6 Reasons A Lack Of Productivity Can Lead To Bad Habits

We first make our habits, and then our habits make us. – John Dryden

Are you as productive as you’d like to be?

Do you feel like you could do a whole lot more with your time?

And how often are you getting distracted within any given day? Too much?

Are you finding it hard to break the habit? Do you wish it were easier?

I’m going to show you why a lack of productivity can lead to bad habits. And what you need to start doing!

1. You become easily distracted.

By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination. – Christopher Columbus

Have you ever noticed when you’re not productive you’re easily distracted? This is what I’m talking about.

And If you’re not careful you’ll become more and more distracted, until it becomes a bad habit.

And once you’re stuck in the habit of being distracted (like most), it’ll be a bad habit.

A bad habit that’ll destroy your ability to focus. And make it harder to stay focused for longer periods of time.

Spend more of your time being productive, so it’s impossible to spend the majority of your time being distracted.

2. You become a spectator.

Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you’re wasting your life. – Jackie Robinson

Who would you rather be? The one who’s perfecting their craft and being productive, or the one who’s watching over 7 hours of TV per day?

The difference between the two is – one of them is taking action, and the other is watching it.

And when you become a spectator of life, you start to become more critical of others.

Go onto YouTube, find a Justin Bieber or a Miley Cyrus video for example.

I can bet you’ll find 1000’s of spectators on there. And guess what they’re doing? Being critical of Justin Bieber & Miley Cyrus in the comments.

Here’s another example. You have the footballers on the field playing the game, and the spectators in the crowd watching the game.

And which one of them becomes critical when one team loses or takes a bad shot? The spectators!

The same principle applies to your life.

When you stop being productive, you’ll eventually start spectating and paying attention to things you weren’t aware of before!

3. You start to lose focus.

Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus. – Alexander Graham Bell

When you’re not doing something meaningful you start to lose focus. Try this as an experiment If you like.

Example – you could be on a train reading a book on your kindle, but the moment you put it down your focus will switch to the people on the train gossiping.

And If you were to do that enough, eventually you’ll stop reading your kindle on the train all together.

The same principle applies to anything else you need to focus on. Stay focused more often than you get distracted.

4. You’ll waste time on things that don’t matter.

Have you ever seen teenagers, students, or young adults hanging around on street corners before? Doing nothing in particular?

This is the perfect example of the point I’m getting across.

When you’re not productive you waste time on things that don’t even matter. Most of the time.

Like hanging around on street corners, walking up and down town doing nothing important.

Watching the new world news, reading celebrity gossip magazines, scrolling through people’s Facebook pictures and status updates, etc.

That’s a dangerous habit to get into. Respect your time and use it wisely.

5. You become lazy.

 Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired. – Jules Renard

Lazy people for the most part are far from productive people.

And the type of lazy I’m talking about is the person who refuses to do anything. Or makes excuses as to why they shouldn’t or don’t need to do it.

When you’re not being productive there’s a chance you’ll become lazy. And once the lazy habit hits you, you’ll find yourself making excuses.

And once you’re stuck in the habit of making excuses, you’ll get NOTHING done. And If you get nothing done, you’ll be more unproductive than you will be productive.

The goal is to not just stay active, but to be productive. Exercise is a good way to get rid of laziness and the feeling of laziness.

If you’re energy is always up, you’ll be more likely to be focused and productive more often.

6. You’ll have nothing to do.

This ties in with number 4. When you have nothing to do with yourself, you have no sense of direction.

By having nothing important left to do, you’ll do anything. And anything usually means distractions, which leads to bad habits.

But the truth is you always have something productive to do.

If your task is to make 100 sales call a day, and you pass that target, does that mean you’re done? Of course not.

There’s always something productive you could be doing. No matter how much you get done within 24 hours.

So don’t slack, don’t make excuses, don’t justify, and most importantly, stay focused more often than not. So it’s impossible to upset the balance!

Got something to say? Leave a comment and i’ll respond!

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Theo Ellis is a blogger, author, and entrepreneur who’s committed to giving straightforward advice to help others grow. Specializing in topics such as – self confidence, self improvement, happiness, discipline and time management. You can find out more about Theo at his website – justbereal.co.uk