Habits That Hinder Your Thinking

[princeofvegas 0]

I recently had to take an accounting of my bad habits for a Written Analysis class. These are the habits that I came up with and honestly, it is quite hard to admit these to myself, however once admitted it is easier to recognize them. What bad habits have you guys found that you have suffered that you feel hinder your ability to think on the correct level?

 

 

On many occasions through my childhood, I have demonstrated the “Mine is Better” habit. I grew up on and off of Air Force bases throughout the world as the son of a ranking officer. There was many times where I would pull “rank” on the other children at the base. For instance, there was one time the other children and I were outside on a hot summer day in New Mexico. We were waiting for the ice cream man to come through and make his daily rounds throughout the base housing. When he arrived on that particular day, I decided that I was going to go first. I then proceeded to tell the other children that since my father outranked all of their fathers, I was going to be the one to go first. In the military this was a big deal because it was an unspoken rule to not mess with the child of a ranking officer. I was demonstrating the superiority of my father over the other children’s fathers. Now that I look back, it was a very silly thing to do as we are all equal, especially when it comes to standing in line for ice cream. I let the ego of my father’s position get in the way of logical thinking.

 

 

 

 

Another bad habit that I have succumbed to recently is the “Resistance to Change” habit. Several months ago I lost my job after having been with the company for almost six years. I did not think that it would be at all that difficult to find a new job in the sales world and I was becoming very picky about getting a new job. I was not even willing to consider any other options if it was not a sales position and did not pay at least what I was making before. This hindered me greatly as while I was being prima donna about finding a new job, my bank account was diminishing rapidly. When I realized that I was not going to have enough money that month to pay my rent, I snapped out of this bad habit and realized that I was afraid of changing my way of life. I was to blind to see that there are plenty of employment opportunities out there and many new skills that I can learn. I eventually took the first reasonable paying job that was offered to me and believe it or not, I was pretty happy. I was learning a new industry and expanding my knowledge beyond the realm of selling hot tubs and pools. If I had resisted change any longer than I did, there is a very good chance that I would be writing this paper from a homeless shelter.

 

 

 

 

Probably one of the worst habits that I have be a victim of is “Self-Deception”. I started smoking when I was 14 without being fully aware of the harmful effects that cigarettes can have on a person’s health. As time went on I became hooked on cigarettes in general and more and more people, including my parents, warned me of the dangers of smoking. As I started to develop a smokers cough, I kept telling myself that in no way was it linked to the pack a day of cigarettes that I was having. I kept telling myself that I was just getting sick. When other people bring up how bad smoking is, I usually give them an excuse that goes like this, “my grandfather has smoked every day of his life since the 1940’s and he is still very much alive and in pretty good shape.” That statement is completely true, however, there is a good chance that I will not be as lucky as my grandfather. I am just using that as an excuse to myself because I am too weak to quit, or I just do not want to quit smoking. To this day I continue to give excuses to other people when they warn me about the dangers of smoking. I tell myself that I can stop anytime I damn well please. This is not true however as smoking is a habit that has completely taken over my life.

Notice from BuffaloHelp:

Do not repost your institution's paper. If you must, use synapses and use QUOTEs

[Edward Palamar 0]

While I was reading your post, princeofvegas, when I got to the part about the new job, I thought you were going to say, "you guessed it, I took a job as an ice cream truck driver."There is a quatrain of Michel de Notre Dame (Nostradamus) that has this in it, "scepter to pacify, then to cure scrofula." This, in essence, is a description of smoking. One thing about smoking is that it has the ability to calm one almost like a shot of morphine. But with both morphine and nicotine there are side effects of dependency. Inhalation also poses risks. I've smoked cigarettes for approximately 20 years, smoked a pipe for the past 20. I only stopped once for about 8 months in 40 years, and recently for a week. Patches, gum and logenges work on the nicotine craving, but there is something of a syndrome, that is, having been and/or being a smoker, having inhaled, using the drug with other drugs, et cetera, that seems to make the habit linger stronger. Pipe smoking has seemed to allow for only nasal inhalation. The goal of all weaning with respect to the lungs and brain also seems to allow for a more cognizant awareness that the overall effects of smoking can be reduced to child's play, and then be put away.

[networker 0]

Habits that hinder thinking?Probably not thinking enough is a bad habit that hinders thinking.Lazyness can be a habit as well.Habitual negativity can also hinder thinking.

[SaraInWasteland 0]

I can definitely understand your point about smoking. I know it's bad for me, but I'm in denial about it. I never want to make the connection between the loss of my upper singing register and smoking - I say it's because I'm out of practice. The truth is though, deep down I know this - it's because of my smoking. I let my addiction control my thought process and put me in denial. When I cough up globs of phlegm that taste like cigarettes, I deny that it's because of the cigarettes. When I get a headache because I've smoked too many cigarettes, I chalk it up to stress or something - but never the cigarettes. Deep down though, I know it's because of the cigarettes. I think certain habits do hinder thinking, and make us "turn off" our conscience, our sense of right or wrong, our sense of what is OK and what is not. This is a great point you brought up.