Every person’s life consists of many habits formed from childhood. Some of them help you achieve your goals and develop, while others gradually take control over all your decisions and actions, turning you into a hostage of circumstances.
Today, we’ll discuss just such patterns of behavior. If you recognize yourself in the points listed below, you should start working on getting rid of these bad habits as soon as possible.
9 habits that can make you dependent on circumstances
1. The Habit of Waiting for Inspiration
You may constantly postpone active actions, waiting for a favorable moment or inspiration. However, the belief that you need a special emotional state to realize an idea or make an important decision is wrong. You only lose precious time that you could spend achieving the desired goal.
Besides, the more you procrastinate, the more problems you encounter. So train yourself not to wait for mythical inspiration that may not come at all but to act on a well-thought-out plan.
2. Fear of change
Lack of readiness for change is often a barrier to success. The habit of avoiding new things and the desire to stay in one’s comfort zone makes one dependent on current circumstances.
Fear of the unknown paralyzes you and prevents you from developing, and at the same time, you lose many great opportunities to be happy and improve your life.
3. Uncontrolled information consumption
You live in a world overflowing with all kinds of information. But a lot is not always a good thing. The habit of constantly consuming news and doing it mindlessly deprives you of the opportunity to form your perception of the world, think, and come to objective conclusions.
Remember that information is rarely conveyed as neutrally and as close to reality as possible. To stop being dependent on external sources, you need to pump up your critical thinking.
Stop believing everything you hear or read; instead, force yourself to build cause-and-effect relationships, analyze and rely only on facts.
4. Shifting responsibility
The habit of shifting blame to others or circumstances is a convenient excuse. It allows one to avoid responsibility, but it also makes one dependent on external factors.
You literally convince yourself and others that you have no say; you can’t change anything, and you can’t turn the situation in your favor.
Recognizing your role in what is happening and accepting responsibility gives you the power to control your life. Only in this way can you regain control of the situation and become the master of your destiny, not its hostage.
5. Constant comparison
Comparing yourself to others often makes you overlook your own achievements and strengths. Instead of praising yourself and noticing any positive changes, you focus only on what you are inferior to others.
This attitude towards yourself dramatically affects your self-esteem and prevents you from realizing your full potential. Living in perpetual comparison and striving to meet other people’s standards limits your inner freedom.
You become more uptight, holding back your goals, putting your dreams on hold, and believing you don’t have enough resources to realize them.
6. Seeking approval
Seeking others’ approval robs you of your independence. The habit of seeking recognition and praise turns you into a puppet, dependent on others’ opinions.
You become an easy target for manipulators, literally attracting such personalities. In addition, you stop accepting and understanding your true desires, goals, and values.
Instead, you focus on the worldview of others, believing that their opinion is more important. You cannot exercise your free will if you are fixated on seeking approval. That’s why it’s so important for you to break this bad habit as soon as possible.
7. Life in the past
Constantly returning to memories and experiences from the past prevents one from focusing on the present. This habit creates a sense of dissatisfaction and makes one dependent on events that one can never change.
By dwelling on the past, you miss great opportunities to improve your present and future, achieve your desired goals, and feel happy. Learn to enjoy what you have right now. This will help you overcome the negative influence of long-lived events.
8. Life according to patterns
The habit of following established patterns and stereotypes accepted in society limits one’s autonomy. The desire to conform deprives one of one’s individuality and prevents one from making well-considered and balanced decisions, acting on the basis of one’s own needs and interests.
You actually turn yourself into a hostage to other people’s standards, often without any justification. When faced with a difficult situation and planning your future actions, you overly rely on the opinions of others, their advice, worldly wisdom, and so on.
However, such patterns of behavior cannot be called universal. Even if they really helped someone from your environment, it does not guarantee exactly anything. So, accustom yourself to analyze the situation and make decisions based on your own experience and desired goals.
9. Postponement
The habit of postponing important matters slows down personal development and creates dependence on external factors. The longer you procrastinate, the more unresolved problems you accumulate.
Delays can turn a simple task into a whole quest, which, after a while, becomes increasingly difficult to complete. In addition, procrastination decreases motivation, so you begin to feel that the idea is not worth your efforts.
