Did you know there is a lot of habits that have a straight impact on your productivity? Productivity is based a lot on the habits you perform daily.
That’s why having strong routines and healthy habits is important if you want to ensure you stay productive.
Nevertheless, in this article you will learn unhealthy habits you need to ditch in order to rapidly increase your ability to remain productive throughout the day.
We might not even realize how much bad and toxic habits we perform daily. Moreover, how they affect our success and motivation.
Unhealthy habits you need to ditch are so “normal” these days that it may even sound weird to get rid of them.
Therefore, start by taking little steps and you will find out what are the unhealthy habits YOU need to ditch.
Unhealthy Habits You Need to Ditch
Because you are reading this, I assume your goal is to level up your productivity and focus on self-improvement.
While reading this, be honest with yourself; how many of these following habits are you doing daily?
1. Scrolling TikTok
First off, let’s get started with one of the worst ones. If you have a TikTok, it’s fine. But if you are endlessly scrolling it for over 2 hours a day… I would think about quitting on it.
Many people actually realize that scrolling TikTok is bad and a toxic habit to have but they don’t want to change.
Just a quick realization here: If you scroll 2-4 hours TikTok everyday. You know what? It equals 14-28 hours on scrolling.
Do you understand how much time are you wasting on some pointless things that only bring momentary dopamine. You are simply wasting your most precious value – time.
I am being totally honest, I have never had TikTok and I won’t probably download it unless using it as a platform to foster businesses.
That’s why in my opinion TikTok is one of the unhealthy habits you need to ditch immediately.
2. Playing video games
If you want to be more productive and focus on self-improvement, you can’t spend your time playing video games.
Here is the thing: playing video games is totally fine if you do it moderately. For example only every Saturday for 2 hours maximum.
Playing video games is such an unhealthy habit because it gives you this fake sense of improvement. You are leveling up in the game, but not in reality.
Additionally, playing video games everyday wastes a lot of time and actually decreases your ability to be creative and active.
This is one of those unhealthy habits you need to ditch if you want to improve your life.
3. Smoking
Nothing is worse for your health than smoking. Definitely an unhealthy habit you need to ditch now.
Smoking has a negative effect on your health, mental health, muscles… basically everything. It gives you good feeling momentary which after you may regret it.
If you are focusing on leveling up your life and being more productive, you should not be smoking.
If you have friends who smoke, find ways to be able to avoid smoking with them. (This doesn’t mean you can’t hang out with them).
4. Going out every weekend
There is nothing wrong with going out even every weekend but the problem is if you get drunk or spend a lot of money every weekend.
Going out can be done without drinking alcohol or blowing up $250 for something that harms your health.
If you find yourself replacing your bad feelings and frustration with going out and drinking a lot. It is one of those unhealthy habits you need to ditch now.
I would much more likely prefer to focus on your self-improvement now, especially if you are in your 20’s or even 30’s. And later enjoy your life by accomplishing your ultimate goals.
5. Watching Netflix
Look, watching Netflix is totally fine. But now that we are talking about self-improvement and improvement of productivity, you can’t spend your time on Netflix.
To be clear, you can watch Netflix when the most important actions of the day have been completed that have the biggest impact on achieving your goals.
There is a lot of people who might spend their whole watching Netflix. If you find yourself doing this, quit Netflix marathons, it’s one of those unhealthy habits you need to ditch.
6. Waking up late
There is theoretically nothing wrong with waking up late, but I will say that if you are able to wake up early, you’ll feel much more energetic and productive.
If you want to be more productive, you can’t wake up late. And I let you decide what is considered “late”.
But in general, if I wake up after 9 AM, I am not going to be that productive during the day.
If you are able to wake up early, you can easily complete your most important daily goals before lunch and feel free for the rest of the day – the progress has been made before lunch.
If you want to get everything out of productivity, make sure to acknowledge that waking up late is one of the unhealthy habits you need to ditch.
7. Spending time on social media
If you spend over 2 hours a day on social media (TikTok excluded), you are simply not appreciating the time you have.
Ask yourself: Why am I doing this? How this helps me to reach my goals?
If you can’t find honest answers, then quit it. There is nothing worse than blowing your time on scrolling endless YouTube shorts or Instagram Reels.
On the flip side, there is a plenty of good, educational content. Take advantage of it.
Otherwise, spending time for pointless things on YouTube and Instagram are unhealthy habits you need to ditch.
8. Checking your phone for no reason
How many times have you opened your phone, opened an app and then immediately closed it? Probably everyone is familiar with this.
Checking your phone without a good reason is one of the worst unhealthy habits you need to ditch.
If you check your phone constantly when you are working on something important to you, you break your focus and it also reduces your productivity.
There is simply no reason to check your phone every 10 minutes. That’s why when you are working, make sure to put your phone in another room.
9. Skipping breakfast
Skipping breakfast can have negative consequences on both your mental and physical health.
When you skip breakfast, you are depriving your body of the essential nutrients and energy it needs to kickstart your day.
This can lead to fatigue, irritability, and lack of focus throughout the day. It especially lowers your productivity and has negative impact on mindset as well.
Moreover, skipping breakfast can cause you to overeat during later meals in the day, especially during lunch and dinner.
This can lead to weight gain and increase your risk for obesity and related health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.
Skipping breakfast is an unhealthy habit you need to ditch and start eating a healthy breakfast every morning.
Eating breakfast has been linked to improved memory, concentration, and overall brain functioning.
10. Saying "I do it later"
This is one of those unhealthy habits you need to ditch immediately without excuses. Why would you ever say this?
It is only to save yourself from starting to take action on things you need to do. Doing this is a sign of a weak mindset and poor self-discipline.
When you get used to this, it becomes very hard to take action when it’s necessary.
Instead, if you know people who say this, use it as a source of motivation and focus on your improvement even more with higher effort.
11. Creating excuses
When we talk about unhealthy habits you need to ditch, creating excuses is absolutely one of them.
If you constantly create excuses, it means you are not mentally strong enough to take action on important things. Additionally, you seem to have a lazy attitude to your goals.
What makes creating excuses so toxic is that you cut down your own chances of making the progress you need.
If you had to workout today but you said it’s better to workout tomorrow, you created a pointless excuse to avoid improvement. Creating excuses destroys your productivity.
I leave this section with a question: WHY?
12. Staying up late
I bet you are not working on important actions during nighttime. For most part, people tend to play video games, scroll their phones or watch movies instead of going to sleep on time.
When you stay up late, you are going to be less productive the next day because you are not focusing on proper recovery.
If you would focus on falling asleep on time, for example at 10-11 PM, you will simply be more productive the next day because you can wake up early enough.
Additionally, waking up early is the secret to complete your most important tasks before lunch.
Be honest, if you stay up late and don’t find a clear reason for that, that is definitely one of the unhealthy habits you need to ditch now.
13. Sitting all day
We might not even realize how much we spend time sitting nowadays. Especially, if you have an office type job.
Therefore, it is critical to take care of your body more than ever, physically. You need physical exercise.
Sitting all day causes stiffness in muscles and joints. If you sit all day without having a breath of fresh air, you can’t remain productive for the whole day.
Sitting too much is one of the unhealthy habits you need to ditch, in particular everyone of us. But if you can’t, make sure to exercise 4-5 times a week.
14. Overthinking
Overthinking is something everybody do at some point. It is a part of human nature. However, you have to realize that in reality no one cares about your actions.
Therefore, pointless overthinking will only kill your results and decrease productivity. That’s why if I face the point of overthinking, I tell myself:
Stop thinking, start doing!
This helps you mentally to instantly realize the fact of pointless overthinking and encourages to take action.
Ultimately, when we discuss about unhealthy habits you need to ditch, overthinking is definitely one of them.
15. Multitasking
Everybody is familiar with multitasking. Probably you have done multitasking at some point of your life.
The problem with multitasking is that it makes you feel productive and effective. But the reality is different. You are just being busy, ineffective and it becomes harder to work productively on your tasks.
I can’t tell you how many times I have noticed that working on one task at a time is much more productive and you get amazing results because of the singular focus you put in.
Multitasking is bad for productivity because it distracts your focus basically all the time. As a result, multitasking belongs to unhealthy habits you need to ditch.
16. Leaving things to last minute
Let’s be serious, nobody likes leaving things to last minute and it is definitely on of the worst unhealthy habits you need to ditch.
Leaving things to last minute is a sign of poor responsibility and inaction. In addition, it shows that you are not capable of managing your important tasks.
Don’t leave even the smallest things to last minute. Meaning, plan your outfit for tomorrow today and pack your bag.
Work on your school assignment for 30 minutes each day instead having a 3 hour rush on Sunday evening.
Once you are able to plan and organize your tasks better, you will have much more time and get better results.
17. Watching too much TV
There are many reasons why watching too much TV is bad for you. First off, watching TV for several hours a day can lead to a sedentary lifestyle, which can increase your risk of health issues.
Additionally, excessive TV watching can negatively impact your mental health, causing feelings of anxiety, depression, and loneliness.
Furthermore, watching TV can be a huge time drain, preventing you from engaging in more productive activities such as exercise, socializing, or pursuing your goals.
Watching TV 1 hour a day is fine if you have completed the work that affects your goals positively.
If you spend more time than that, you should consider it as one of the unhealthy habits you need to ditch.
18. Waiting for a perfect moment
If you always wait for a perfect moment, well then, that is pointless because perfect moments never come.
The truth is you need to build opportunities yourself. Put simply, you have to take action.
It is incredible how taking action will allow you to grow daily into the direction you want. The most important part is to work on things that help you reaching your goals.
By taking action you are instantly better than those who wait for the “perfect moment”. Waiting for a perfect moment belongs to unhealthy habits you need to ditch.
19. Refusing to learn
When it comes to making improvement and increasing productivity, constant learning plays a big role in that.
You are not able to become better if you refuse to learn and refuse investing in yourself. Learning requires time and effort, but will definitely be worth it in the long run.
When you refuse to learn, you simply show signs of a weak mindset and poor self-discipline.
If you find yourself refusing to learn new things, I would think twice before the actual decision. Talking about unhealthy habits you need to ditch, this one is for sure on the list.
20. Hanging with negative people
Negative people not only make you feel negative but also affect any aspect of your life negatively including productivity, discipline and behavior.
Hanging with negative people is a thing you should avoid at all cost. There is no reason to do that.
Negative people discourage you and make you feel doubting yourself. Additionally, they drain your energy and can significantly reduce your desire to work on yourself.
Therefore, this one is without a doubt one of the most dangerous unhealthy habits you need to ditch and focus on building a positive network.
The main takeaway
To be honest, there is a plenty of unhealthy habits you need to ditch, but it means all of us. It is nearly impossible to spend the whole day without performing an unhealthy habit.
However, you can do your best and replace unhealthy habits with healthy and productive ones.
It is true that changing bad habits is hard at first, but again, you have commit to the process and want to change your life for better.
Focusing on important actions and healthy habits will make your life much more exciting, progressive and enjoyable.
For more self-improvement content, check my YouTube channel.
