Hey everyone, and welcome to TopThink.
Today, we are going to learn about 7 daily habits that are draining your energy.
Now, let’s begin.
Personal Paranoia Do you take everything personally?
This bad habit affects countless people every single day, but it’s reactionary, unintentional,
and emotional.
In other words, you may not realize what you’re doing wrong.
Let’s say you’re walking down the street, minding your own business, when a stranger
looks at you and laughs.
How do you react?
Do you start wondering what they’re laughing about?
Do you frantically check your clothes for stains or tears?
Do you panic about your appearance, assuming that stranger was laughing at you?
Here’s what’s happening.
You’re taking something impersonal, and you’re attaching it to yourself.
Think about it.
You don’t know what that stranger is laughing at.
You don’t even know if they were looking at you.
They might have been looking at something completely different, but your brain fills
the gaps in your knowledge with your own insecurities.
You’re worried about your appearance, so you assume other people, when they laugh at
something, are making fun of your faults.
That’s what happens when you take everything personally.
You automatically associate negative stimuli with your personal flaws, weaknesses, and
insecurities.
But most things have nothing to do with you.
Most of the time, people laugh, stare, point, or throw up their hands at something else
entirely.
On the off chance they’re staring at you, why does their opinion matter to you?
When you take things personally, it creates extra stress and insecurity.
It makes you sensitive to and paranoid about the opinions of people you don’t even know.
And that paranoia leaves you feeling exhausted all the time.
There are hundreds of reasons why people do the things they do or say the things they
say.
If you assume all of them are directed at you, your energy will disappear in the blink
of an eye.
Breaking Promises When you make promises, do you keep them?
Many people make promises they don’t intend to keep.
This bad habit creates turmoil in your relationships, but it also destroys your self-esteem and
your self-image.
Failing to follow-through creates both negativity and emotional exhaustion.
When I say “follow-through,” what does that mean?
Let’s say your friend invites you to lunch.
You two agree on a time and a place, but five minutes before, you decide you don’t want
to go.
You bail at the last second, frustrating your friend as well as yourself.
Deep down, you know you didn’t do the right thing.
You know that you should have kept the promise you made.
But you didn’t.
You found some excuse to leave your friend hanging.
Even if that excuse made sense at the time, the doubt and disappointment you feel lingers
for a long time after.
And those negative emotions drain your energy much quicker than you realize.
To put it simply, following through is good for you and your relationships.
It proves to your friends that you’re reliable and trustworthy, but it also proves to yourself
that you can be counted on.
That’s a powerful lesson for you to learn about yourself.
You want to be someone you can count on.
You want to be someone you can believe in, because the more you believe in yourself…
the more confident and capable you feel.
If you make a promise, follow through.
Stay true to your word and loyal to your commitments.
In the moment, you might feel like making an excuse.
You might feel a sudden wave of fear, exhaustion, or anxiety, but it’s important that you
practice following through.
The simple truth is… breaking a promise is more draining than keeping one.
Daily Drama Is gossip a part of your daily routine?
Do you spread bad news or enjoy watching other people argue?
You may not be a direct source of gossip in your life, but you may interact with gossip
or drama on a daily basis.
Maybe your friend is having trouble in their relationship, and you want to find out all
the little details.
Maybe a celebrity gets in a fight with someone, and you spend hours on social media figuring
out who said what.
Maybe you may watch reality TV shows, because you enjoy watching arguments between people
you don’t know.
All of these daily habits drain your energy in the same way.
You’re immersing yourself in something that has nothing to do with you, and you’re welcoming
excess drama into your life.
Even if it’s not your drama, it still has a negative impact.
You’re surrounding yourself with negative emotions and overblown problems, and those
problems are contagious.
Watching reality TV, for example, is entertaining at first, but it changes your emotional state
and diminishes your energy.
After listening to other people yell, scream, and cry, do you feel productive, happy, or
motivated?
No, of course not.
The same thing happens when you spend too much time on social media or gossip about
your friends.
It gives you a thrill to explore other people’s drama.
But that drama steals your energy.
So leave the drama to the people involved.
If your friends are struggling, try to help them or just stay out of it.
If there’s a conflict with your favorite celebrity, remember that they are just people
trying to work things out the best they can.
How would you like it if thousands of people weighed in on your social life?
Or relished in your bad experiences?
Ultimately, drama is exhausting, negative, and discouraging.
So keep your life as drama-free as you can.
Stay out of other people’s fights and grudges.
Otherwise, you’ll feel exhausted by drama that isn’t even yours.
Weighty Grudges Are you holding a grudge against someone in
your life?
Grudges are one of the most destructive habits to your daily motivation.
When you hold a grudge, you’re clinging to negative emotions like anger and resentment.
Both of which actively steal your energy and dampen your mood.
It’s exhausting to be angry all the time.
It’s exhausting to reignite bitter arguments and wrestle with the same, overwrought problems.
No grudge is worth holding, because no grudge can justify the negative impact it has on
your lifestyle, your attitude, and your motivation.
You don’t have to forget what someone did.
You don’t have to be someone’s best friend again.
But you should let go of the grudges that linger in your life.
Or else those grudges will fill your life with anger and exhausting negativity.
Midday Breaks Do you ever lie in bed in the middle of the
day?
During those slow, boring hours of the day, you may sprawl on your bed and stare up at
the ceiling.
You might tell yourself, “I’ll just relax for a few minutes,” but lying in bed has
a prolonged effect on your energy and your motivation.
Your brain associates your bed with sleep.
When you lie down, you start to feel tired, unmotivated, and lethargic.
You lie there much longer than you intend to.
Why?
Because you’re too comfortable or too lazy to get back up.
If you lie down in the middle of the day, put this bad habit to rest.
Encourage yourself to do something else instead.
You don’t have to be productive or jump into your work, but you should use those midday
lulls to build your motivation.
For example, instead of lying down for 10 minutes, take a short walk around your neighborhood.
Getting outside and moving your body will preserve your energy levels and increase your
motivation.
Even if it’s just 5 to 10 minutes, stay out of bed as often as possible.
Because each time you get back under your blankets or bury your head into your pillow…
you’re draining your energy.
Heavy Meals Around noon, you start to feel hungry.
You start craving something substantial and savory, so you make a huge meal, and afterward…
you feel exhausted.
Your motivation plummets, and you don’t feel like doing anything… except taking
a long nap.
It’s important to eat lunch every day, but it’s just as important to eat the right
kinds of foods.
That way, you’re not cloudy, lethargic, and sleepy every time you finish your midday
meal.
If you eat large, heavy meals, you’re going to lose more energy than you gain.
But if you keep your lunches light and small, you’ll boost your energy levels and propel
yourself into a more productive afternoon.
So give up those giant midday meals.
As much as you’re craving savory, heavy foods, like a cheeseburger or a bowl of pasta,
pick something that lifts you up… instead of weighing you down.
Cascading Excuses For many people, excuses are a daily occurrence.
You use different excuses to justify all the things you know you shouldn’t be doing.
Before you watch TV, you make an excuse.
Before you procrastinate your work, you make an excuse.
Each time you want to slack… you make up lazy excuses, but those excuses are your worst
enemy.
Every time you make an excuse, it becomes harder and harder to motivate yourself to
work.
Why?
Because those excuses drain your energy and lower your self-control.
It’s hard enough to overcome a challenge or tackle a big project, but excuses make
those obstacles even more intimidating.
Instead of taking on that challenge, you find reasons to choose the easy road.
You learn to be lazy instead of disciplined.
And you start to prioritize your short-term desires over your long-term goals.
Your excuses, no matter how good they are, snowball one after the other.
After you make your first excuse, it becomes easier to justify another.
And another.
Your motivation slips away, and you’re left with a pile of excuses, hours of wasted time,
and nothing to show for it.
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