20 Dangerous Habits That Are Making You Much less Productive

There are a bunch of unhealthy habits many people do on daily basis, and analysis reveals these habits actually damage our productiveness, particularly at work. The extra conscious we’re of how this stuff are affecting our productiveness, the extra proactive we will be at taking duty for our decisions.

On this listing, I will break down among the most typical examples of unhealthy habits that stifle productiveness and a few methods you’ll be able to break them.

Desk of Contents

Dangerous Habits Examples Checklist

Tips on how to Break a Dangerous Behavior

Attempt the free app Headspace to begin: It provides you 10 free guided meditation classes, with the choice of signing up for a month-to-month subscription.

2. Skipping breakfast.

Whether or not you blame it on being too rushed (see #1) or simply not feeling hungry, consuming a well-rounded breakfast simply is not a precedence for lots of people.

Why this behavior is unhealthy:

Whenever you’re sleeping, you are fasting — which means you get up with low blood sugar. That low blood sugar is strictly why many people really feel drained, apathetic, and even just a little irritable very first thing within the morning. It is not you; it is your inherent want for the sustenance that, you already know, retains you up and working as a human.

Tips on how to break this unhealthy behavior:

What about changing meals with espresso? Certain, the caffeine rush out of your morning espresso will help conceal the signs of low blood sugar — nevertheless it will not fulfill your want for meals. In reality, it will probably trigger you to crash later within the day, which may actually hurt your productiveness.

Prioritizing a wholesome breakfast is a key to boosting productiveness for the remainder of your day.

Attempt wholesome breakfast meals which have the fiber, protein, nutritional vitamins, and minerals that’ll offer you vitality. Keep away from breakfast meals with added sugar like sugary cereal and pastries.

3. Tackling the simple stuff first.

It may be very tempting to get all the simple duties out of the best way first earlier than tackling the powerful stuff. That is very true once you’re dreading that difficult job.

Why this behavior is unhealthy:

Tackling essentially the most troublesome duties in your to-do listing early on within the day is definitely higher to your general productiveness. Researchers have discovered that willpower is a finite useful resource that steadily decreases all through the day, in line with the e book The Willpower Intuition. So your mind is significantly better at dealing with the toughest duties initially of the day once you’re extra centered.

Tips on how to break this unhealthy behavior:

Mornings additionally are likely to lend fewer distractions, making it simpler so that you can get issues executed. My colleague James Gilbert suggests that folk “benefit from morning hours to crank via meaty tasks with out distractions, and save any calls or digital conferences for the afternoon.”

Making a to-do listing is the simplest method to prioritize duties successfully. Everybody has their very own to-do listing type, so take a look at this listing of the perfect to-do listing instruments and apps on the market and see which of them work finest for you.

4. Checking and responding to emails as they arrive in.

Electronic mail is meant to assist us do our work, not distract us from our work. So why does it all the time really feel like a productiveness suck?

Why this behavior is unhealthy:

In an effort to remain on high of a always overflowing inbox, it may be tempting to examine and reply to each e mail as quickly because it is available in. Receiving e mail notifications in actual time actually does not assist. However always switching duties between work and e mail can actually damage your productiveness.

Tips on how to break this unhealthy behavior:

That will help you focus in chunks of time, flip off these pesky e mail alerts and restrict checking your e mail to specified breaks.

When you’re fearful about lacking an vital e mail, attempt choosing “Essential mail notifications on” and Gmail will notify you for emails it thinks are vital to you primarily based on previous exercise.

To show off alerts in Outlook: On the “Instruments” menu, click on “Choices.” Open the “Preferences” tab and click on “E-mail Choices,” then “Superior E-mail Choices.” Beneath “When new gadgets arrive in my Inbox,” clear the “Show a New Mail Desktop Alert (default Inbox solely) examine field.

5. Checking social feeds.

The entire “simply distracted” factor goes for social media notifications, too. The urge to examine for social media notifications makes it laborious to examine our Information Feeds “simply this as soon as” — and often results in a variety of senseless looking.

Why this behavior is unhealthy:

As my colleague Scott Tousley says, “We’re head over heels in love with distracting ourselves.”

My colleague Alec Biedrzycki solves this drawback by eradicating all social networks from his toolbar bookmarks. “Even when I do not imply to browse them, some uncontrollable impulse subconsciously clicks on them once I expertise downtime,” he says. “You may get sucked in with out figuring out it (and even meaning to), so eliminating the gateway to these networks retains me on monitor.”

Tips on how to break this unhealthy behavior:

To show off notifications for social media so that you simply’re in charge of once you examine these apps. You are able to do this within the apps themselves or within the settings of your smartphone.

6. Conserving your telephone with you at work.

Elevate your hand in the event you panic once you understand you do not have your telephone with you—whether or not you are sitting at your desk, attending a gathering, grabbing espresso, or heck—even going to the lavatory. (I am responsible of this, too.)

Why this behavior is unhealthy:

Smartphones are one of the vital outstanding distractions on the planet. And once you maintain your telephone with you at work, you are placing your productiveness ranges in danger.

A research within the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Notion and Efficiency discovered that when individuals who had been performing a job that required intense focus acquired a textual content or name on their telephone, they’d extra incorrect solutions and had been extra prone to make fast guesses. Individuals who acquired notification of a name — even when they didn’t decide it up — had been 3X extra prone to make errors. In reality, error charges had been about the identical whether or not or not individuals answered that decision or textual content.

Why does receiving that textual content or name damage our productiveness a lot? Researchers from that research say that, though the precise second of interruption is short-lived, our ideas are disrupted for a significantly longer interval, making it powerful to refocus.

Tips on how to break this unhealthy behavior:

There are a variety of alternative ways to curb your telephone habit. The only is to show your telephone on silent and put it away when you’re at work. If that is not chopping it, attempt an app like Forest. This app will immediate you to plant a digital tree once you begin working, which “grows” over the course of half-hour. The extra 30-minute intervals you do not use your telephone, the bigger your forest will develop; however in the event you go away the app, you will have to begin once more.

7. Black gap looking.

the sensation once you seek for one thing work-related, then click on on a associated video, and earlier than you already know it, you are knee-deep into TikToks about constructing a tiny home in the course of a distant forest?

Why this behavior is unhealthy:

It is a harmful aspect impact of getting a job that requires web analysis. It is one factor to mindlessly browse the online exterior of labor or once you’re on a break. (In reality, I’ve an ideal listing of the perfect websites and apps for losing time on the web for instances like these.) However it’s one other fully once you’re imagined to be doing precise work.

That is what Tousley likes to name “black gap looking,” and it is develop into one of the vital productivity-sucking psychological addictions on the market.

Tips on how to break this unhealthy behavior:

You would possibly really feel like getting misplaced within the black gap is inevitable, however there are instruments on the market that may allow you to stop it from taking place. For instance, StayFocusd is a Google Chrome extension that breaks the black gap looking cycle by blocking distracting web sites after a set period of time.

8. Working via your lunch break.

Consuming at your desk does not simply make you delinquent. In line with HBR, it is also “unhealthy for pondering, unhealthy for creativity, unhealthy for productiveness, [and] unhealthy to your physique.”

Why this behavior is unhealthy:

To be honest, in the event you’re amongst these individuals who take lunch at your desk as an alternative of taking a break, it might not be your fault. Maybe it is not constructed into your workplace tradition, or perhaps you will have a deadline that is pressuring you to squeeze each waking second out of your day.

However taking the noon break will be mentally rejuvenating — and, in some ways, extra productive than plugging away at your desk between mouthfuls.

Tips on how to break this unhealthy behavior:

One of the best ways to take a lunch break is to take away your self out of your desk or workspace and eat some other place — like a cafeteria, restaurant, or public park. Higher but, construct your community at work by consuming with a colleague. (Listed below are some extra concepts for what to do throughout your lunch break.

9. Not lively listening.

One of many unhappy penalties of being always distracted is the epidemic of solely half paying consideration — and pondering that is OK. You would possibly suppose that any time another person is speaking and you are not, which means you are listening. However, as my colleague Andrew Quinn wrote in his publish on unhealthy conversational habits, it does not. “The true query is who’re you listening to when [someone else] is speaking,” he wrote. “I am keen to wager a very good portion of the time, you are really listening to the voice in your head.”

That, otherwise you’re studying that e mail that simply got here in. Or checking to see why your telephone buzzed. Whenever you’re in a gathering, how a lot can you actually be paying consideration when your laptop computer is open?

Why this behavior is unhealthy:

Not solely cannot listening fastidiously value you relationships, it may possibly additionally value you within the time it takes to make up for no matter data you missed.

Tips on how to break this unhealthy behavior:

Changing into an lively listener is a crucial a part of turning into extra emotionally clever. This implies actually, really being attentive to what individuals are saying — and it is a talent that’ll set you aside in each your skilled and private life.

10. Saying “sure” to each assembly.

Being “within the zone” is once you lose your self in no matter you are doing — a lot so that you simply lose monitor of time. It is one of many keys to each happiness and productiveness at work.

Why this behavior is unhealthy:

Nothing disrupts that circulation like a gathering. Particularly an pointless one. It seems that the common particular person wastes 31 hours in unproductive conferences per thirty days. These pointless conferences are ones the place you or the organizer is not ready, you did not actually have to be there, and so forth.

Tips on how to break this unhealthy behavior:

Wish to get these 31 hours again? Listed below are a couple of solutions:

• Make certain you are solely attending conferences you really must attend. When you do not see your self actively contributing to the group, politely let the assembly requester know that you simply will not be capable of attend.
• When you’re the one calling the assembly, ship invitees a be aware, description, or some type of heads up alongside together with your calendar invites. This’ll give them an concept of why they had been invited or have to be there. Attempt an app like Do or Strong to assist maintain your conferences organized and actionable.
• Schedule conferences in bulk in the event you can. It is a strategic manner to make sure the time you do have exterior of conferences is spent as productively as potential, because it takes individuals a mean of 23 minutes to refocus after switching duties.

Talking of which …

11. Multitasking.

Multitasking can appear inevitable in our trendy, ever-connected life. However it may possibly make us much less productive and improve errors and stress.

Why this behavior is unhealthy:

Do not forget that unhealthy behavior of not listening? Folks try this quite a bit throughout conferences once they attempt to multitask — whether or not it is studying and responding to emails and messages, scrolling via their Twitter feeds, or one thing else.

Tips on how to break this unhealthy behavior:

Getting out of the behavior of multitasking is troublesome, however actually doable. Eradicating notifications out of your work pc (see #5) and placing away your mobile phone (see #6) are two nice methods to begin. Different concepts embrace establishing a no-laptop rule for conferences, utilizing the Pomodoro Approach (the place you’re employed in sprints in a manner that enhances the physique’s pure ultradian rhythm), and planning your day in blocks that embrace built-in breaks.

12. Enjoying together with your telephone earlier than mattress.

Have you ever ever lay in mattress with the lights off and spent a couple of minutes scrolling via your telephone to reply to last-minute texts and emails, examine Instagram, or scroll via TikTok? Now, increase your hand if these jiffy have ever was half an hour, forty-five minutes, and even an hour.

Think about how way more sleep you might’ve gotten that evening in the event you’d merely gone to mattress once you first turned the lights off.

Why this behavior is unhealthy:

However it’s not simply concerning the quantity of sleep — it is also concerning the high quality of sleep. Research have proven that individuals who stare upon a backlit display proper earlier than mattress really report having lower-quality sleep — even once they get simply as a lot sleep as somebody who did not have a look at their electronics earlier than mattress. It’s because presence and absence of sunshine inform our brains whether or not or not they need to launch the sleep hormone melatonin that makes you drained. As a result of the LED lighting emitted by the screens on our digital units is so much like daylight, it may possibly trick our brains into pondering it is daytime, inflicting us to remain awake for longer.

Tips on how to break this unhealthy behavior:

One of the best ways to interrupt this behavior? Purchase an alarm clock that is not your telephone, and cost your telephone in a separate room so that you keep away from the temptation of checking it altogether. When you’re fearful about lacking an emergency name, then attempt sending these last-minute texts 30-60 minutes earlier than you hit the hay. It’s going to imply you get extra sleep and better high quality sleep, main you to function at peak productiveness the next day. (Learn this weblog publish for recommendations on getting essentially the most out of your sleep.)

13. Ethical Licensing

Ethical licensing is a typical indicator of decrease productiveness at finest and a quick monitor to a efficiency enchancment plan at worst. Utilizing a very good deed to cowl up a nasty one is morally flawed and might develop into a nasty behavior earlier than you already know it.

Why this behavior is unhealthy:

As soon as developed, such a unhealthy behavior may cause you to procrastinate in your work, take shortcuts, miss deadlines, and go away your workforce in a lurch. It might sound far-fetched at first to chop corners when no one is watching, however after it is develop into a behavior, it may possibly wreak havoc in your productiveness and work life stability.

Tips on how to break this unhealthy behavior:

As a substitute of banking good actions to compensate for a poor motion each from time to time, decide to doing what you say you’ll and following the foundations set out by your office. When you really feel as if the rules go towards your personal morals, convey this up together with your supervisor or take into account on the lookout for a brand new alternative.

14. Sitting down too typically.

When you work a sedentary job, it could be troublesome to recollect to face up once in a while. That is very true in the event you take part in a variety of conferences and calls

Why this behavior is unhealthy:

Sitting for too lengthy is said to a number of well being points like hypertension, excessive blood sugar, and different metabolic points. All of this cannot solely result in a decrease high quality of life, however doubtlessly loss of life.

Tips on how to break this unhealthy behavior:

Standing up for a couple of minutes every hour can do wonders to your psychological and bodily well being throughout the workday. For one, you interact extra muscle tissues once you stand which is nice for sustaining correct posture and mobility. Along with that, you will flow into blood circulation which will help you suppose extra clearly.

Use a software like a health watch to remind you to face all through the day. Or, use a free timer in your desktop or cellphone to provide you with a warning when it is time to get up for a second.

15. Poor prioritization.

Have you ever ever woken up and instantly felt like duties, occasions, and requests had been taking place to you quite than you selecting to take part in them? This may be the results of poor prioritization.

Why this behavior is unhealthy:

Whenever you’re not in charge of your priorities every day, it is not going that you will get to the duties and actions that you simply needed to. You will be in response mode—prioritizing every little thing for everybody else.

Tips on how to break this unhealthy behavior:

To enhance your prioritization, there are a couple of methods you’ll be able to attempt. Creating an inventory is a well-liked method to deal with what you propose to get executed every day. Some individuals schedule every hour of their day in a digital calendar—outfitted with reminders and alarms to maintain them on schedule. Whether or not you go the handbook or digital route, prioritizing your day very first thing within the morning can break the unhealthy behavior of poor prioritization.

16. Over-planning

Simply as we talked about above, prioritizing your day is a superb behavior to begin doing to develop into extra productive. However over-planning can result in some unhealthy habits as properly.

Why this behavior is unhealthy:

Planning each second of your day with out room for private issues, pressing duties, journey time, and a second for reflection can result in burnout—particularly in the event you’re mindlessly following a script you’ve got created for your self.

Tips on how to break this unhealthy behavior:

As a substitute, get comfy with the thought of flexibility in your day. Purpose for not more than 5 to seven must-do duties per day and go away a couple of hours open. That manner, you will be ok with prioritizing what you could do whereas nonetheless having time (and a transparent thoughts) to assist others, or just relaxation and recharge for the following day.

17. Being late.

Higher late than by no means, however by no means late is best. Punctuality is a talent that’s not innate in most individuals, it’s one thing all of us must study as youngsters and observe always as adults. The important thing to not growing the unhealthy behavior of being late within the first place is to worth your personal time and the time of others.

Why this behavior is unhealthy:

Whenever you’re late, you not directly inform the opposite person who your time is extra priceless than theirs. And I get it—generally issues come up and being late is unavoidable. That is the place immediate communication comes into play to rectify the scenario. However in the event you’re all the time working out of time, dashing via the door, or becoming a member of a gathering a minute or two not on time, this may very well be a nasty behavior within the making.

Tips on how to break this unhealthy behavior:

Time administration finest practices are prevalent, and nearly anybody you ask may have a tip or trick so that you can attempt. One tip particularly that works properly to extend productiveness is including buffers to your digital calendar. For instance, if in case you have a gathering from 2:00 to three:00 and one other from 3:00 to three:30, add a 5 minute buffer between the 2 by both scheduling the primary assembly to finish 5 minutes early or begin the second assembly 5 minutes late. Doing this prematurely when sending your assembly invites is vital—everybody will perceive what time the assembly begins and ends, even when it is an unconventional scheduling observe.

18. Gossipping.

Gossipping is a nasty behavior that many people disguise as venting, however there’s a distinction between the 2. Venting is dialog with a starting and finish—often executed in a secure house— that’s sometimes exterior of labor with individuals who may supply assist or recommendation. Gossipping, alternatively, is a poisonous unhealthy behavior with the aim of being distracting and unkind.

Why this behavior is unhealthy:

Gossipping is thought to tank the productiveness of everybody who engages with it. Even in the event you’re solely listening, you are spending time and vitality consuming unhelpful data when you might be centered on work.

Tips on how to break this unhealthy behavior:

When you’re the deliverer of the gossip, take a second to replicate in your priorities. Are you cheerful together with your profession? Are there areas of your life the place you’d prefer to see change? If sure, then discuss to a trusted mentor, good friend, or advisor quite than gossip about others. When you’re surrounded by gossip however wish to keep productive, take away your self from the setting by taking a stroll, transferring your lunch break to a special time, or assembly new individuals throughout the lulls within the day.

19. Not reflecting on objectives for the week.

Going from week to week with no time in between for reflection and aim setting is a positive method to see a productiveness dip in some unspecified time in the future.

Why this behavior is unhealthy:

With out reflection, it may be troublesome to see the place your progress alternatives are, predict roadblocks, and be proactive in your work. When you’ve ever heard of individuals feeling as if they’re on a hamster wheel, not reflecting on their objectives every week is a contributing issue.

Tips on how to break this unhealthy behavior:

A easy 15-minute check-in on the finish of the work week will be all you could develop a wholesome behavior of reflection and aim setting. Right here are some things to contemplate throughout this weekly evaluation:

• Did I obtain my objectives for the week?
• What made me pleased?
• What went flawed?
• Who did I assist/who helped me?
• What am I grateful for this week?
• What are my objectives for subsequent week?

20. Poor Communication

After we talk clearly and well timed, productiveness improves in consequence. However poor communication can develop into a nasty behavior for a lot of causes which not solely impacts you and your work however these you work together with, too.

Why this behavior is unhealthy:

Poor communication as a nasty behavior is fairly clear: sending last-minute emails or Slack messages, asking unclear questions, or leaving stakeholders out of the loop are all examples of poor communication that when executed incessantly or along side each other, can develop into a nasty behavior.

Tips on how to break this unhealthy behavior:

To interrupt the behavior of poor communication, maintain two phrases in thoughts: be proactive.

When you’re estimating {that a} venture will likely be later than anticipated, even by only a few days, talk it as early as you understand. Your workforce will admire you taking accountability, however they admire the truth that they will plan round this inconvenience properly prematurely.

1. Analysis the unhealthy behavior.

Earlier than you’ll be able to start breaking a nasty behavior, it’s a must to perceive why the behavior exists to start with. Virtually all habits serve a necessity and have a set off. However these two issues could also be troublesome to uncover on the floor stage.

For example, if in case you have a nasty behavior of being late, the necessity is just not that you’ve got extra time in your day. It is probably that you could prioritize your day higher. With just a little extra planning, you can see your time-bound commitments approaching and provides your self sufficient time to satisfy them.

2. Set a sensible aim.

When you perceive the necessity your unhealthy behavior serves, you’ll be able to set a sensible aim round breaking the behavior. Breaking unhealthy habits doesn’t occur in a single day, and it could not even occur within the first week of the strictest behavior administration practices. The important thing right here is the phrase “lifelike.”

A standard aim for individuals who wish to break unhealthy habits is to do it inside three weeks. However as soon as these three weeks are up, you will want a sustained sense of motivation to maintain up the great behavior. So set a aim round the way you’d prefer to really feel when you drop the unhealthy behavior. Sustaining this sense will allow you to keep the course and kick the unhealthy behavior for good.

3. Change your routine.

Routine is likely one of the greatest influences of a nasty behavior. This alone could make or break your possibilities of success in kicking a nasty behavior.

If you already know your thoughts goes on autopilot round 3pm at work, you will wish to interrupt that routine earlier than it begins. You are able to do this by setting an alarm, scheduling a espresso chat with a coworker, or taking a stroll to redirect your thoughts away from the unhealthy behavior.

Though altering your routine alone will not cease the behavior in its tracks, it should make it tougher so that you can preserve the behavior which provides you the house to switch these unfavorable actions with optimistic ones.

4. Restrict alternatives to try unhealthy habits.

The environments we spend essentially the most time in can affect each good and unhealthy habits. To mitigate advert habits, it is vital to restrict the alternatives the place we may interact in them. This may occasionally imply altering your environment extra typically or limiting contact with individuals who encourage unhealthy habits.

And this tip goes for each distant staff and in-office of us. Dangerous habits can develop in each environments, so it is your duty to be trustworthy with your self about when and the place unhealthy habits sometimes happen with a view to enhance your productiveness.

5. Ask for help.

Nipping unhealthy habits within the bud is tough sufficient, however going via it alone could make it way more troublesome. Teaming up with a help community or an accountability accomplice will help you ease into the change with out judgment or grand expectations.

Relatively than relying by yourself willpower, you’ll be able to lean in your community for help as you get used to the modifications you are making in your worklife to be extra productive. And whereas all of us attempt to be on our A-game, everybody has a nasty behavior or two to interrupt, so you’ll want to return the favor to them when the time comes.

6. Implement a rewards system.

Breaking unhealthy habits does not imply we should not be rewarded for our progress. In reality, utilizing rewards will help you keep on the great behavior wagon for much longer than in the event you relied on sheer willpower alone.

Make be aware of small niceties that you simply take pleasure in (and which can be acceptable in relation to the behavior you are breaking) to deal with your self once you surpass a milestone. Simply make sure that you do not develop new unhealthy habits within the means of breaking an previous one, like spending exterior of your funds, growing unhealthy wellness habits, or imposing in your family and friends that can assist you have fun too-frequent milestones.

7. Be affected person.

Final however not least, be affected person with your self. Since unhealthy habits can have an effect on productiveness, it is smart that productiveness could not improve straight away and even after you’ve got hit your first milestones towards growing good habits. Improved productiveness comes with time, repetition, and incorporating a number of good habits constantly at scale.

With regards to ending advert habits and starting good ones, benefit from the journey. You will probably study quite a bit about your self, your work ethic, and the setting round you in an effort to stop unhealthy habits earlier than they type sooner or later.

This publish was initially printed in March 2016 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.