Unhealthy habits hamper success

High school students often develop harmful routines and habits. Whether it be showing up late or not finishing homework, almost all students deal with similar problems during the school year. However, the difficult task of breaking bad habits is a struggle that all people deal with, not just high school students.

Many high school students are struggling with similar problems such as procrastination and many are trying to break these bad habits. Roman Endicott, ’18, is dealing with procrastination but finds it a hard habit to break.

“My biggest bad habit is definitely procrastination,” Endicott said. “Sometimes I just forget I have homework to do or tests to study for, or I get distracted by watching Netflix. I have unsuccessfully tried to break this bad habit many times, it’s just impossible.”

Things like procrastination can lead to poor grades in school and further bad habits later in life. Also things like playing during class instead of paying attention, purposely not studying for tests and being unorganized are all things that cause our grades to drop.

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English teacher, Kyle Dodson has a strategy for breaking these bad habits. He believes finding support in a community is the best option for breaking a bad habit.

“Create a community of friends you can rely on to provide support,” Dodson said. “You can’t change your ways without others around you supporting that change. Make each other accountable. It’s easy to tell yourself, ‘If I study these vocabulary words, then I can treat myself to two episodes on Netflix,’ but if there is someone holding you accountable to that exchange, you’ll be more likely to accomplish what you set out to do.”

When entering high school, many ideas pop into the heads of incoming freshmen. Some look forward to the challenge and set themselves up to succeed. Others fear the work amount and teachers so full effort is not put forth.

Also, students struggle with things outside of school. Their bad habits are more physical instead of mental.

Students may speed when driving, bite their nails, or eat too much junk food. Freshman, Amanda Grimmius, recognizes more bad habits that are spoken by others.

“Some bad habits I see every day in particular would be using harmful words and gossiping,” Grimmius said. “I think they are seen the most because no one tries to correct those bad habits. That’s a big problem because the words people use can really hurt other people, and if that doesn’t get fixed then more people can get hurt.”

All habits good or bad can be gained or broken. During high school many of these habits will make way in the lives of students, but ultimately it is the student who chooses what their habits are.

This author can be reached via twitter: @Julian_Castro09 and via email: [email protected]