Bad habit is one way to be a better human.

It’s something that I’ve been thinking lately.

I woke up late yesterday around 8am, finally awakened by my cat who was screaming at my door, trying to make sure I was still alive. Most people would say, "Bro, that's not a healthy habit." Yeah, they're probably right, but hey at least I got 8 hours of sleep (even though I can't quite remember when I went to bed last night, it's a bit hazy).

Like most cat owners, the first thing I did after waking up was feed my feline friend, then clean their litter box. I swept the floor too, since I know the dust from the litter box will get everywhere. And finally, I drank some water.

This article won't be about my routine, but what I realized today while driving home after taking my wife to work. Still, I'll share a snippet of my day just to give you some context for why I wrote this.

An A-Ha.

I know I've got lots of bad habits I need to change, and as I was driving, I kept thinking about how to solve this problem. But the more I thought about it, the more confused I got. My brain kept telling me there was something I wasn't seeing.

And then, it hit me! I was like, 'Whoa, maybe I should write this down before I forget about it.

With a little twist, some bad habits can transform into benefits, making you a better person.

I’m gonna try to explain some of them:

Impostor syndrome → Curiosity

Almost everyone that I know in Design industry had this problem. By definition, impostor syndrome is a psychological occurrence in which an individual doubts their skills, talents, or accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud.

Even I still have it to this day, to be honest with you - I’m got scared shitless every time I met someone for mentorship. I don’t know shit, all I did is just letting you know that you can do it. And someday, I’m pretty sure that someone will call me out on this.

I don’t want that to happen — and due to those feeling and mindset, I set up a very huge standard for myself, and I’ll do anything to catch up with that standard.

Books? ✅. Having someone that I look up to in Design Field? ✅. Tried writing to teach myself how to articulate myself better? ✅. Keeping up with design trend? ✅. Finding the latest music from every genre? ✅.

Remember when you were a child you would asked a lot of question to your parents? That’s when we learn about the world, and your parents answer is what shapes your view on things — but, where did it go? The older we got, the less question we asked. We stop asking question with the intention of learning.

Impostor syndrome, is a super power. If you use it right, it will give you back your ability to ask questions, to be more curious, and setting up a higher standard for what you want to be in life.

Self doubts → Humbleness / Humility

How often you questions yourself? Especially when you achieve something that you’ve been working so hard for? When all the euphoria is off the chart, we sometimes forgot that we are human - we’re not perfect.

By definition, self-doubts is phenomenon when you feel incapable doing things that you supposed to do - usually you worry a lot that things will go south or not according to plan. You basically live in uncertainty.

But, some amount of self-doubts is good, it keeps you on ground and make you more humble. It can also help you in making the right decision cause it’s help balanced out your ego.

You cannot judge yourself for being humble as others will judge your humility. Believing that you are humble is not a sign of humility.

Like a super power, you need to manage this habit too. If managed correctly, it can help you become more humble and if not — too much of self-doubts will hugely impact your life. Things like persistence fear, having a hard time to make decision & losing your way is gonna be a daily routine for you.

Envy → Self Realization

I’m sure you’ve hear about how envy is a part of 7 deadly sins - it’s a concept where it has been use in different medium. Game has it (Dante Inferno, where it actually adapted from a book called Divine Comedy), Manga has it (Seven Deadly Sins, it does have an anime adaptation!) and many more.

Envy: painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage.

Not to be confused with jealousy, where people sometimes thing that this two word is one of the same - you can actually distinguish them based on the concept. Envy is that feeling of wanting, while jealousy is a feeling of being threatened by something. If you want more throughout explanation, you can read about it here.

Then how come envy will help you in Self-realization? Cause it actually tells you what you actually want. You envied people who are smart cause you wanted to be like them. Self-realization is the "fulfillment by oneself of the possibilities of one's character or personality". What’s a better way to find out what you actually one to be more fulfilled than being envious?

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I know there’s a lot of things that I written is debatable, that’s why I would love to hear your comments below. Let’s discuss about this, I want to know if you felt the same as me or you feel like I’m stretching this too far.

Remember to sit straight and drink your water.

Rizki.