Project Girl 2 Woman, Author at ProjectGirl2Woman

17 Negative Habits to Get Rid of in 2020!

Already half of 2020 is over – to be precise only 149 days are left until we celebrate the next year. Those 149 days give us enough time to work on our bad habits and to start fresh into 2021. And who knows, maybe working on your bad habits might actually help you check off some of your new year’s resolutions you’ve made half a century ago.

To make this list perfect for the current situation (may COVID.19 vanish as mysteriously and fast as it came) I dug deep to find the most common bad habits during this pandemic, which are exactly the same bad habits we had before this mess.

If our wishes are heard and the virus disappears – those bad habits are still there if we don’t work on them. Let’s dig into it!

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1. Avoiding Calls

Like every person with the fear of calling knows: dialling a number feels like possibly diving right into the most embarrassing situation ever. It makes us absolutely anxious just thinking about it. Or we have been postponing a nasty call that has to be made. How to avoid that? The answer is: Don’t (Sadly, I belong to this group too) We know what is the right thing to do but don’t do it out of fear or discomfort. Stop it! Many people in home office probably got used to it by now – you will too!

2. Eating Out/Unhealthy

Another bad habit to change is your unhealthy diet. In fact weight gain is so common during this pandemic that it not only is called “Quarantine 15” but the hashtag #quarantine15 has almost 50k posts alone on Instagram.(medicinenet.com)

A regular unhealthy diet can cause tooth decay, heart disease and stroke, type-2 diabetes, cancer and even more according to the Government of South Australia

It may seem hard to cut out junk food, sweets and soda but once you overcome the first four days it will be less hard to keep your fingers from it. . Restricting and Crash Dieting also belong to this point as they not only sabotage your metabolism but also keeps your body from necessary vitamins and minerals. (healthline.com)

If you struggle with your eating behavior or fear to have an eating disorder – please talk to your doctor.

3. Not Working Out

Raise your hand if you didnt work out the last 7 days. I am sure there are many who aren’t really fans of moving, some might even celebrate their work at home for not having to go outside. Now I have some good news for you lazers – you only need to workout 30 minutes a day to see a significant difference! Next to improving your health, Genesis mentioned a change in mood and your energy level, less stress and an improved memory. Furthermore it mentioned that your productivity but also creativity increases if you spent just 30 minutes for your physical workout in the morning. (genesisfitness.com) If you absolutely at all costs have to avoid working out go take a walk instead.

30 Minutes is doable! Personally I would recommend you youtube -workout instructors like Chloe Ting and Blogilates as they are free and offer workouts for beginner to long term followers. . Or if you like to interact more with people you can try find a zoom workout class!

4. Staying Inside All Day

Get up and your body outside, breathe in some fresh air (while walking) and remind yourself how nice the world actually is. Also, it is a nice break from work!

5. Sleeping In

Another bad habit is to sleep in. Did you know that oversleeping actually has negative health effects? Amerisleep mentioned that oversleep causes increased pain, higher risks of obesity, diabetes and heart diseases as well as a higher all-cause mortality. If you want to learn more about negative effects check out Amerisleep’s post :here!

Not only are you risking your health you are also wasting time in the morning while others work. Dwayne Johnson mentioned in his Twitter: “Raise the bar, outwork the competition and wake up at a “you gotta be sh*ttin’ me” hour to workout” while hashtagging 4:45 as his rising time.

So, sleeping in not only risks your health but also gives you a disadvantage to your competition. Now, tell me honestly: When are you waking up? How much sleep did you have? What can you do to wake up earlier tomorrow morning? Like any change of habit it won’t be easy at the beginning but you will get used to it as some point

6. Staying in PJs or Comfortable Clothes

No more messy buns and sweatpants! – or even worse: staying in your Pjs all day! Yes, it is a bad habit don’t tell me otherwise. Doing your hair in the morning or actually just adding some earrings will not only make you feel better in your skin but it also gets you more motivated about work and increases your productivity for the day. Also, your professor or boss will definitely have a better picture of you if you wear proper clothes in front of the screen ( Are you working with sweatpants in front of your superior or coworkers?)

7. Avoid Tidying Up

Another bad habit is to push back your chores. Santa clause won’t clean your plates overnight and the Easter Bunny won’t do your laundry. The only way work gets done is either you do it yourself or you have a mother who can’t stand your mess. (No seriously do it yourself!) Be honest – if your place is untidy you won’t feel motivated to do anything else but to eat and watch netflix. Actually if you tidy up daily and declutter from time to time, the atmosphere of your room will change and so will your motivation to work. It will be easier to get things done and you potentially save money on hospital bills as you avoid falling over your missing shoes.

8. Forget/Postpone Doctor Appointments

Now, I am really bad with doctors appointments but I try my best to at least keep up with regular check-ups or make time if something feels off. CNBC made study with 2000 American adults, whereby 54% of those postponed their doctors appointment last year. The reason for the postpone was the high cost involved. I understand if your budget is tight yet I ask you all to invest in your health as much as possible.

(Best way to avoid medical costs is by staying healthy in the first place). Workout, eat healthy and stay safe during Covid-19. (There are a lot of people who neglect the risk already)

9. Not Reading

Did you know that most millionaires or successful people read at least once a day? Bill Gates even reads 50 books a year which is according to inc.com a book a week!

Can you imagine how much knowledge those people just gain by reading? What would you do with this knowledge? What would you read? Pick a book and set it as a daily task to read at least some pages every day. Who knows – maybe it can help you improve your life or business! Or even give you amazing opportunities for something completely new! (If you are unsure what to read: Check out our must reads!)

If you are very busy or you just aren’t a book lover – I can recommend you to listen to podcasts instead. They are easy to implement during a gym session, cleaning or driving a car and can teach you the same amount of knowledge too.

10. Watching TV All Day

Did you know that the average streaming time of people watching TV [worldwide] has increased by 20%? (mashable.com)

I cannot lie – Netflix, Hulu and other streaming platforms got us good. But the truth is, binge watching series and movies is not good for our eyesight and also not good for fulfilling our goals. Of course there are many more negative effects from a high amount of screentime such as headaches and insomnia (scripps.org) So, would watching just two hours a day hurt that much?

11. Taking No Breaks

Feeling tired during your work day? Taking small breaks during the day can actually increase your energy level and also your productivity (thewellbeingthesis.org). For Example, you could take a 20 minute nap. According to Mayoclinic.org, naps have the benefit to improve your mood and memory, help with fatigue and increase your alertness.

You could also take a walk, like mentioned earlier or use the short break to add a small workout. Personally I like to refill my water bottle, eat a small snack and stretch. Usually I divide my tasks in pomodoro sessions – Thereby I have given breaks of 5 minutes and also fixed times of 25 minutes where I have to get my tasks done.

12. Skipping Breakfast

I am sure at some point you have picked up that eating breakfast is healthy or better skipping it is unhealthy. Rush.edu explained that eating a healthy breakfast can not only increase your performance but also help to lower one’s BMI and fat intake for the later day. Mentioned was that the body recognizes breakfast as a lasting food source and thereby wont eat as much to a later point of time. Also breakfast is beneficial for a higher daily calcium and fiber intake. There are plenty of breakfast ideas to be found online, many cheap and fast to prepare.

13. Not Taking Care Of Your Hygiene

No more skipping showers or „forgetting“ to floss your teeth! Good hygiene is not only important to stay healthy but also an act of self love.

14. Skipping Classes

I know skipping classes sounds amazing, especially when it’s 7:30 and you are still in bed. I also know that it is much easier to record classes and play them at a later point of time. Both cases seem miles apart, but actually they are the same: You are skipping classes and you make your life harder. The first one is simple to explain: you don’t go, you don’t get the notes. Maybe you get them from friends but you will always have a disadvantage for not getting the extra information.

The second is just a question of time management. Yes you have the notes and might study it well later. But in all honesty, the ability to procrastinate with your studies to the latest point is inevitable. (Been there, learned my lesson) At the end you will be stressed and only skip through the videos as you barely have enough time left to study even the necessary topics. So please, don’t skip your classes!

15. Skipping Work

For this one I actually had to dig deeper into my research. I honestly wasn’t sure how people want to skip work as you usually need a doctor’s notice for your absence (except when you work for yourself, of course). Man was I wrong! There are actually tips out there how to skip your work!? For your own good – don’t look them up, just do what you have to do. If you really can’t stand to work another day in your job then maybe it’s time to find something else. If you have your own business – work harder! There will be one day when your hard work will pay off.

16. Complaining

I know life is different right now, we are anxious and scared of what comes next – but complaining does not make anything better. I would even dare to say that it makes everything a bit worse as people are scaring each other more and more or hyping each other up to see everything a bit more critically. The world is no dark place just because we are looking at the shadows. Instead of complaining, start a gratitude journal. Write down 3 things you’re grateful for and how you can make today a better day. Concentrate on the good things in life: opportunities, changes, friends and family.

17. Being Late

Last but not least: being late. Being late is not only disrespectful as you don’t appreciate the time of the person who is waiting for you. In some cases you even don’t get clients or fundings. Time is money. – phoenix business journal.

Nobody will waste their money to wait for you. Especially on an online meeting you have to be punctual as there is no proper reason to be late. But it has no difference to a lecture. Professors and teachers will know if their students are on time (even if you don’t have attendance!)

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I know that some of those habits are heightened by our new living restrictions, fear and anxiety.But I just can encourage you to move closer to the person you want to be and take the necessary steps to achieve your goals. Also, together we are strong so let us share love and coherence and push each other to the next level instead of talking each other down with negativity.

I hope you all have a good time – like always: feel free to share your experience with us!

If you want to get informed about the latest updates, please subscribe to our newsletter. Last but not least we update every Wednesday and every Saturday. So, it would be great to see you again. Also, for updates follow us on:

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Love from Germany,

Carina and Julia

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Methods to overcome Fear and Anxiety

Project Girl 2 Woman

Imagine this: You are sitting in the classroom and the teacher calls you to the board for a “little” quiz, as he calls it. You are totally unprepared. Immediately your heartbeat speeds up. You think about excuses. Maybe he would let me go if you I was sick? Your hands get sweaty. All eyes are on you. Your brain starts rattling of worst-case scenarios: “They will definitely laugh at me. The teacher will give me an F. I am doomed. I will be so embarrassed.”

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We all know fear and anxiety. What we have to know is that fear is an emotional response by our body. Whenever our brain recognizes a threat and interprets our environment as dangerous, we feel certain emotions.

Fear has the Power to

· Change our Way of Thinking

· Manipulate our Body Functions

· and Influence our Behavior

Actually, fear is something that is meant to protect us. Like when we meet a strange person at night in a dark alley and suddenly, we are able capable of running as fast as we never could have imagined. Fear gives us that willpower to stay up all night to study for an exam that we totally can’t fail.

But most of the time in modern society our fear is holding us back.

“Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem to be more afraid of life than death” – James F. Byrnes

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There are 3 typical behavioral reactions to fear, which most of us are aware of:

Take a look at Stefanie she is scared of public speaking, but her friend has the glorious idea to take her along to a public speaking competition.

Situation A (FIGHT): Stefanie starts getting angry at her friend. “You don’t understand me at all. I don’t like that stuff it’s stupid and boring!”

Situation B (FLIGHT): Stefanie makes up excuses. “I am sorry Lauren I am busy that weekend I already made plans.”

Situation C (FREEZE): Somehow her friend got her too the competition. Stefanie is on stage, but no word comes out of her mouth despite all the preparation. She is just standing there panicking inside.

Physical Reactions to fear Include for example:

· A dry mouth

· Sweating

· Cold Hands and Feet

· An upset stomach

· Fast heartbeat

· Fast breathing

All which is supposed to help us fight or flee the situation more easily. Oxygen gets pumped to our muscles. Our system goes on high alert. Fear also impacts our thoughts and cognitive functions. Your focus narrows down on the one problem at hand. “All the things we think of as long-term interests
get diverted to the immediate interest: fight or flight” Daniel Evans, Ph.D.

Types of fears:

There are basically two types of fear:

1. There are innate fears, which we have had since we were born with. The fear of falling for example (click the link for the whole study) .

2. And learned fears, which we learn during our life. Most of our fears are learned fears, for example when we touch a cold object, or when we stick our tong to an icicle. Or when we are young and see our mother run away from spiders.

Sometimes we show fear response when there is nothing to fear. Usually this fear reaction to neutral situations or objects is caused by dramatic events in our life. This is a learned fear reaction.

Let’s say Marry leaves her house and crosses the street. Suddenly she sees a car coming at her. It doesn’t slow down. Marry freezes in the middle of the street her heartbeat increases. She hears the tires screech and finally right in front of her the car comes to a halt.

That night Marry thinks about what would have happened if the car had hit her. She can’t sleep well.

The next day she wants to cross the same street. She thinks about the previous day. Her heartbeat speeds up. Marry thinks something must be wrong with her. Is this a heart attack? She starts panicking and hurries back home. The groceries can wait.

Normally after some time passes Marry would see that nothing happens at the street and that it is safe. The more often she would cross safely the more comfortable she would feel.

But Marry is unlucky on her third day trying to cross the street Marry sees a car run over a cat. Again, her heartbeat increases. Now whenever Marry has to cross a street she gets a panic attack. An extreme fear response. Therefore, she avoids crossing streets.

The more she avoids crossing the streets the more her brain thinks it must be dangerous.

This is also called fear conditioning. When an originally neutral stimulus becomes scary. The good point is this also means that if you repeat the neutral stimulus and nothing bad happens you can unlearn a fear.

So let’s take a look at how we can overcome our fears.

1. Exposure Therapy – Behavioral Psychology

First there is exposure therapy, which builds on the fact that we can unlearn fears. In exposure therapy a psychologist can guide you through your fear by confronting you with your fears.

Usually this happens through different difficulty levels: The difficulty level increases with each step. You have to repeatedly do one step until it doesn’t make you uncomfortable anymore.

For example if you have a fear of driving:

Stage 1: Imagine you are getting into a car.

Stage 2: Imagine driving the car.

Stage 3. Wear VR glasses and get into a car.

Stage 4: Drive in a simulation.

Stage 5: Get into a real car in real life.

The only issue with this therapy is that often patients refuse to actually face their fears. What is one fear that you could slowly face? Which simple steps could you take to make yourself more comfortable?

2. Change your thoughts – Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Our feelings, thoughts and behavior are intercorrelated. The good point about that is, if you change one aspect it automatically changes the other aspects.

When we are afraid, we overestimate the negative outcome. We have many negative thoughts and also underestimate our own ability to cope with certain situations. In our head we continuously repeat the worst case scenarios. This amplifies our feelings and behavior.

Do you know the scene in Harry Potter, where the students have to face a Boggart: A Boggart is a shape-shifter that takes the form of the watcher biggest fear. With the spell Riddikulus and thinking about the fear in a fun way the Boggart disappears.

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Just like that when we identify our negative thoughts, we can change them.

Step 1: Is to identify a negative, fear inducing thought.

Step 2: We have to evaluate the thought. How likely is it that in the dark a monster will come up to me?

Step 3: We have to reappraise the situation. Yes there is a chance a monster is under my bed, but it is more likely there is nothing.

Step 4: Test your new understanding through exposure.

1. Another interesting fact I found out during my research is that fear is contagious. So, when you see a scared face you get scared. Therefore, it’s best not to face your fears with a scared person around you. My mum is totally nervous when I drive. It automatically makes me nervous and worried about driving, when she is in the same car with me.

2. Second when you ride like a really scary roller coaster and then have to face your boss about a mistake you’ve made at work,
that might sound a lot less scary too you. What I am saying is that sometimes a good old scare can make every day fears seem less scary.

Before you go…

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How to become Successful through Journaling – Even if you are Terrible at Journaling

Project Girl 2 Woman

Tim Ferriss does it, Judy Willis does it, even Anaïs Nin, Einstein, and Leonardo Davinci did it. And what do all of these people have in common? Right they are or were successful, and they journal(ed). Many successful people in history have journaled. Ever wondered why all those people kept a journal although they knew no one would ever read it?

If you’re serious about becoming a wealthy, powerful, sophisticated, healthy, influential, cultured, and unique individual, keep a journal.

– Jim Rohn

Journals have so many functions. You can use them to jot down your goals, take notes on your daily to dos or just write out your emotions and thoughts. Your journal can be creative and pretty or simple and practical. ( I personally am more on the messy , with tiny scratchy writing side lol). Let’s take a look at some benefits of Journaling:

Scientific Benefits of Journaling

Journaling Improves your Mood

Not only will your writing skills improve if you keep a journal a study conducted by UCLA found out that writing about your emotions and actually labeling them makes you feel better.

In the study 30 participants between the age of 18 to 36 had to view pictures with different emotional expressions. Below the pictures they read words such as “angry” or “fearful” and had to chose which emotion fits the expression. On other pictures they read “Harry” or “Sally” and had to choose the right gender. When participants attached an emotion to the facial expression there was a decreased response in the amygdala compared to when they saw the names attached. Attaching labels to the emotions decreased the emotional response.

“I don’t journal to ‘be productive.’ I don’t do it to find great ideas or to put down prose I can later publish. The pages aren’t intended for anyone but me. It’s the most cost-effective therapy I’ve ever found.” Tim Ferriss

It Reduces Stress

Scientists found out that when you write about stressful events for 15 to 20 minutes a day on 3 to 5 occasions your will feel both physically and psychologically better. Journaling is the cheapest stress reduction tool.

Achieve Goals

If you write down your goal on a constant basis it increases your chances of achieving them. Writing them down and reviewing your goals keeps them at the front of your mind.

Improves Performance

According to a study conducted by Harvard Business School journaling only 15 minutes per day can improve your performance significantly.

In a study at Wipro three groups were put through training. One group had to journal the last 15 minutes of their workday and reflect on the lessons learned for 10 executive days. The second group had to additionally spend 5 minutes on discussing their notes with each other and the last group did neither. The group who journaled did 22,8% better the group that additionally reflected 25%!

Improves your memory

Not only can you look back later in life and see what you did on a particular day it also keeps your memories sharp. Scientists found out that writing causes similar reactions in the brain as complex activities, such as making music.

And maybe in a hundred years someone will find your journal and make a movie of it.

“I hope that someday when I am gone, someone, somewhere, picks my soul up off of these pages and thinks, ‘I would have loved her.’” — Nicole Lyons

So how to get started?

1. It doesn’t have to be a pretty journal

I know on Instagram and Pinterest there are many pretty journal pictures. And you can make your journal look pretty, but actually there are no rules to journaling. You can adapt it to your personal
needs. If you feel like putting pictures and nice prints you can do that, but you can use plain paper or even journal online in word or a note program. In case you want it to look pretty, but don’t want to spend hours on drawing nice pictures check out this thepetiteplanner.com they have many free printables. I love the site and use a few of the printables myself.

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2. Start simple

Many think that journaling means writing pages of your thoughts and takes a lot of effort. But you can also start simple. Writing a sentence, a day is enough. You can even just write down a word. I had a really successful classmate, who would only write down what she was grateful for on that day. Thinking back it is really amazing she already knew, when young how beneficial it is to write down what you are grateful for. And I am sure it is super interesting to look back and see: “Today I ate the most amazing Pizza with my best friend. ” And think about the good old times.

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3. Make it a habit

Try writing in your journal on a daily basis to reap the benefits of journaling. If you just journal on and off at some point when life is busy, you will easily forget about journaling again. Or at least that’s how I feel. So, try to make it a daily habit and stick with it. And if you can’t make it sometimes don’t beat yourself up over it.

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4. Take your journal everywhere

What if you have a good idea, while on a trip or you want to take notes. You can use chances, such as riding the train or waiting at the doctors to write into your journal. Throughout the day you will have little time gaps to write down into your notebook.

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5. Have fun

However, you decide to do your journal. Whether you want to make a really pretty looking one a plain and practical one keeps in mind to have fun. Will it change your life? If you journal continuously journaling has the potential to drastically improve your life. Give it a go and see where it takes you.

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Before you go…

Would you like to get updates weekly? Subscribe to our Newsletter. Last but not least we update every Wednesday and every Saturday. So, it would be great to see you again. Also, for updates follow us on:

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If you liked the post, please share it on Pinterest:

Love from Germany,

Julia and Carina

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