60 Examples of Bad Habits (and What to Do Instead)

Most bad habits aren't character flaws. They're shortcuts your brain took because they were quick and rewarding: checking your phone at a red light, a snack when you're bored, "five more minutes" in bed. They run on autopilot, which is exactly why "just stop" rarely works.

Below are 60 examples of bad habits, grouped by area of life. Each comes with a replacement: something specific to do in the same moment. Swapping one behavior for another in the same situation works much better than leaving a gap where the old habit used to be.

"Bad" here just means a habit you'd rather not have. Some items on this list are fine in moderation. You decide which ones are costing you.

Health and Body

1. Sitting for hours without a break — instead: stand up and walk at the top of every hour
2. Skipping breakfast, then overeating at night — instead: a small, easy breakfast (fruit, yogurt, toast)
3. Snacking out of boredom — instead: a glass of water and a two-minute walk first
4. Nail biting — instead: hold something (a pen, a fidget) when you notice your hand rising
5. Skin picking or hair pulling — instead: clench your fists or press your palms together for a minute when the urge hits
6. Drinking too little water — instead: a glass with every meal
7. Eating in front of a screen — instead: the first five minutes of the meal without one
8. Slouching at a laptop — instead: raise the screen to eye level once, so posture takes no effort
9. Skipping sunscreen — instead: keep it next to your toothbrush
10. Putting off doctor or dentist appointments — instead: book the next one before leaving the current one

Sleep

11. Scrolling in bed — instead: charge the phone outside the bedroom; keep a book on the pillow
12. "Revenge bedtime procrastination" (staying up to reclaim free time) — instead: schedule 30 minutes of genuinely free time earlier in the evening
13. Irregular wake-up times — instead: the same wake time on weekdays and weekends, within an hour
14. Hitting snooze repeatedly — instead: put the alarm across the room
15. Caffeine late in the day — instead: switch to decaf or herbal tea after lunch
16. Working in bed — instead: bed is for sleep; work from a table, even a small one
17. Late heavy meals — instead: eat the larger meal earlier, a light snack later if needed
18. Falling asleep with the TV on — instead: a sleep timer, or audio with the screen off
19. Taking long late-afternoon naps — instead: under 20 minutes, before 3pm
20. Lying awake worrying — instead: a two-minute worry list on paper before lights out

Phone and Screens

21. Checking your phone first thing in the morning — instead: water, light, and one stretch before you unlock it
22. Doomscrolling — instead: set a timer before opening news or social apps
23. Phone at the dinner table — instead: a basket or drawer where phones go during meals
24. Checking notifications the moment they arrive — instead: batch them; check at set times
25. Opening apps on autopilot — instead: move them off the home screen so opening them is a choice
26. Second-screening during films or conversations — instead: phone in another room for the first 20 minutes
27. Replying to work messages at night — instead: schedule-send for the morning
28. Watching "one more episode" — instead: decide the number of episodes before you start
29. Endless tab hoarding — instead: bookmark to a single reading list, close the rest daily
30. Phone in hand while walking — instead: a phone-free walk once a day

Work and Productivity

31. Procrastinating on the hardest task — instead: open it and work for five minutes; stop if you want to
32. Multitasking in meetings — instead: close other windows for the length of the call
33. Starting the day in your inbox — instead: write the day's top three before opening email
34. Saying yes to everything — instead: "Let me check and get back to you" as a default
35. Perfectionism on low-stakes work — instead: decide what "good enough" means before starting
36. Working through lunch — instead: a 15-minute break away from the desk
37. Leaving tasks half-finished — instead: write the next step down before switching
38. Checking email constantly — instead: three set times a day
39. Over-planning instead of starting — instead: plan the first step only, then act
40. Never shutting down — instead: a fixed end-of-day routine: list tomorrow's first task, close the laptop

Money

41. Impulse buying — instead: a 24-hour wait for anything non-essential
42. Shopping when bored or stressed — instead: delete saved card details from shopping apps
43. Ignoring your bank balance — instead: a weekly two-minute check-in
44. Paying bills late — instead: autopay, or calendar reminders the day they arrive
45. Forgotten subscriptions — instead: a monthly subscription review
46. Daily takeaway coffee on autopilot — instead: make it at home two days a week
47. Lifestyle creep after a raise — instead: move part of any raise to savings before you see it
48. Buying things to "save" on sales — instead: only buy what was already on your list
49. Lending money you can't afford to lose — instead: decide your limit in advance
50. Avoiding money conversations — instead: one scheduled money talk a month with your partner or yourself

Relationships and Communication

51. Interrupting — instead: let the other person finish, then pause before you reply
52. Gossiping — instead: change the subject, or say something good about the person
53. Being chronically late — instead: plan to arrive 10 minutes early, not on time
54. Complaining as small talk — instead: open with something that went well
55. Checking your phone mid-conversation — instead: phone face-down and out of reach
56. Avoiding hard conversations — instead: write down your first sentence, then say it
57. Not replying to messages for weeks — instead: a quick "saw this, will reply properly soon"
58. Negative self-talk — instead: talk to yourself as you would to a friend in the same spot
59. Comparing yourself to others online — instead: mute accounts that reliably leave you feeling worse
60. Canceling plans at the last minute — instead: make fewer, smaller plans you'll actually keep

Why Bad Habits Are Hard to Break

Once something is a habit, it isn't really a decision any more. The situation triggers it. In diary studies, roughly 43% of everyday behaviors were repeated almost daily, usually in the same setting [1]. Habits run on those cues: the same place, time, mood or people. That's why good intentions often don't reach them [2].

So the useful questions aren't "how do I get more willpower?" They're what sets this off, and what else could I do in that exact moment?

How to Break a Bad Habit

1. Catch the trigger. For a few days, just notice when the habit happens: where you are, what time it is, what you were feeling. Don't try to change it yet. Most bad habits have one or two reliable cues.

2. Change the environment around the cue. If habits are triggered by context, changing the context is the most direct lever [2]. Charge the phone in the kitchen. Don't keep snacks on the desk. Log out of the shopping app. Make the old habit slightly harder and the new one slightly easier.

3. Plan a replacement, not a gap. Habit reversal training is one of the best-studied approaches for habits like nail biting and hair pulling. It pairs awareness of the urge with a specific competing response, something you do instead that's physically incompatible with the habit [3]. The replacements in the list above work the same way.

4. Write it as an if–then plan. "If I sit down on the sofa after dinner, I'll put my phone on the charger in the hall." Plans in this form reliably improve follow-through compared with general intentions [4].

5. Expect slips, and don't let one become a relapse. A slip followed by "I've blown it, so why bother?" is how a bad afternoon turns into a lost month. Missing once doesn't undo progress [5]; returning to the replacement the next time the trigger shows up is what counts. We cover this in more detail in how to get back on track with habits, and the never miss twice rule turns it into something easy to remember.

Turn One Bad Habit Into a Good One

Pick one item from this list that genuinely costs you something. Write down its trigger, its replacement, and the smallest version of that replacement. Then track the replacement, not the thing you're avoiding. It's much easier to build a streak of "phone charged in the hall" than a streak of "didn't scroll".

For ideas on which positive habits to build in its place, see our list of 100 habits to track. If you want a structured way to take stock of your current routine first, try the free habit audit worksheet.

Which one habit would make the biggest difference if it went away?

Keel helps you build the replacement habit and tracks how quickly you get back to it after a miss, rather than resetting to zero.

This article is general information, not medical advice. If a habit is harming your health, or you can't cut back despite trying, speak to a doctor or qualified professional.

References

1. Wood, W., Quinn, J. M., & Kashy, D. A. (2002). "Habits in everyday life: Thought, emotion, and action." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(6), 1281–1297. doi.org
2. Wood, W., & Neal, D. T. (2007). "A new look at habits and the habit–goal interface." Psychological Review, 114(4), 843–863. doi.org
3. Azrin, N. H., & Nunn, R. G. (1973). "Habit-reversal: A method of eliminating nervous habits and tics." Behaviour Research and Therapy, 11(4), 619–628. doi.org
4. Gollwitzer, P. M., & Sheeran, P. (2006). "Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes." Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69–119. sciencedirect.com
5. Lally, P., van Jaarsveld, C. H. M., Potts, H. W. W., & Wardle, J. (2010). "How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world." European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(6), 998–1009. onlinelibrary.wiley.com