11 HABITS YOU SHOULD BREAK TO LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE

Share & save for later!

When we form a new habit, it has the power to change our lives. Some habits are beneficial but others not so much. There are habits that you should break as soon as possible if you want to live your best life! 

Habits are so powerful!

Whether it is making sure you’re getting 8 hours of sleep every night. Working on a business you were meaning to launch for years. Or taking baby steps every week to save money and pay off your debt.

The habits you have developed over time define what your life looks like and how you feel every day.

Experts say it takes 21 days to form a new habit. So, it is not an easy task and many fail in the process.

But breaking a habit can be very difficult as well!

Forcing ourselves to stop doing something we have been doing for months or years is not easy, but it can be worth it.

Here are 11 habits you should break to live your best life! 

11 habits you should break to live your best life

1 – Caring too much about what other people think and say 

Have you ever found yourself wanting to do something with your life, but immediately gave up on your goal?

Did you let it go because of the fear of what other people will say and think of you? I did! And it’s not an enjoyable place to be. 

Maybe you wanted to start a YouTube channel to share your passion with the world? Or you wanted to ditch your job and move into an RV?

But you ended up doing nothing at all because you were too afraid of other people’s reactions? 

The thing is, this habit can stop you from doing amazing things in life.

It can prevent you from achieving your goals and dreams, from doing what will make you happy. 

If you want to live your best life, you should break the habit of thinking about what other people will think.

What other people think and say is their problem, not yours! 

2 – Procrastinating

Procrastination often has the same consequence as caring too much about what other people think of you.

You postpone your goals and dreams, for no good reason.

When procrastinating, you often find excuses for not doing something you initially intended to do.

What is the result of it? You have done nothing to move towards a better life for you. 

Sometimes, procrastination is necessary. If you have other priorities at a given moment, you may need to procrastinate on other things.

But most of the time, we procrastinate out of laziness. In this case, we should break this habit that is doing us no good. You can find out how to stop procrastinating here. 

The longer you’ll be putting things off, the harder it will be for you to do them.

If you want to achieve something, you have to force yourself to do it. And I get it. Some goals can be scary to work towards.

But to live your best life, you’ll have to stop creating excuses. Go out of your comfort zone and start doing the things that will help you evolve and grow!

3 – Hoarding excess stuff 

If you know me, it should not be a surprise for you to find this point in this list of habits you should break.

As I mentioned in a previous article about important life lessons minimalism taught me, having too many things at home is overwhelming. It can be draining and stressing you out.

Overconsuming and hoarding won’t make you happy. It can bring you problems you might not want to have.

On the other hand, living with less has so many benefits and it can only transform your life for the better.

Your home becomes more peaceful, easier to clean and you get more time to enjoy doing the things you love. 

This list of 70 things you should get rid of to have a simplified home should help you downsize your physical belongings.

You may also want to check my favorite decluttering hacks that have helped me a lot during my decluttering process. 

Read more: How to stop being materialistic and overconsuming?

4 – Not making your health a priority

I know it’s easier said than done, but with everyday problems and obligations, many people aren’t making their health a priority.

In the short run, they may not think that it is harming them. But in the long run, unhealthy patterns and habits add up and can put their health at risk. 

Are you getting enough sleep every night? Are you eating healthy and balanced food? Are you moving your body every week?

I know, it can get difficult to keep up with everything and no one is perfect.

But try to do your best to incorporate small actions in your days that will benefit your health in the long run.

For instance, you might want to start with these 8 morning habits to live a healthy life.

Not making health a priority is definitely a habit you should break!

And it also involves giving up on other unhealthy things you do. I’m thinking of smoking, eating junk food, or drinking too much alcohol. 

5 – Surrounding yourself with fake friends and toxic people

For our mental wellbeing, we should only surround ourselves with people that we love, that are supportive and positive.

Because the people we speak to every day affect how we feel at the end of the day. 

How are you feeling after having a conversation with a toxic person? And how does it feel to communicate with a positive and uplifting human being?

I’m sure you know the difference and how it affects your levels of energy. 

But sometimes, it’s difficult to stay away from toxic people because they may be family members, a boss, or colleagues. And it’s not easy to protect your energy around them.

But at least try to recognize who your fake friends are, and make the conscious decision to let these people go.

They are not good for your wellbeing and mental health. 

6 – Being afraid of the future

The future is scary. Many things can happen in the world or our lives. Whether these will be good or bad things, uncertainty can be stressful for some of us. 

The thing is, you can’t entirely control what will happen in the future.

There’s nothing you can do to make sure that everything will go as planned and as you wanted. As hard as it may seem, you have to accept this fact. 

But one thing I recommend doing to control your fear of the future is to make a list of the things that you CAN control.

Okay, you may not be 100% sure that you will get that promotion and that you won’t get laid off.

But you can do the best you can at work so that your boss will be happy to have you working for them. 

You cannot make sure that you’ll be healthy for years to come, but you can take daily action that will benefit your health in the long run.

You also aren’t guaranteed that you won’t fail at your next exam, but you can study hard to maximize your chances of passing it. 

Being afraid of the future won’t get you anywhere.

That’s a habit you should break so that you can live your best life, and start focusing on the things you can control. 

7 – Regretting 

Like I wrote in the previous point, being afraid of the future is pointless because you cannot control it.

But it is also true with the past. You have no power to change what happened in the past. 

Whatever happened, there is nothing you can do to change that. And regretting won’t change anything either.

I know it’s easier said than done but break the habit of regretting things!

If you’re not happy with something you did in the past, stop thinking about it over and over again.

Stop asking yourself what you should have done in this given situation. Thinking about different scenarios and their possible outcomes is useless.

Start asking yourself: how can regretting change the outcome? Realize that it can’t. 

Accept what you cannot change, switch your thoughts, and start thinking about something positive.

Regrets can only bring negativity in your life and will hinder your happiness.

Let these bad thoughts go, move on for good, and make space for positive experiences.

8 – Overthinking

Do you often find yourself overthinking things after something happened, or before making a decision?

I do, more often than I’d like to admit! I can spend hours of my day thinking about something that worries me. 

The problem with overthinking is that it can lead to pessimistic thoughts.

When you’re thinking through everything, chances are you will make up things that don’t even exist.

For instance, if you’re overthinking a sentence that someone said, you might come up with a hidden meaning of that sentence.

But it can be false and you might end up thinking something that will not serve you. 

Overthinking can make you doubt everything, sometimes for no rational reason. It is a huge waste of time and energy.

Consider breaking this habit if you want to live your best life! 

9 – Comparing yourself to others

Comparing yourself to others is one of the most toxic habits you should break today!

But don’t feel guilty for doing this, it can happen to everyone. I’m sure everybody finds themselves doing it at times. It is human to do so. 

Comparing your situation to other people who may appear more successful, more confident, or wealthier is normal.

Yet it often leads to negative thoughts and jealousy. You may also end up thinking that you’re not good enough, or that you’re not as good as other people. 

Remember that the grass is always greener on the other side and that no one’s life is perfect.

If someone seems to have succeeded better than you, keep in mind that everyone is on their own journey.

You don’t know how hard they work to succeed. How many hours they spend working instead of relaxing.

Try to only use comparison in a positive way. If someone seems to have it all, get inspired by their actions.

Learn what they’re doing to make their life so positive and great. And use it as an inspiration to grow, not an opportunity to bring you down! 

10 – Perfectionism 

For the longest time, I thought that I needed to do things perfectly. That was especially true when I was at university.

I would spend hours to improve a paper that was already great, that was good enough. But it wasn’t good enough for me.

This resulted in a lot of wasted time that I could’ve spent doing something more useful and important. 

After years of doing that, I realized that it was silly to do this and that perfectionism was not doing me good.

I started letting go of it as time went on, and it felt so liberating. If you’re a perfectionist, you should try breaking this habit! 

Perfectionism can hinder our productivity and can become stressful. It might also give us a feeling of constant dissatisfaction, which is not healthy. 

Accept that nobody is perfect and that you have the right to do things imperfectly.

Of course, that’s amazing if you want to improve yourself. But you should strive to find the balance between perfection and good enough. 

11 – Not believing in yourself

Last but not least for this list of habits you should break, you need to stop believing that you are not good enough.

It can prevent you from growing and moving towards your dreams and goals. 

Confidence is a key skill that we need to master if we want to be happy with our lives.

When you feel confident, it feels like you can conquer the world and achieve whatever you want. That’s an amazing feeling! 

Start writing positive affirmations every day, or better, say them out loud while looking in a mirror.

“I am capable of achieving my goals”, “I am worthy of finding happiness and being successful”.

Positive affirmations have the power to change how you see things! 

You should always speak kindly to yourself, otherwise, you might struggle with self-doubt and lack of confidence. Which, I’m sure, is not something you want.

So stop doubting your capabilities, you can do amazing things if you put your mind to doing something! 

Read more: 56 inspiring quotes about self-love and worth

Final thoughts on habits you should break to live your best life

There you go! Those are 11 habits you should break to live your best life!

Most of these habits can hinder our happiness, mental health, and wellbeing.

I’m sure that if you manage to break at least a few of these, your life will drastically improve.

If you’re looking for more inspiration, you’ll love the following article: 25 things to quit to simplify your life.  

Which habits have you decided to break this year?

What are some other habits that I may have not mentioned here and that you think you should break to live your best life? 

Share & save for later!