Top Bad Habits List: And How to Change Them for Good

Bad habits can come in many different forms. They can be small things that you don’t really even notice in your day to day life; or they can loom over your head and significantly affect the way you make decisions and take action. Today, we will dig into a top bad habits list and what you can do to start deprogramming them.

Keep in mind that “bad” is a relative term. Some habits serve a great purpose in one stage of your life and not in others.

Continue building your awareness.

This whole month has been about gaining awareness about your own belief system and how it affects the way you approach your life and health. With awareness and tuning into what you truly want, you can start addressing your life goals with purpose. When you know exactly what you want and how to get there, it minimizes distractions and keeps you inspired and motivated.

But what happens when you have bad habits that you can’t seem to shake? Maybe every time you start to make progress, a bad habit comes back out of nowhere to throw you off track. As always, the first step in addressing any issue is by building self-awareness. From there, it can can then turn into a plan and steps for finally tackling your bad habits head on.

The bad habits list.

Here are some of the most common bad habits that we may encounter in our lives. Many leave us feeling pretty stuck in our ways and helpless.

1. Going to bed too late/ Not getting enough sleep.
2. Falling asleep with the TV on.
3. Over-eating.
4. Emotional reactivity with co-workers, friends, and/or family.
5. Toxic relationships with people, money, your body, etc.
6. Over consumption of alcohol.
7. Eating fast food.
8. Having a chronic sweet tooth.
9. Biting your nails when nervous.
10. Forgetting to drink enough water each day.
11. Waking up or going to bed feeling anxious or stressed.
12. Too much time spent on electronics.
13. Excessive time spent in sitting.
14. Minimal movement or exercise in your day.
15. Skipping meal times.
16. Not having a self-care routine for stress management.
17. Smoking.
18. Spending too much money/ Credit card debt
19. Using toxic chemicals for household cleaning and self-care.
20. Negative self-talk.
21. The list goes on….

Let’s get deeper.

You may be nodding as you read through some of these bad habits. We all have those habits that seem to stick with us that aren’t serving us anymore (or ever). While you may understand the health benefits of quitting your habit, it’s easier said than done.

In the past, it’s likely that you’ve decided you’re going to stop doing one or more of these habits. With motivation and a big dose of willpower you decide, “I’m not going to do [insert bad habit] anymore.”

You’ll probably feel great for a while until something derails your progress. A stressful moment, an old memory, guilt, etc. Then you might feel like you’re right back at square one.

I know this story and cycle.

I’ve been there OVER and OVER again with my nutrition. I have a terrible week (or even month) of food choices where I found myself binge eating entire bags of candy, chips, and snacks. Then I say “enough is enough” because of how terrible I feel (physically and mentally). I make a huge change for a few days, or if I’m super motivated, for even a few weeks.

Then life happens, I go the grocery store and see my favorite chocolate bar at the check out stand. Or I worked hard on a project and now I feel I deserve a reward in the form of junk food. Or I had a rough day and want to eat my stress. Or I don’t have the energy to make a meal so I just munch of whatever is open in the pantry. It’s seems I always had an excuse to eat more junk.

So then… I re-start the whole cycle again. No matter what your vices are, this cycle may sound familiar to you. And it’s totally frustrating! Right? I couldn’t believe as an educated physical therapist, motivated mom, and health advocate that it could be so hard for me to get in control of my own eating habits!

Let’s make it different this time.

As you may have noticed, recognizing my bad habit of eating junk and trying to change it with pure willpower wasn’t cutting it. This is ultimately because using willpower and trying to muscle my way to a change isn’t sustainable. Plus, I wasn’t facing the bigger issues underlying the bad habit.

My habits are so deeply ingrained into my routine that it takes more than willpower. In fact, some of the bad habits we carry are formally recognized as as addiction (like smoking and eating disorders). Would anyone expect an alcoholic or drug addict to quit their habit through pure determination? Of course not. Yet, the reality is that all of our habits operate via deeply rooted neural and hormonal reactions that can be just as hard-wired and addictive as drugs.

What’s triggering your habit?

In my own example above, I pointed out a lot of triggers that were affecting my ability to stay on track. These commonly include:

• Emotions
• Stress
• Specific visual cues in the environment
• Certain situations you find yourself in routinely
• Boredom
• Interaction with specific people

This is where the biggest change came for me. When I started noticing what my triggers were I started modifying the ones I could. Like replacing my habit of junk food eating as a reward to going to the park with my daughter or scheduling a play date with our friends.

How can you modify some of your triggers?

Change your story.

When you start realizing what beliefs (like we talked about in last week’s video) and bad habits are unintentionally ruling your life, you can start making real changes.

When you start identifying, breaking down those bad habits and figuring out how to modify your biggest triggers, this can be a game changer.

From there, don’t forget the power of your words and attitude toward changing your habits. Building a habit takes a lot of work to hard wire it into your brain. So expect the process of “de-programming” a habit to be a challenge. But don’t resign yourself to the belief that “it’s too hard” or “why even bother.” You deserve better than that!

Lean into the challenge.

Habits take hard work to either build up or tear down. Building a life you thrive in takes dedication. And it’s a great thing! Because it all pays off and makes it totally work it as you work toward the life of health and purpose you want and deserve.

One of our worst habits is not recognizing the innate strength we have in ourselves. Don’t rely on willpower to get you through. Use your self-awareness, faith in your own incredible inner strength, and the power of positive words to radically change your view on what you’re trying to change.

When you keep your focus on these points, your bad habits don’t stand a chance!

What bad habits have you been trying to kick that seem to keep coming back?

We all have them. I’d love to hear what your struggles have been and how this time you’re going to make it different!

What kind of possibilities would open up for you if you got rid of certain habits? Whether it’s to prevent heart disease, lower blood pressure, reduce stress, improve personal finances, gain energy, or improve a relationship… just imagine how your life could change for the better!

This is just a small piece of the information you can get from my “Consistent Healthy Habits Guide” coming at the end of this month! Stay tuned!