Instantly Improve Your Life by Breaking These Destructive Habits
If you wrote down everything that you do daily, I guarantee there are things on that list that are detrimental to your physical and mental health and if you cut those out your life would drastically improve.
You probably think quitting bad habits is harder than picking up new habits (false). That’s a limiting belief you can use as comfort when you find it too difficult.
Write that list and highlight everything detrimental to your physical health, mental health, relationships, career, and productivity…and systematically eliminate them one by one.
Mid-week solo drinking like a loser
We've all been there.
The cheeky whisky on a Wednesday night. The cold ones during Monday night football. Anything to take the edge off a stressful day at work, but that’s all an illusion. An illusion of relaxation.
Drinking that booze is pointless. You get less sleep, you wake up feeling ropey and it has a dramatic effect on your energy levels, motivation and drive.
Here's the real danger - it becomes a habit. A hard day automatically equals a drink. It's a slippery slope, and before you know it, you can't imagine a weekday without that 'relaxing' drink. Breaking this cycle can be tough, but it's essential.
It's not just about cutting out the booze. It's about changing your lifestyle and mindset. It's about finding healthier, more fulfilling ways to cope with the stresses of daily life.
Ditch the mid-week solo drinking. Save it for social occasions.
Processed junk food jacked up in sugar
This one's a no-brainer but hard to break because you’re up against trillions of dollars of marketing investment from junk food companies. There is not a single benefit to eating processed sugary junk food. None.
You're feeding your body garbage, and in return, it's giving you weird energy levels, you put on weight in all the wrong places, and it is beating the crap out of your heart.
Start easy by cutting sugar from your coffee or tea (black coffee no sugar is the one anyway).
Then just go cold turkey. No sweets, no added sugar, no cakes, no chocolate. I guarantee you’ll cut out 2000 calories a week when you do this, your energy levels will stabilise throughout the day and you will have dramatically fewer cravings too.
Quit now, your heart will thank you when you’re 80.
Nothing good happens after midnight
Quit staying up till 1am on a Tuesday night doomscrolling Twitter (guilty).
Go to bed earlier. Like 10pm earlier. My wife just had a baby and I am up till 1am every night and I’m telling you I can feel the impact on my mood, my motivation, my drive, my decision making, everything.
Go to sleep and get 8 hours in. None of this ‘I can survive on 5 hours’. No you can’t.
Get your sleep in order and the clarity and energy you'll gain will be a total game-changer.
I’m telling you all physical and mental health leads back to poor sleep quality. It’s hard to believe unless you prioritise and protect your sleep routine.
Doomscrolling like a psychotic dopamine junkie
I just mentioned it but doomscrolling on social media to escape your world doesn't solve the problems you have.
Endlessly swiping through bad news and other people's (fake) highlight reels is addictive but destructive. Of course it’s addictive, there are thousands of software engineers pouring billions of dollars into making the apps as addictive as possible - what chance do we have about being in control of our own time when that’s what we are up against? Slim to none and that’s why everybody is walking around with their head buried in their phones.
Social media is a vortex that sucks away your time, energy, and peace of mind. Break the cycle. Unless you’re actively creating content for some higher purpose, there is NO benefit to consuming the content on those apps. Delete TikTok for a week and tell me you missed something important - and that’s coming from somebody who creates content on TikTok!
Put down the phone, pick up a goddamn book (LITERALLY ANY BOOK), go for a walk or do ANYTHING other than doomscrolling on TikTok.
Feeling sorry for yourself and blaming the world
Life's tough, but guess what? It’s the same for everyone. We all have our battles. Life is a relentless stream of obstacles and put-downs.
Sitting around feeling sorry for yourself and blaming everyone else won't change anything. Some people have it harder than others of course they do and sometimes through no fault of their own. But you’ve been dealt a hand and you can either choose to play that hand or fold. Don’t fold because folding means giving up.
Take some responsibility for your life. Be intentional with your decisions. The moment you do, you take back power. And with that power comes change.
"He who blames others has a long way to go on his journey. He who blames himself is halfway there. He who blames no one has arrived.”- Chinese proverb.
Giving up at the first hurdle in anything you do
Been there. Been there MANY times. Your brain is seeking comfort 24/7.
See your mind as an opponent, one that you must overcome to get to the next level.
Your brain doesn’t want to be doing hard stuff, it wants you to feed it cheap dopamine - that’s why you’re doomscrolling.
You are the master of your mind when you pursue hard things even when you don’t want to. I don’t care if it’s fitness, I don’t care if it’s a side hustle, your career, relationships, whatever. Do hard things and do them when you don’t want to.
Successful people are no smarter than you, no more intelligent than you, no luckier than you, no more deserving than you, they simply outlast you.
Giving a shit what other people think of you
This is the big one.
Caring too much about others' opinions is a prison. It will keep you caged until you finally decide to break free.
I stopped caring what other people thought of me when I realised that nobody was thinking about me in the first place.
Everybody has their own shit going on. Be yourself, unapologetically. Those who matter don't mind, and those who mind don't matter. Live your life for you, not for the approval of others. We all end up in the same hole in the ground anyway so you might as well do something for yourself despite the fear of other people’s opinions.
Get it together
There you have it, 7 things to quit right now to see an instant improvement in your life. Some are harder than others. Some will be more relevant than others.
Quit doing dumb stuff that is detrimental to your physical health and mental wellbeing. There is no magic pill that will fix all your problems but quitting destructive habits is 101.
Your life is malleable, you can bend and shape it in any way you want. It's not going to be easy, but nothing worth having ever is.
Here's to taking control and making some real changes. Let's get our shit together.
P.S. I didn’t write a newsletter for 4 weeks because we just welcomed a baby daughter into our lives and I took some time to spend with the family. Next week marks 1 year of writing this newsletter - here’s to making 2024 a belter together.