Stop bad habits that lead to bad decisions

- 40% of our daily activity is driven by habits, most often habits we don't even think about. It's vital to gain better awareness of your bad habits because bad habits lead to bad decisions. As a more extreme example of this, let's say a young professional athlete has a bad habit of surrounding themself with people who aren't a good influence and they wind up making some poor decisions. While this probably isn't you, there's still a good chance you're making some poor decisions because of your bad habits. Maybe you stare at your phone screen in bed right up until you close your eyes so you wake up tired and irritable, causing you to make less than optimal decisions the next morning. Not a good choice. Maybe you have a habit of beating yourself up when something goes wrong, causing you to say no to future opportunities. Also not a good choice. Maybe you have a bad habit of always starting out late so you drive well over the speed limit to make up for it. Never a good choice. The point is this. One of the most fundamental ways to get better at making decisions is to not set yourself up to make bad ones. For help, take a bad habit inventory. Here's how it works. Draw a simple table like this with three columns and multiple rows. Mark the left column "Bad Habit," the middle column "Impact on Decisions," and the right column "New Habit." The idea is to first create an inventory of all your bad habits. Don't overthink it. Don't beat yourself up here. Just reflect. Be honest with yourself and list them. We all have them. Be brave and ask friends, family, and coworkers what your bad habits are. Then evaluate whether or not each bad habit is actually driving bad decisions, which won't be the case for all of them. For example, you list your bad habit of chewing your fingernails. That would be great if you stopped, but that doesn't drive bad decisions per se, so that's not the focus of this exercise. As you're evaluating each habit say to yourself, "Has this habit led me to make choices I wish I hadn't?" If the answer is yes, then write down the new habit you replace it with. This last step is extra important because psychology research from Dominican University of California shows you're 42% more likely to achieve your goals when you write them down. Let's further illustrate this inventory with two examples of bad habits that actually led to bad decisions. Say upon reflection you know your bad habit of people-pleasing leads you to choose too often to neglect taking care of yourself and what you need to do. You decide to replace this bad habit of people-pleasing with a new habit, to think of the youniverse, not the universe, which is a pithy way of saying you're starting a habit of taking care of what you need and want first before worrying about everyone else. That will lead to better decisions in the future. Another example. Say upon reflection you identify that your bad habit of perfectionism leads to you choosing to work on something for way too long at the expense of something else important. You commit to replacing that bad habit with a habit of being good at good enough. That will also lead to better decisions in the future on how you spend your time. Pause this video now and take some time to take your own bad habit inventory. You'll set yourself up for better decisions, not ones you're bitter about.