15 Ways You're Actually Making Your Life Much Harder Than It Needs To Be

We can often be our worst enemies. We do things that we know we’d be better off not doing, but we do them regularly anyways.

We are making our lives more difficult with every other decision we make, making the right choices in the future much more unlikely. To make better decisions in your life, you need to get some momentum.

There are plenty of things that you could be doing differently – little things – that will make your life much more pleasant and memorable.

1. You spend too much of your time doing things that don’t matter.

You only have 24 hours in a day to sleep, eat and do whatever else it is that you need to do. For whatever reason, we like to slack off and leave things for last minute, spending what little time we have dicking around.

The problem is that the things that need to be done, need to be done.

2. You then get frustrated and scramble to do the things that need to be done, complaining that you never have enough time.

You did have enough time – more than enough, actually. You simply chose to spend that time doing things that you can’t even vividly remember doing. You spent your time and didn’t even get a good memory out of it.

3. You eat crap food and then feel lethargic all the time.

It takes longer to digest heavier or processed foods. It takes much more energy. If you’re spending your energy digesting food then you won’t have as much to spend in other areas.

Eating smaller amounts, or simply healthier, will leave you feeling more energetic. A simple change that makes a huge difference.

4. You don’t exercise, which only makes it more difficult to get yourself to exercise.

You need to exercise – you’re an animal who needs to move. If you don’t exercise then your body doesn’t function properly.

You don’t need to start training for the triathlon, but you do need to get off the couch three to four times a week and do some cardio.

5. You get trashed on weekends and spend half the week recovering – only to sober up in time again for the weekend.

It’s okay to go out for drinks. Encouraged, in fact. Hell, don’t even wait until the weekend if you don’t want to. But don’t drink yourself stupid. You know you’re going to feel like sh*t for the next day or two at least.

Is it really worth it? Maybe once in a while, but doing so weekly eats up a lot of your days.

6. You sleep late on weekends, throwing your whole cycle off.

It’s nice to catch up on sleep when you can… but waking up at 2 pm as opposed to your regular 7 am, is not the greatest idea.

It will shift your sleep and wake cycle, which you’ll have to shift back as soon as Monday comes.

7. You don’t get enough sleep or you sleep under the influence.

Drugs, alcohol... pick your poison. Going to sleep under the influence almost always affects your REM sleep – meaning you don’t get as much as you need.

You’ll wake up feeling tired and, of course, hungover.

8. You hang around people who don’t add anything to your life.

What you need to understand is that even if your friends don’t take away from your life, if they don’t add to your life then you are still losing – opportunity cost.

You have an opportunity to surround yourself with better people and make your life better, but you don’t. Therefore, you’re losing out.

9. You either don’t network or don’t bother to keep in touch with those you’ve already met with.

Networking is an art more than anything else. It’s not just about collecting contacts. It’s about getting them to want you to stay in touch with them. And, most importantly, actually staying in touch with them.

A contact is useless unless you keep in contact with that person. Only calling contacts when you need something makes them feel used.

10. You’re working a job you know you shouldn’t be working.

You may hate your job, but you may not. You may even enjoy it a little bit – but if it isn’t what you want to be doing then why bother doing it?

I’m sure you have a bunch of "reasons" why not, but chances are if you focused and went after it, you’d get it sooner than you’d expect. If you don’t make moves then you will never get to where you want to be.

11. You’re putting off your dreams for a day when "things will be easier" – things never really get easier.

If you are one of the lucky individuals who has a clear picture of what he or she wants life to look at then please don’t turn into one of the fools who never goes about changing it.

For you to be who you want to be, you’re going to have to make changes – not all of them will be pleasant, at first anyway. Don’t simply be a dreamer; be a doer.

12. You date the wrong person over and over again.

I know… you have a type… But if that type keeps breaking your heart then maybe, just maybe, it’s time to rethink your position. There are plenty of "types" out there. Stop repeating your mistakes and make some novel ones.

You may not get it right off the bat, but you will get closer each time.

13. You don’t take the time to settle your mind.

Call it meditation, call it just lying there and doing nothing for 20 minutes, call it whatever you want. To perform at peak levels, you need to allow your mind to slow down the thought process.

It can be difficult to get yourself to do it, I know that I’m not perfect when it comes to squeezing a meditation session in, but it is worth the trouble.

14. You keep picking at yourself, telling yourself you’re not good enough.

You are who you are. Many things you can change about yourself, and others you can’t. Those that you can’t, you shouldn’t pay mind to and the things that you can you should already be working on.

If you’re working on them then why keeping poking at yourself? If you’re not working on them then poke at the fact that you’re too lazy to actually make changes in your life.

15. You keep telling yourself lies that you don’t really believe.

Truth can hurt… but it’s the truth. If you’re not living a life of truth then you’re living a life filled with lies – what’s the point? You’re really only making life more difficult for yourself.

Eventually, you will have to face the truth and it’ll be much more difficult and painful to cope with.

Photo Courtesy: We Heart It

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