Imagine, for just a moment, that your life was completely perfect.
You have a job you love that pays more than enough money, you’ve got great looks and perfect health, and you’re surrounded by positive and loving people.
Sounds like heaven, right?
Now, let’s try the opposite. Imagine your life is in shambles.
You have no job, you’re homeless, you feel your health fading and your body is ready to fall apart, the people you love have distanced themselves from you because they can’t stand you anymore.
This sounds more like the bad place, don’t you think?
The fact that you’re reading this article suggests your life probably falls somewhere in the middle. You’re doing okay, but life could be better.
Let’s find out how.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle
Often when we look to improve our lives it’s because we feel like we’re missing something. If only I had this, then life would be perfect.
But, maybe, there’s a better way.
The fact is most of us already have everything we need to live a better life right now.
Rather than trying to simply acquire new things for happiness, this article focuses on the negative things we need to eliminate from our lives if we want to find happiness.
More specifically, the dark and deadly habits we need to get rid of, because like Aristotle said, we are what we repeatedly do.
By breaking some or all of these habits, even without any major changes otherwise in your life, your life will positively be better than it was before.
Let’s get to it.
1. Doubting Yourself
I don’t like to gamble, but if there’s one thing I’m willing to bet on, it’s myself.” – Beyonce
Believing in yourself and what your capable of is the key ingredient to finding any meaning in life.
Even if you have a great job and make a lot of money if you continually doubt yourself and don’t feel you’ve accomplished anything what’s it matter?
The secret to silencing self-doubt is to take action and show up every day.
2. Putting People Down
You never look good trying to make someone else look bad.” – Unknown
Belittling others is one of the most negative habits a person can have. It’s even worse if you do it behind their back when they aren’t around to hear it.
If you have an issue to resolve with someone that’s one thing, but using it as a way to put them down is nothing more than a negative reflection of your own personality.
If you have a problem, think through it and find a way to solve it with them in a positive manner, it may even mean saying nothing and walking away. You’ll feel much better in the long-term with that decision.
3. Focusing on things you can’t control
The key to a happy life is to realize you were never actually in control.” – Jurassic World
We’re all dealt a certain set of cards in life. Some are born with more athleticism, others have more natural intelligence. Sometimes we think this is unfair.
This misses the point. Our focus in life needs to be on the things we can control, things like our work ethic and our attitudes towards life.
Focusing on what you can control and embracing what you can’t will undoubtedly help you lead a happier life.
4. Resisting change
If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” – Maya Angelou
Similar to the last point, there are many things in life we cannot change. Dwelling on the things we can’t change only makes us miserable.
If there’s anything guaranteed in life, it’s that life is constantly changing. Change is good. The Universe has been changing ever since it’s existence.
Our job isn’t to resist change but to embrace and look out for all the opportunities that change can bring.
5. Worrying about failure
It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.” – JK Rowling
This is a powerful quote. There is no point in worrying about failure because no matter what you do in life, failure is guaranteed.
Failure encourages growth and allows us to learn to become successful. We fail in order to improve.
While we all may experience a fear of failure, it’s not an excuse. You can be afraid and still take action. It’s vital to our happiness.
6. Staying in your comfort zone
If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” – Tony Robbins
Learning to get out of your comfort zone is by no means a new concept, yet so many of struggle to do it. Or worse, many don’t even want to.
You may want to live an incredible life of adventure and passion, but if your life is lacking those now how can you expect any adventure or passion to happen by doing what you’ve always done over and again?
It won’t happen. If you want to grow and become better as an individual, you have to step outside of your comfort zone.
When you exit your comfort zone you're thrusted into the present moment and the present is the only place where happiness can be found.
7. Having no self-discipline
The height of a man’s success is gauged by his self-mastery.” – Leonardo Da Vinci
With self-discipline most anything is possible.” – Theodore Roosevelt
A lot of people love to talk about what they want to do with their lives, but without any self-discipline, it’s nothing more than empty words.
No self-discipline is one of the main reasons people are stuck in jobs they hate. They work hard, but then when they go home they’re too tired to go after the passions they really care about.
It’s sad. So much potential is wasted because of a lack of discipline to take continuous action.
But that doesn’t have to be you. With self-discipline, you can assure you show up every day and it will pay off.
What You Need To Do Right Now
After reading this, it’s important for you to take the time and ask yourself if you resonate with any of these self-destructing habits.
The first step to overcoming these negative habits is to become aware that they’re present in your life and realize the damage they’re doing to your happiness.
The next step is to start from where you are.
Even if you’re guilty of all 7 self-destructing habits. You can still overcome them.
Start by believing in yourself and believing you can do it. Then gather the self-discipline to keep showing up and working to get better.
Just focus on getting a little bit better every day. Do that every day for as many days in a row as you can and you’ll be amazed at how far it’ll take you.
You got this.
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