Self Improvement Articles

Eight Seemingly Harmless Habits That Are Actually Bad for You

Just like there are bad habits that are actually good for you, there are things that people do habitually that they think are good when they’re really not. Maybe it seemed logical but then turned out not to be true once science looked at it.

1. Squeezing Your Pimples – Many people like to squeeze their pimples (or spots as some people call them), but this is not good for you. If you don’t do it right, you could end up with a nasty skin infection. Talk to your doctor about the right way to deal with skin issues, so you don’t hurt yourself more than you think you do.

2. Eating Unnaturally “Low-Fat” Food – Due to all the bad press that fat gets, a lot of people think they’re doing the right thing when they buy low-fat milk, low-fat cheese, low-fat dressing and so forth – but it’s not good for you. The main reason is that they usually replace the fat with sugar to make it palatable. Eating natural fat is much better for you than sugar, plus it satiates you longer.

3. Eating Six Small Meals a Day – This is a common diet idea that people think they need to follow. It’s common in all types of diet plans and is supposed to help control hunger by keeping your blood sugar steady. Sadly, studies are showing that this doesn’t really work because people who eat smaller meals report being hungrier more than those who eat fewer larger meals.

4. Drinking Bottled Water over Tap Water – Most bottled water is infected with plastic residue. If you live in a place with potable tap water, you should use it. You can get an in-home filtering system that will cut down on chemicals like bleach and fluoride.

5. You Drink Juice Every Day – One problem with juice, even if it’s freshly squeezed, is that all the fiber has been removed. When you drink juice without the fiber in it, you are just bombarding your body with a high dose of sugar that your body thinks is just sugar.

6. You Don’t Eat Carbs – Many people see friends giving up carbs and gluten, so they think this is for them. The truth is if you have no medical conditions that are helped with a low-carb or no-gluten diet, you could be harming your health. People without health conditions need carbs – including fruit, veggies, and grains.

7. You Do Juice and Smoothie “Fasts” – Lots of people today like to do “detoxes” to clean their bodies, and often this manifest with smoothies or juices. The bad thing is, most of the time these are high-fruit-based recipes that can really harm your blood sugar and your metabolism.

8. You Work Out for Hours Per Day – Exercise is good for you, but professional athletes know that daily training is not actually good for anything other than ensuring high performance on the day of the contest or event. Normal people should not train daily like that at that level, and should take breaks from working out.

If you already do some of these things, research them further so you’ll see for yourself that these are not really good for you to do regularly after all.

How Self-Discipline Benefits You Socially

So many people have a misconception about self-disciplined people. They think that they’re sticks in the mud and aren’t fun to be around. However, nothing could be further from the truth. People who are self-disciplined tend to be more attractive socially because they’re usually in a better mood and truly ready to be social.

Here are several reasons why being self-disciplined benefits you socially.

* People Trust You – Because you have a reputation of doing what you say you’ll do, people tend to trust you more. When people trust you more, they want to be closer to you and do more things with you. They can be themselves, and that means a lot to people.

* Your Relationships Will Be Stronger – Because you are so accountable, and not moody or hard to get along with, your relationships will be a lot stronger. People really feel calmer around those who get things done and stick to what they think is right.

* You’ll Appear More Confident – Mostly you’ll really be more confident. Being self-disciplined rubs off in all aspects of your life and makes you feel better about yourself and your abilities. Plus, when you’re not making excuses why you didn’t do something, you have more time to feel good about yourself.

* Your Happiness Makes You More Attractive – Not physically, perhaps, but when you are calm, happy, and have less drama and stress in your life you tend to look better, smile more, and people will rate you as more attractive. Look at past family photos, and you can probably pick out the pictures where you look more relaxed compared to more stressed.

* You’ll Have More Time – Everyone is given the same number of hours in a day, but a self-disciplined person is better at managing that time. When you do the work you’re supposed to do on a schedule instead of waiting for motivation to happen, you tend to feel as if you have a lot more free time.

* You Won’t Fall for Temptation – People who have strong self-discipline tend not to fall for temptation. Why? Well, they know that on Friday night they get to have that piece of pie, so why have it on Wednesday? They can wait because they know that the compound effect of making the right choice more often than making the wrong choice pays off.

* You Can Relax and Enjoy Social Time – If you’re not thinking of work when you’re off work, you can enjoy your social time more. If you spent your day at work procrastinating instead, you might even have to miss social time.

When you are self-disciplined, you can enjoy your social time a lot more because you’re not going to think about everything you’ve left undone. You stick to your calendar and get things done so that when you do have time to be social, you can be social without worry. Your friends and family will appreciate that and feel more loved. When people feel more loved, they are happier, and the relationships will be stronger.