Get Rid of Bad Habits to Become More Efficient!

Like me and everyone else, you probably want to be as efficient as possible, both at work and in your personal life. However, it’s not always as easy as we’d like to complete all tasks on time and with the desired quality.

One of the things that holds us back is all our ingrained habits—or, to put it more accurately, all our terrible bad habits—our deeply rooted inefficient ways of doing things and old-fashioned, cumbersome ways of working.

Poor and outdated work methods make us work slower, more awkwardly, and with unnecessary complexity. We work inaccurately and with poor quality. As a result, our efficiency is low, and we become downright unproductive.

Some of the worst bad habits are worse than others. Many of them are more due to poor self-discipline than anything else. Here are some of them:

Impulsive Internet Surfing

Did you know it takes almost 15 minutes to regain complete focus and continue a task after you’ve been distracted, even if only for a moment? You fall out of the “flow.” This is a euphoric state where you are focused and engaged in your work, giving you a good feeling.

Research shows that people in the flow state are up to five times more productive than those who are not. In other words, if you take a short break to check Facebook or other distractions, you fall out of the flow state and ruin your productivity. If you do this several times during the workday, you haven’t been very effective. Instead, try to keep going—stay in the flow state as long as you can and wait to take breaks until you feel tired.

Perfectionism

Many people spend hours and days thinking and speculating about a task. They don’t start working on it until they have every detail figured out.

I recognize this from my time as a journalist in the weekly press. The article I had to write circled in my head for many days before I started writing. But once I began, everything was well thought out, and I remained in the flow state until the final period was placed. However, I could have just written a few words or sentences on paper, even if they weren’t perfect.

Author Jodi Picoult puts it this way:

You can edit a bad page but can’t edit a blank page.

Meetings

Nothing can be as unproductive and inefficient as unstructured and sluggish meetings without a clear purpose—meetings for the sake of having meetings.

Many people complained that they missed meetings with colleagues during the pandemic. But I wonder if they will still say the same thing after the pandemic has ended and they've gotten used to working digitally.

Studies show digital meetings are shorter, more focused, and more efficient than traditional physical meetings. One reason may be that it’s actually very enjoyable to be with colleagues. Chatting over a cup of coffee gives a good feeling.

The super-efficient among us try to avoid meetings they know will drag on due to the social aspect. They prefer to be brief, concise, and focused, and find it easier to do this digitally. Think about it: ending a phone call is easier than a face-to-face conversation.

Responding to Emails Immediately

Ding! goes your screen. An email arrives while you are intensely focused, writing a complicated report. Suddenly, your concentration is gone, and curiosity takes over. What if the email contains something important?

The super-efficient among us have turned off notifications for incoming emails or do not open their email client until they have completed their most important tasks. Some only check and process emails once or twice a day. They are not afraid that someone will be offended if they don’t respond immediately.

They may have an auto-responder informing senders when they will check their inbox, keeping everyone in the loop.

Hi, thanks for your email. I read and respond to emails only once daily – preferably after lunch. If there is a fire please call the fire department or text me if it’s an absolute emergency. :-)

The Alarm Clock

Anyone with an alarm clock knows this feeling. It starts blaring when you are in your deepest sleep—you groan, throw out an arm, and hit snooze. “Just five more minutes,” you think.

Your brain falls back into sleep mode, and when you finally wake up, you feel even more tired and groggy than when the alarm first went off.

Your brain and sleep follow a rhythm. It knows when you should wake up. How often have you woken up a few minutes before your alarm and wondered why it hasn’t gone off yet? You are awake simply because it was natural for your brain and body to wake up at that moment.

Instead, do what the recruits learned in the TV series Kompani Lauritzen or what I learned during my four years in the military: Place your feet on the floor immediately when you wake up. Bare feet on a cold floor help jump-start your circulation, giving you a healthy and effective start to the day!

Multitasking

I don’t have a better word for it, but trying multiple things simultaneously has never been efficient. Many inefficient and unstructured people cling to this myth.

Research at Stanford University shows that multitasking is directly ineffective. It is much more efficient to complete one task at a time. Studies indicate that people bombarded with digital information streams struggle to concentrate, remember information, or switch between tasks as effectively as those focusing on one thing at a time.

The brain simply does not have the capacity to perform two tasks simultaneously with the same level of quality.

Procrastinating Difficult Tasks

You probably recognize this as well. It’s human nature to postpone complex tasks and instead focus on what is easy and fun.

There is a limit to how much mental energy we have available. Our productivity and decision-making ability decrease if we deplete too much of this energy. Pushing complex tasks to later in the day makes things more complicated for yourself.

You are most alert and have the most energy in the morning. That’s why it's wise to tackle complex tasks before lunch and save the easier ones for later in the day.

Screens in Bed

I admit it—I get “scolded” by my wife every night for bringing my iPad to bed. But she’s no better, with her iPhone. Still, in my case, this is the worst habit.

Staring at a screen just before bed negatively impacts sleep and productivity. The short-wavelength blue light from the screen plays a crucial role in mood, energy levels, and sleep quality.

This light suppresses melatonin production, the hormone that makes you sleepy at night. Your brain doesn’t expect bright, blue light at bedtime—it expects dim, evening light to trigger melatonin. And you surely know from experience that a night of poor sleep leads to a very unproductive day.

Sugar

Yes, your brain needs sugar—glucose. It is the fuel for the computer in your head. If your glucose levels drop too low, you become sluggish, unfocused, and sometimes even confused.

However, consuming too much sugar during the day is counterproductive. You might feel a craving for chocolate, soda, or a pastry. Eating sugar will quickly boost your glucose level, but it will only last about 20 minutes before it crashes again.

Instead, opt for whole grain bread, oatmeal, or nuts—foods with “slow” carbohydrates. These provide a gradual rise in blood sugar, giving you sustained energy.

What Are Your Bad Habits?

Think about them and consider how you can replace them with better habits or more efficient work methods.

Good luck!

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