hey everyone and welcome to top think today we're going to learn about five habits you need to quit
today now let's begin number one showing up lates do a few short minutes really make a
difference consistent lateness is one of the most common vices in the world a large survey recently
found that fifteen to twenty percent of the u.s. population is late on a regular basis they show
up late to work in the mornings they're the last ones to pick their kids up from school no matter
where they go they're always lagging five ten or fifteen minutes behind but most people don't
understand that it's not on purpose lateness is a bad habit a vice that leaves you feeling guilty
and flustered when it happens all right let's say you show up late for a business lunch you
were supposed to meet your client at noon but it's already 12:10 and you're not even close you rush
as fast as you can but you're still 25 minutes late understandably your clients furious and
you feel terrible now in this situation there's really only two things you can do you could make
an excuse you could tell your client that you got stuck in traffic or that your partner was
taking too long in the shower hoping they'll cut you some slack or you could apologize and promise
it will never ever happen again however like any bad habit tardiness doesn't disappear just because
you want it to your lateness will come back to bite you again and again unless you change your
mindset from the ground up all right let's start with your attitude toward time as a whole now up
until now you may have been thinking to yourself who cares it's just a few minutes of lost time
it's no big deal but five or ten minutes can make a substantial difference in your day imagine you
miss your alarm in the morning so you sleep in for an extra thirty minutes suddenly your entire day
is shifted backwards your morning routine runs long you show up late for work your tardiness
holds up a meeting you're rushing from one project to the next but each delay causes another and just
like that thirty wasted minutes can snowball into a day-long disaster but you're not the only one
who's affected by your tardiness even if you manage to make up for lost time you may be
wasting someone else's yeah remember that meeting you showed up late too well because of you your
co-workers couldn't start on time which slows down the rest of their day too in other words
your lateness doesn't just impact your schedule it impacts everyone around you lateness is a big
deal even if it doesn't seem like much in the moment don't be the person who slows everyone
down or sabotages their own schedule instead practice showing up early prepare for your own
bad habits ahead of time be the person who gets there 10 minutes early for everything not only
will you make a better impression on others but you'll help yourself stay on top of your
schedule no more rushing from place to place no more staring at the clock hoping it's running
a few minutes fast showing up early will keep you ahead of your work and save you from a whole bunch
of unnecessary stress number 2 unconstructive feedback how often do you complain well for
most people in the world complaining is a way to let off steam let's say your co-worker messes up
your presentation or your boss forces you to work on the weekends you complain to get that anger
out of your system right but does complaining actually solve any problems mm-hmm complaining
is an easy thing to do anyone can stew over all the little reasons why something went wrong but
ultimately complaining is just unproductive you're not helping anybody including yourself by stirring
the pot not only are you creating more negativity you're also damaging your own motivation and
enthusiasm so try this instead the next time a situation doesn't go your way find a silver
lining search for at least one positive outcome from every experience maybe you gained some
perspective or discovered that something doesn't work the way you expected either way failure
offers you the opportunity to learn something new but only if you maintain the right mindset
so when something frustrating happens just don't complain rant to your friends about all the bad
things in your life look for a solution discover something positive and give yourself some feedback
that's truly constructive number three idealized fantasies do you get lost in fantastical daydreams
about your future do you wonder what your life would be like as a professional athlete or a
famous celebrity a 2011 study from the Journal of experimental social psychology found that these
extravagant daydreams do much more harm than you realize in this study researchers tested
whether or not fantasizing about your future created more motivation to achieve those goals
well it turns out after imagining some impossible future for themselves people were significantly
less inspired to accomplish anything why is that well because those fantasies don't translate into
the real world instead of thinking about your future you're getting lost in a dream life that
you're never ever going to live in other words fantasizing about your future may be a fun way
to pass the time but it's standing in the way of your long-term goals so pull your head out
of the clouds and focus on the future you want to achieve number for chronic entertainment how
much media do you consume every day most people severely underestimate how much time they spend
glued to a screen data from the Nielsen Company in 2018 shows that the average American household
spends 10 and a half hours per day consuming media oh you're watching TV you're playing games on your
phone you're browsing the Internet there are so many diverse forms of media at your disposal it
may not feel like you're spending that much time on anything but together entertainment
media consumes almost 50% of your day but why do we invest so much time into entertainment
well that answer is easy because it's fun entertainments designed to be engaging and
reward from suspensful Netflix dramas to addicting videogames media outlets want to keep you watching
scrolling and playing as long as possible so they reward you with surprises laugh out loud
jokes and a virtual sense of accomplishment but at the end of the day Entertainment is far from
productive or constructive imagine you spent the morning watching a new show on Netflix after three
hours of thrilling twists and turns do you feel motivated to work are you left feeling inspired
and disciplined or is your brain craving just one more episode according to a study from 2018
published by the Journal of active learning in higher education the amount of media you consume
actually predicts your performance and in this study participants who consume the most media
perform the worst they had the least motivation and the shortest attention spans you don't have
to cut all forms of entertainment out of your life but you do have to stop the media from consuming
so much of your time the key to healthy media consumption is moderation there's no harm in
relaxing with a little TV in the afternoon but entertainment should never interfere with your
productivity or performance number 5 neglecting your stress few things are ignored more frequently
than stress whether you're feeling pressure at work or turmoil at home your first instinct may
be to push that stress as far down as you can even if they're drowning and responsibilities
most people pretend like nothing's wrong they keep pushing and pushing until they have nothing
left to give but is that really the best way to manage your stress the truth is stress is
something you need to take seriously stress of any kind can have a major impact on your body and an
even larger impact on your mind according to an academic review published in the npj science of
learning stress impairs both memory recall and concentration especially when faced with tight
deadlines or pressure to perform so don't let the stress in your life go unnoticed you may
tell yourself to duck your head and wait out the storm but those waves of pressure aren't going to
disappear if you're feeling stressed day in and day out you need to do something about it it's
time to take an active role in physical and mental health luckily there are a wide array of stress
relieving activities to choose from you could distress before work by writing in a journal you
could unwind after a long day with 20 minutes of mindful meditation you could even de-stress
during your lunch break squeezing and relaxing exercises anytime you need them so don't ignore
your stressors stay ahead of your stress to live a healthier more comfortable life hey thank you
for watching Top think and be sure to subscribe because more incredible content is on the way