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Why we develop bad habits 

Have you ever found yourself engaging in a bad habit and wondering why you can't seem to stop? Unfortunately, it's common to fall into bad habits – whether it’s procrastination, unhealthy eating, or neglecting self-care. In your quest for self-improvement, know that discovering and understanding the underlying reasons for these bad habits is the first step toward making positive changes. 

Common reasons for developing bad habits

There are many reasons for taking up bad habits, but the following are among the most common. 

1. Boredom - When bored, turning to unhealthy habits to pass the time or find entertainment is not unusual. To overcome boredom-related bad habits, it’s important to find activities that are engaging and meaningful to you. This might involve taking up a new hobby, volunteering, or pursuing personal growth opportunities.

2. Stress - Stress is a common trigger for bad habits such as...

No matter how you divide up the 2023 calendar year, there are still 365 days in it. If you work full-time with 21 days of annual leave, you’ll have 245 working days to achieve whatever it is you want to achieve professionally, and a little bit more time for what you want to achieve personally. For some that idea can be daunting however it doesn’t have to be. In order to achieve your goals, you need consistent habits to support them. To maintain consistency, you need to take care of your physical and mental health. 

Taking care of your mind is just as important as taking care of your body. Unfortunately, it’s easy to forget that in the busyness of the day-to-day. After all, it’s obvious if you exercised instead of watching TV or ate salmon for dinner rather than fried chicken. How you treat your mind is usually less visible and more difficult to track.

To stay on top of things, it helps to develop easy habits that fit into your usual...

As the last weeks of the year are approaching, many people are thinking about food, family gatherings, and new beginnings. That’s why so many people make New Year’s Resolutions. It’s a fresh start, right?

Unfortunately, for most people, the resolve to keep those resolutions usually dies off after a few weeks. In fact, 23% quit in their first week, and only 36% make it past the first month. Only 9% successfully keep their New Year’s resolutions. Interestingly, research shows 59% of young adults (18-34) have New Year’s resolutions, which makes it the largest demographic that sets these goals. And 48% want to exercise more, making it the most popular New Year’s resolution. The top 3 New Year’s resolutions are all health-related; exercise more, eat healthier, and lose weight. 

The good news is, if you understand why, you find it hard to keep your resolutions, you’ll know what works and doesn’t work for you.

It’s that time of year when aspiring individuals reflect on the past year and re-focus on how to make positive changes this coming year. Recognising what worked and what didn't. Not going to be you? Think carefully about your decision. By deciding not to set goals you’re setting yourself up to another year of the same. Even stay-at-home parents and students reflect on the previous year and make plans for the year. You don't need to have a high-powered job to set goals. Everyone who hopes for a better future has goals and dreams, unfortuantely not everyone focuses their energy to achieve them. Focusing your energy to achieve your hopes and dreams is the first step towards achieving your goals.

Follow these 5 steps to help you get closer to your goals.

1. Setting goals allows you to laser focus on what you want.
Instead of waking every morning with no idea of what tasks to focus on, having your goals written down allows you to make a daily to do list with tasks...

Have you considered your goals for 2022 yet? Goals provide an objective standard to which you can evaluate your success. They also help you stay motivated and provide focus to increase the likelihood of you reaching those goals. Some people think the planning stage is boring and unnecessary but even successful people who prefer the “fly by the seat of your pants” approach to their life and career have specific goals in mind. Not having goals is equivalent to boarding a train and never getting off! That would be mad to do, wouldn’t it?   

Take a few minutes and think about what you want to accomplish in your personal life and professional life and make sure you’re not making any of these mistakes in your goal-setting process. 

5 goal setting mistakes smart people make 

1. Procrastinating

You don’t need to wait until you get back to work to set your goals or wait for a sign before you finalise them. Instead, set quarterly...

Imagine planning a holiday to an unknown destination and paying to travel aimlessly or wherever the wind blows you. Before you realize it, your time has run out, your money is spent, and you haven’t seen or experienced anything worth remembering. Sounds crazy, right?  Well, this could be what happens to your year if you don’t set any goals. You run the risk of finishing the year with little achievement and lowered self-efficacy as goalsetting is positively linked to higher motivation, self-esteem, self-confidence, and autonomy [1].  

A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. Goalsetting is the process of determining the goal.

According to Inc Magazine, 85% of goal setters will abandon their goals and only 8% of those who set goals will achieve them [3]. Now some of that could be attributed to adjusting the goals that were initially set however based on my...