There are some traits and habits that are likely hurting us on a day-to-day basis. If you are looking to make a change in your well-being and improve your situation, here are six negative traits you should definitely get rid of.
Prying into other people’s life
It’s natural to be curious and want to compare ourselves to others, but we shouldn’t get carried away by the impulse. It’s important to avoid prying into other people’s life and business when we are not welcome. This is especially true if we have the habit of checking other people’s phones or mail or other private aspects of their lives.
There is a strong impulse to be curious and check, but this only leads to misunderstandings and does harm to our relationships and reputation.
Doing other things while we listen
Listening to other people is not always easy. We might feel the desire to interject and often feel like this is a good time to do other things. Multitasking, while we engage with others, is a bad idea – when we listen and talk, we will get a lot more out of the conversation if we just focus and listen actively.
A related bad habit is interrupting and cutting in. While we might feel like there is something important to add, it’s always important to let the person finish. This can improve our relationships significantly and help us truly hear what the other person has to say.
Pushing our opinions
Another bad habit is forcing our opinions on other people. This is something almost everyone is guilty of, at one point or another, but unless there is a life or death situation, we need to be moderate with our opinions and avoid pushing it on those who don’t share them.
This can mean holding back instead of speaking, refraining from giving advice when it was not asked for, and not taking it personally if someone keeps their original opinion. This does not mean we should never speak up, but our opinion should be expressed as just that – an opinion, not the ultimate choice.
Trying to empathize with others and figuring out why they think the way they think is another useful exercise to kick this habit.
Trying to control other people
This is another bad habit, especially as it is usually unsuccessful. Often, we feel that we know best and that others should go along with what we say, but believing this all the time is nothing but an exercise in frustration.
We are not able to control others, nor should we strive to do this. The habit that will help us to manage our desire for control is letting go.
When we learn to let go of situations and allow other people to do as they want, even if it involves making mistakes, our lives become so much lighter and better.
Making snap judgments
Making judgments about other people is not always a bad thing. If someone is dangerous or unreliable, we for sure want to know that and use that as a guide for our decisions.
However, it can be an issue when we rush to a judgment. It’s useful to stop and wonder whether we have enough evidence to support the conclusion we have reached or if we used something shallow or not significant to make the judgment, for instance, the way the person looks.
Sometimes, it’s useful to give ourselves more time and reserve judgment until there is actual information.
Closing our minds
As adults, we usually have our own experiences and opinions. But this doesn’t mean that we are done learning. One of the worst habits to have is to keep a closed mind and refuse to change our ideas even when confronted with evidence.
It’s useful to keep a beginner’s mind and try to ask yourself how someone with no prior knowledge or experience would view a situation. Allowing yourselves to learn more and grow and change your mind from time to time is a very enriching habit.
