You often spend a lot of time doing activities that you think will change your life for the better. But the harsh truth is that most of your actions turn out to be meaningless. To not waste internal resources in vain, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the list of useless things that you need to give up.
Trying to be productive
You can’t be productive all the time – you have to put up with it. The more you try to force yourself to do something, the more likely you will burn out and lose the opportunity to work altogether.
You have a limited supply of strength and energy, and every time you use up your internal resources, you need to give yourself time to rest to restore them.
In most cases, your attempts to regain your productivity will not lead to the desired result, so stop deluding yourself and rather be distracted by something enjoyable and interesting.
Memories of past failures
There is probably nothing more pointless than wasting time and energy remembering past failures. So you made a mistake, you made a wrong decision, you didn’t follow through, you can’t undo what happened, you can’t change it.
You can only draw a useful experience from what happened and move on with your life. And constantly replaying thoughts of your worthlessness and stupidity in your head is not useful “work on mistakes” but a direct path to low self-esteem and mental problems.
Self-doubt
You can be sure that self-doubt helps a person to notice their weak points and improve themselves. But moving forward and translating ideas into reality is extremely difficult if you are not confident in yourself.
Try to overcome doubts in yourself and do what is required of you, without thinking about the result of your labors. And remember that no one is immune from error or failure – even someone who has all the necessary knowledge and skills to achieve a goal.
Finding excuses
There is no point in wasting your time and energy looking for excuses for yourself or others. A person always acts as he sees fit, and if you want to know what prompted him to a particular decision, ask him this question. You will not maintain friendship or love if you invent in your head the reasons for the bad attitude of a loved one towards you.
If you like to look for excuses for yourself and your inaction, remember one important thing. You will always find the opportunity to do what you need. You will allocate 10-15 minutes a day for this; you will do it in between work, you will force yourself to get up from the couch, even if you feel unwell, to make some progress.
Excuses are trying to convince yourself that you have a good reason for not doing anything.
Thoughts about what you don’t have
If you are constantly thinking about what you do not have, believing that this is how you motivate yourself to try harder and achieve more, stop. It only drives you into apathy, even more, makes you think that you are a loser.
Learn to appreciate what you have here and now: your loved ones, your health, a roof over your head, and other things that seem trivial to you until the moment you are all right.
Waiting for the right moment
It may seem to you that now is not the best time to start active actions. Therefore, you decide not to take risks and wait for a better moment so as not to be disappointed. This is usually not limited to a few days or weeks and counts over months or years.
The reason is simple: there is no perfect time for any undertaking. Stop convincing yourself otherwise and voluntarily miss out on great opportunities to take the first step now.
Indulging fears
Some people believe that fears help them avoid unpleasant situations, unnecessary risks, and, as a result, failure in principle. Yes, this is so because without taking any action, you cannot make a mistake.
But indulging in fears keeps you in your comfort zone, avoiding not only failure but possible success as well. Try to do what you are afraid of more often – it hardens you, gives you invaluable experience, and changes your life for the better. This is the only way you can regain self-confidence and begin to achieve what you want.
Attempts to manipulate others
Anyone who knows how to manipulate people around him can achieve his goal even in the most difficult situation. But do not forget that sooner or later (and most often, the first option wins), a person will see through your true motives, which will lead to irreversible consequences. Either all ties will be cut off with you, no matter how close you were to a person, or revenge will not be long in coming.
In any case, instead of wasting your energy and time on using other people for selfish purposes, try to achieve what you want on your own. And if you need someone else’s interference, learn to build a constructive dialogue with a person without pressure and manipulation.
Self-deception
Of course, it is much easier to deceive yourself in some situations than to take responsibility for your feelings and your life and start making tough decisions. But if you look at this issue in the long term, it turns out that self-deception is a dangerous habit that prevents you from moving on.
You are marking time in the same place, stubbornly denying the existence of a problem, thereby preventing yourself from taking up work on it. Give up the lie, take off your rose-colored glasses and accept the surrounding reality as it is.
Comparing yourself to others
When you compare yourself to someone more intelligent, more prosperous, more successful, or prettier than you, you’re not motivating yourself to try harder. On the contrary, your self-esteem is rapidly falling, and you lose all desire to strive forward.
You justify your inaction because you are worse than those around you, and they have made such progress that you are unable to achieve.
