food
Go green. Eat more vegetables and fruits. Make junk food a sometimes treat. Prefer homemade food. Learn to cook.
Reduce your sugar consumption. Sugar is making you old early. Cut short on soda, coffee, and alcohol.
15. Not Planning
Plan your days, weeks, months, and even years. Set realistic goals and write weekly and monthly progress on those goals in your journal.
Make daily to-do lists so that you don’t forget your important tasks.
Read: How to plan your day
16. Comparing Yourself With Others
You will never be happy if your keep comparing yourself with people’s lives on social media. There will be always people ahead of you in life.
Remember, everyone is running their own race. You will always have some friends ahead of you in life.
If you don’t feel content with your life, make a list of things you are grateful for.
17. Multitasking
Focusing on a single task is a much better approach than switching between the tasks. Because, if you multitask, what you will get by the end of the day, is a few partially completed tasks.
It is better to be a single-tasker than to be a multi-tasker. If you have a lot of plates spinning, consider scheduling your tasks over a whole week, rather than doing them on a single day.
18. Not Reading:
Make a habit of reading a few pages before going to sleep. Read books that will help you excel in your career, your personal life, and your relationships. Similarly, follow your favorite blogs.
19. Not writing:
It’s because of someone’s(mine) writing that you are reading this article. Write what you are passionate about. Write what you want to read. Get poetic and write a poem. Write a thriller short story. Write a letter to your younger self.
If you don’t consider yourself ‘a writer’, write in your personal journal. Get a paper or digital notebook. Don’t worry about the grammar or spelling. Write down your thoughts, problems, goals, or future plans.
Read: Short and Simple Guide to Journaling
20. Taking the Elevator
Take the stairs instead. It will be a mini-workout.
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