Habits are as old as man. No single person lived a life not tied to certain habits. Habits are part of what makes us who we are. Our values, belief system, education, and experience combine to form an expression in us that we likely see as a habit.
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What is a Habit?
It is derived from the Latin word ‘’habitus”, which means how you are. That is, your state or condition.
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, habit refers to a usual way of behaving or a tendency that someone has settled into. Also, a habit is an established pattern of behaviour so it is hard to give up on it.
How Are Bad Habits Formed?
James Clear noted in his writing that bad habits are most times our response to stress and boredom. Very often, stress or boredom is caused by some deeper issues. As a way of escaping these issues, we seep in some habits that directly or indirectly affect productivity, time management, and life success as a whole.
Actions that are termed bad habits are not profiting in any way. Though it might seem to profit you who engage in it, it has more far-reaching side effects than the satisfaction or benefits you may derive from it in the present.
Whether a bad habit has a lesser or higher damage impact depends on what it is. For instance, biting your nails as it damages yet it can’t be compared to farthing in public or to some engage in smoking.
The most annoying thing is that even when you know it is bad you can’t stop doing it. Why are bad habits difficult to stop? These habits are difficult to stop because it benefits us in some ways in our subconscious mind. The realistic way of putting off bad habits is simply to replace them with good ones.
Bad Habits and Academic Performance
How can you truly define academic performance? It is one’s degree of success in academics. While some students are naturally good at studying, some other students struggle. The truth is an average student can be excellent if he or she can learn habits that will increase their academic excellence.
Meanwhile, there are bad habits that cause a student to stay average at school. In this article, I will show you 6 bad habits that can affect your studies negatively.
What are the 6 Bad Habits That Affect Academic Performance?
1. Laziness
Laziness is a major issue ravaging students’ academic performance. It is a bad habit because you develop it until it becomes your full-fledged character. It is possible to be a hardworking student, then turn into a lazy one with time.
What many students don’t know is laziness is the root of many ills that affect their study life. It deprives you of your academic success as it affects everything you do such as studying, class attendance, and assignments. The following are other bad habits that cause laziness or enhance it.
a. Oversleeping
How long should you sleep if you need to study? Experts reveal the best time to sleep is between 2 am – 6 am. At this point, your body is at the height of drowsiness. Sleep helps the mind to absorb and retain knowledge.
Meanwhile, some students oversleep daily. Imagine you sleep from 9 am to 6 am every day. You are not helping yourself and it proves one thing- laziness
Oversleeping as a student is considered a bad habit especially if you don’t have a schedule for studying at other times outside the lecture hall.
Although it is natural to feel tired sometimes and would want to stretch more hours but having this as a daily habit can kill your academic performance and overall life success.
Oversleeping is a bad habit and has medical issues attached. All the body need is sufficient sleep that can give it back its natural rhythms, blood circulation, and improved concentration.
b. Procrastination
Procrastinating can be a sign you want to form laziness as a bad habit for yourself. When you keep putting off things later, it is called procrastination. It is popularly known as a thief of time and hampers productivity, personal fulfillment, and success.
Once you find yourself pushing your tasks forward like normal study hours, assignments, research, and other academic work, you need to check it and adjust immediately before it becomes difficult.
Another thing is, you can’t be good at procrastinating in one area i.e. academics, instead it largely affects other areas which means it is a bad habit you must avoid intentionally.
2. Poor Time Management
Busyness is not the same as being productive. As a student, there are various ways to make each day count. Since you already know how the day will go as a student, then you need to wisely organize yourself. Allocate appropriate time for each activity except the ones you have no control over.
Good time management begins before you go to bed the previous day. Nighttime is a good time to plan, organize and strategize how to achieve the next day’s goals and objectives.
Being an excellent student is possible for you. You just need to drop those bad habits you can identify as a challenge. If you are a poor time manager, you need to hype your game and improve your skills in time management. You can learn more here as begin to work better at your timing.
3. Viewing Social Media While Studying
Social media is a major distraction for students. If you are easily distracted by your phone, you should study without your phone or put it off to get maximum concentration. Studying while chatting or Facebooking hinders your assimilation process and lengthens the study time than usual.
4. Associating with the Wrong Company
Evil communication corrupts good manners. Not keeping the right association can be a bad habit for you when you are not bad yourself. Sometimes students just want to be in the know and form unnecessary alliances to prove big boy and big girl on campus.
The end is slow progress in your academics. Just the way a right friendship speeds up your progress at school is the way a bad one hinders your progress and put you at risk of failure in exams, project, and success generally.
Therefore, you should choose people that can help you move up in life rather than impede your success.
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5. Missing Lectures or Not Attending
It starts by missing one or two until it finally becomes a bad habit for you. Some lectures can be boring agreed, but the odds are you can benefit from it.
What happens when it turns out to be a test or the lecturer chooses to use that attendance for something meaningful? You lose nothing when you attend lectures except when you are unavoidably absent, which is not constant.
As much as possible you can work on attending lectures and be on time too. Some students can be occupied with other important engagements but lecture attendance can be something you can work on or improve if you want to excel at your academics.
What you hear yourself and jot down as notes is not what you get when your rewrite from your colleagues. You know how best to form those notes to get a proper understanding.
6. Not Taking Notes in Class
Another bad habit that can hinder your academic growth is refusing to take notes in class. What is the essence of being in the lecture without taking any notes? It is either you are depending on someone else jotting or care less.
Whatever the reason for the action, it is a bad habit that can affect your academic performance. Taking notes is very important in class. Once a student attends class and takes notes, he is 50% ready to perform well in that course all things being equal.
Conclusion
Success beyond academics depends on habits that can boost productivity and enhance growth. Meanwhile, if there as habits that need to be replaced, acknowledging them is the first step to overcoming them.
