Do you know that some of your daily habits can actually impede your personal growth? When it comes to developing personal growth, the challenges can come from both internal and external factors. Being a middle-class sandwich generation, for example, is an external factor that can make it harder for some individuals to pursue their personal dream, compared to those who do not deal with such a circumstance. Now, what about internal factors?
Here are four daily habits you may not have thought about that can prevent your personal growth.
Saying yes to things people ask you may seem noble, but when you have a hard time saying no for most of the time, this habit may hurt you eventually. This can be as simple as agreeing to help your friend with their task, despite the fact that you also have some deadlines to meet. While the inability to say no may look like you want to help your coworkers, doing so can prevent you from finishing your actual job responsibilities, leaving you overwhelmed at the end of the day. As a result, your personal growth may be lagging in the long run.
Overcoming this habit should start from your mindset: do you really need to always please people while sacrificing your personal growth? Saying no is not selfish, especially if you know it the things being asked are out of your capacity. Therefore, it is important to learn to have more self-control when it comes to helping people.
Are you the type of person who dwells on something for too long that you get sad easily? You may be awake all night thinking about “what if my client pitching fails tomorrow?” after spending days of preparing the best pitch deck and presentation practice. It is wise to anticipate failure, but it gets unwise if you keep dwelling on the bad thoughts despite having given your best efforts. The fact that overthinking is a very prevalent daily habit nowadays is a concern that should not be normalized.
There is a fine line between careful-thinking and overthinking. People should not rush into coming to a decision before thoroughly considering possible scenarios, the best and worst ones. Careful-thinking is when you consider all realistic aspects and get yourself ready for the worst in advance, while staying optimistic to succeed. On the other hand, if you let fear control you, pessimism will be the default mindset in everything. This can impede your personal growth, as overthinking makes people reluctant to even try. Keep this in mind: if you try, the outcome is either you win or you learn. If you overthink too much and fear to even take the first step of trying, you get nothing but regrets later on.
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Many of your colleagues are drafting their resignation letter to join a hyped unicorn startup. While you may never really have interest in this startup, you begin feeling like you are left out simply because you do not do things they do. If you ever come across this situation, be careful of another block to your personal growth: FOMO. Sometimes, having a different mindset among your colleagues can give the sense of missing out on something great. While this is a hard pill to swallow, FOMO can divert you from your actual personal goals and trick you into doing things you do not actually want.
The first step to avoiding FOMO is to not be in denial; admit that you may fear missing out, no matter how weak it may sound in your head. Afraid of being left out is humane, so it does not make you less good if you ever come across this feeling. One thing you need to remember is to not let this FOMO steer your decision-making. Just because many people are doing it, thus forming a collective consensus, it does not automatically make it a good thing. The key here is to hold firmly to your personal growth and focus on your personal goals; your surroundings owe you nothing and you do not owe them anything as well.
Success is often associated with five or six figure-salary, working in the most successful enterprises headquartered in the most prestigious location in the city, or obtaining a C-level position before turning 30. While this is not a completely unrealistic dream, it surely is not what success is all about. Imagine hustling so hard by working 50 hours a week, using all of your PTO to fully work on a side project, putting aside a relationship with your lover or your family; is the greed really worth it?
People often forget how to be grateful with what they have, even if it may not be all luxurious. If it makes you happy to work in an SME with a fair wage, but you get to spend every weekend with your loved ones work-free, then you may just stick to it. Amidst the glorification of ‘hustle culture’, it is rare to find people who can still enjoy what they have been earning in their 20s or early 30s. Personal growth is not merely about making as much money as possible; sometimes, it also means keeping your personal and professional life balanced.
It is downright impossible to get everything right in life. However, it is worth trying to become a better person each and every day. When you focus on yourself instead of devoting your life to let the surroundings determine your goal, you are already one step ahead of daily habits that hinder your personal growth.
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