7 Toxic Habits to Cut This Year

We don’t need you anymore (actually, we never needed you).

Reflecting on 2023, I’ve reflected on the habits that have hindered my personal growth. From habits such as using social media too much, to constantly comparing myself and talking myself down, these have affected my personal development.

Since I want to walk into the new year leaving these toxic habits behind, I thought I’d write a blog post on it to keep myself accountable (and also encourage you to leave these behind too if you feel the same way about these habits).

This blog post will go through the toxic habits that can hinder your progress and how you can overcome them. I’ll share a couple of small steps you can take to break free from these toxic habits. Even if it’s just a small step, it’s still a step forward.

Let’s get into this.

1 – Too much social media usage
It’s not a new thing to hear that using social media a lot can be a toxic habit. This is because social media can evoke feelings like comparison and feeling like you’re never doing enough. When you are constantly using something that is making you compare yourself, it affects your own self-esteem and ruins your productivity in the process.

I say this because this is a habit I struggled with in 2023.

To overcome this toxic habit, there are a couple of things you can do.

First, you can set daily limits for when you use social media. You can utilize phone features to turn off social media once you reach that daily limit. If you tend to use it on your laptop as well, use tools that can help block the social media app.

Just know, that you can still use social media. All you need to do is to be more mindful of every time you use it and make it more for entertainment, rather than a reliant habit.

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RELATED: How to Build a Healthy Relationship with Social Media

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2 – Snoozing the Alarm
This is one of the biggest habits I had a hard time with in 2023.

Again, this is another known “bad” habit that has downsides including disrupting your sleep cycle and reinforcing your mind that you don’t know how to wake up on time. In the process, it also ruins your productivity and your morning routine.

There are multiple ways to break this habit including having a consistent sleep routine (so you don’t feel the need to want to sleep more), putting your alarm across the room to get out of bed, or just relying on willpower to resist your temptation to snooze (although from experience, willpower was unreliable).

But the way to be successful in overcoming this habit lies within your morning habits and the night before.

3 – Procrastination
Procrastination is one of the ultimate productivity killers. Whenever you procrastinate, not only do you stress more, but it affects your self-image because of how you don’t follow through on what you say you would do.

But, there are ways to overcome procrastination, even if they are just in small steps.
First, one of the common things we procrastinate is hard and big tasks. To overcome procrastination with these types of tasks, you can break them into smaller tasks, manageable steps, and set deadlines from there.

Most times, the reason why we procrastinate is because there is an underlying reason behind it, such as lack of motivation or fear. So, utilizing different strategies like breaking down the task or using the 2-minute rule (where you set the timer for 2 minutes to start a task), can help you overcome the temptation of procrastination.

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RELATED: 10 Actual Ways to Live a More Productive Life

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4 – Negative Self-Talk
Self-talk is all about how you talk to yourself. The way you talk to yourself is a huge part of your personal development and self-improvement journey.

So, when you always talk negatively about yourself and criticize yourself, you diminish your confidence and self-esteem. The sad reality is that it’s not another person bringing you down, it’s you.

The obvious way to overcome negative talk is to replace is with positive self-talk. This is where habits such as positive affirmations by writing them down or saying them out loud in the mirror can come into play.

It takes practice and lots of time to make it fully a part of your life. But the earlier you start, the better. Nothing good comes from being mean to yourself, right?

5 – Comparison
(also talking to myself too…).
In my opinion, comparing yourself is one of the most toxic habits we can have for ourselves.
When you constantly compare yourself, you affect your self-image, and self-esteem, and become more stressed in the process.

But, of course, there are always ways to overcome this toxic habit.

One of the things you can do is create a list of your own strengths, accomplishments, and life stories to remind yourself of how unique you are.

Additionally, sometimes we tend to always compare ourselves when we are working on our goals. Sometimes, we need that reminder that everyone’s journey is going to be different because everyone’s circumstances are different.

And also, at the end of the day, sometimes staying away from the things that make us compare ourselves to others can be a big help. For example, using social media a lot is one of the toxic habits mentioned in this blog post, because it’s something that causes you to compare yourself to others.

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RELATED: 8 Personal Development Goals to Set

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6 – Overcommitting
This toxic habit affects your self-image and also your productivity as well.

When you constantly say yes to everything, you can end up feeling overwhelmed and end up with no time for yourself. It’s one of the productivity mistakes that can lead to burnout.

So, to overcome this habit, you need two things: boundaries & a list of your priorities.
One of the ways to know when to say no is to first list down your priorities.

So, when something comes up, if it doesn’t align with your priorities or contribute to your goals, it should be an easy no. That way, you can no more without the guilt.

That’s why it’s also important to evaluate your commitments from time to time, so you know when to say yes or no to things. When you know when to say yes or no, you have more time for your other commitments and priorities.

7 – “I’ll Only Be Happy When” Attitude
This is more of a toxic attitude than a mindset, but since it leads you to feel certain ways and affects your actions in the process, it’s a habit.

The “I’ll only be happy when X happens” attitude is when you delay your happiness ONCE you accomplish something. You’re pretty much relying on external factors.

So, to break free from this habit, practicing gratitude and mindfulness and key habits.

By implementing a habit of gratitude, you focus more on what you have, rather than on what you don’t have. When you implement a habit of mindfulness, you embrace the present moment more, rather than waiting for the future to happen.

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RELATED: How to Create a Mindset Routine

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Take a SMALL STEP:
Here are some small steps you can take to overcome these toxic habits:

• Too much social media usage – Choose a daily time limit for all your social media apps
• Snoozing the alarm – If you have an alarm, put it on the other side of the room.
• Procrastination – list one or two tasks that you always find yourself procrastinating.
• Negative self-talk – list one or two negative self-talk statements you say to yourself and replace them with positive and uplifting ones.
• Comparison – Write down a list of your accomplishments or your life story.
• Overcommitting -Write down your list of priorities.
• “I’ll Only Be Happy When” attitude – Write down three things you are grateful for.

To Wrap Up
From habits like using social media too much to having the “I’ll only be happy when” mindset, they can be toxic and affect our personal growth. That’s why taking small baby steps to overcome these habits is a stepping stone to ensuring that we aren’t doing these habits anymore.

If you need any tips on how to take small steps, I wrote a free book called Small Steps to Progression. You can download it for free here and you’ll also be able to access the Free Resources Library where there are multiple other free resources!

In the meantime, let’s break our toxic habits together. LOL.

-Lauren 😊

P.S I recommend you read these blog posts next:

• 5 Little But Effective Ways I’m Improving My Habits
• Popular New Year Habits: What Worked & What Didn’t
• How to Build Lifechanging Habits

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