The 7 Seemingly Innocent Habits Holding You Back From Success

by Brandon

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The 7 Seemingly Innocent Habits Holding You Back From Success

What big things do you want to accomplish this year? Are you going to start a new business? Double the revenue in your existing company? Write a best-selling book? Lose 50 pounds?

Goals are great, and you should definitely have them. But goals can easily be sidetracked when something bigger comes into the picture: habits.

Now, of course there are plenty of good habits that an entrepreneur should have . . . but what about the bad ones? We all know some habits are obviously bad, like smoking or excessive drinking. But for entrepreneurs, the distinction between “good” and “bad” habits is often blurry and situational.

Therefore, I want to lay out seven habits that, although seemingly innocent, can actually hurt your chances of achieving your goals this year.

But first…

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1. Checking email

How many times a day do you check your email? More than once? That’s probably too much.

Email tends to be the thing people do when they don’t want to do what they should be doing.

I know you think you need to be in your email throughout the day, but chances are, your addiction results in your putting off the one thing in your life you really should be focused on right now. So, make an effort to reduce the amount of times you check your email.

Related: 10 Seemingly Harmless Habits That Sabotage Ambitious Millennials

Set up smart “filtering” criteria, unsubscribe from email newsletters you no longer need to read (I just unsubscribed from over 1,000 newsletters, using Unroll.me), and get people used to your responding just once a day.

2. Logging onto Social media

Let’s be honest: We all spend way too much time on social media.

Whether your social media habit leads to your sitting “in the john” a bit too long, or to a quick status update that turns into 35 minutes of mindless scrolling through your newsfeed, this habit can quickly take over the limited time you have to be productive.

So, do yourself a favor and limit the time you spend on social media.

For me, Facebook is my “go-to time-waster.” That’s why I installed theFacebook Newsfeed Eradicator, which essentially shuts off the Facebook newsfeed on my laptop. This alone has saved me several hours per week.

3. Procrastinating

Yes, procrastination is a habit. It’s often much easier to say “tomorrow” than “now.” But the things we procrastinate about are often the very things that most need to be done now.

So, instead, make it a habit to “time-block” your most important things to ensure they get done on schedule today, not tomorrow. For more on-time blocking ideas, don’t miss “This Productivity Hack Completely Changed My Life, and It Can Improve Yours.”

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About Brandon

has written 199 Awesome posts in this blog.

Brandon Turner (G+) is the BiggerPockets.com Senior Editor and Community Director and owner of RealEstateInYourTwenties.com. He is also an Active Real Estate Investor (Flips, Apartments, and Buy-and-Hold), Entrepreneur, World Traveler, Third-Person Speaker, and Husband. Come hang out with him on Twitter!

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