If you’ve ever hit 2 PM and thought, “My energy is GONE. I could sleep for three days straight right now”—or come home completely wiped out with nothing left to give—your habits might be the real problem.
Not your thyroid. Not your age. Not even your workload.
Your habits.
Because here’s what most people don’t realize: good habits can drastically improve your mental and physical health. But sneaky, energy-draining habits? They do the opposite. Quietly. Persistently. Until you’re running on fumes and wondering what’s wrong with you.
The Good News: nothing’s wrong with you. You’ve just been unknowingly bleeding energy all day through patterns you didn’t even notice.
I know this because I’ve lived it. For years, I was the plumber with broken pipes—telling everyone else how to take care of themselves while burning the candle at both ends, working way too many hours, pushing way too hard, and meaning to get to all of the great advice I’d give to clients.
And early this year? It all came crashing down. My health took a hit. My energy fell off a cliff. And I realized: this can’t go on forever. Not for any for us.
So I started evaluating my habits—the sneaky ones that were sabotaging me without my permission. And today, I’m sharing them with you.
These aren’t the obvious ones like “eat better” or “exercise more.” These are the hidden energy zaps that slip under the radar and steal your vitality without you even realizing it.
Let’s dig in.
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1. Clinging to a Survival Attitude (Yes, Your Mindset Is a Habit)
Have you ever thought of your attitude as a habit? Most people don’t. But it absolutely is.
And it has a massive effect on your energy, your mood, and your overall wellbeing.
Here’s the thing: as humans, we have a natural negativity bias. It’s evolutionary—our brains are wired to scan for danger, expect the worst, and protect us from disappointment.
But when survival becomes your default way of thinking, it sabotages you. It drains you emotionally. It kills motivation. And it creates a filter through which you see everything as harder, heavier, and more exhausting than it actually is.
Some people see life through rose-colored glasses. But many of us? We’re walking around with crap-colored glasses. And we don’t even realize it.
The fix? Intentional gratitude-grounding.
Gratitude isn’t something you’re just born with. It takes practice. It takes choosing to find the good in each day, releasing negative thought patterns, and retraining your brain to stop catastrophizing everything.
One of my favorite books on this is Happiness Is a Choice by Minirth and Meier. It resets your mental framework so you can actually choose joy and gratitude instead of defaulting to negativity.
When you shed that survival mindset, you get your energy back. Fast.
2. Intense Multitasking (Here’s the Deal: It’s Making You Less Productive)
If you’re like me, you try to get as much done as possible in as little time as possible. You’re hustling. You’re grinding. You’re doing five things at once because that’s what “productive” looks like, right?
Wrong.
Multitasking is a myth. And the research backs this up.
What you’re actually doing when you multitask is giving partial attention to multiple things at once. You’re not fully focused on anything. Which means things don’t get done well. You have to redo them. You make mistakes. You waste time.
And hello, destroyed attention span. Welcome to modern life.
The result? You work all day, feel like you haven’t accomplished anything, and end the day completely drained.
The fix? Task batching.
Instead of bouncing between different types of work, group similar tasks together and do them all at once.
For example: if I’m creating social media content, I don’t jump back and forth between writing captions and designing graphics. I do all the graphics in one sitting. Then I write all the captions in one sitting.
Why? Because my brain is already in “writing mode” or “design mode.” I’m in the flow. I don’t have to constantly switch gears and lose momentum.
When you task batch, you get more done in less time with way less mental exhaustion.
3. Not Getting Enough Rest (The Most Obvious One You’re Still Ignoring)
I feel like a hypocrite even bringing this up, because I’ve been guilty of this for years.
But it’s true: if you don’t rest and recharge, you will burn out. Your batteries will run down. Your health will suffer. And your energy will tank.
I’m not talking about pushing hard for one night and being tired the next day. I’m talking about the day after day, week after week, never-scheduling-downtime grind.
When you don’t give yourself time to unwind during the day—to catch your breath, to step off the hamster wheel—you’re running a dull saw. And a dull saw takes way more effort to cut through anything.
Same with your brain. If you don’t sharpen it with rest, everything gets harder. You’re working twice as hard to get half as much done.
Even a 20-minute break during the day—to meditate, pray, sit in silence, or just breathe—can give you a massive energy boost. You’ll come back more focused, more clear, and way more productive.
And sleep? Non-negotiable.
At least 7 hours a night. Ideally 7-8.
Without it, your brain and body can’t heal, detox, or recharge. And research shows that if you get less than 6 hours of sleep, your cortisol spikes and you start craving sugar and junk food. It’s not willpower—it’s brain chemistry.
So prioritize sleep. Your energy, your focus, your decision-making, and your overall health depend on it.
4. Staying in Your Comfort Zone (Yes, That’s Draining You Too)
Wait—staying comfortable drains energy? Isn’t comfort… restful?
Not exactly.
For a fulfilling life, you need balance and polarity: comfort and familiarity, yes, but also new experiences and challenges.
If you’ve fallen into the habit of coming home from work, eating dinner, watching the same shows, and repeating the exact same routine day after day (like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day)—you’re stuck in a rut.
And ruts lead to boredom, discontentment, and energy-draining habits like mindlessly eating junk food in front of the TV.
Breaking out of your comfort zone doesn’t mean you have to go bungee jumping or climb Everest. It can be as simple as:
- Scheduling a massage, facial, or reflexology appointment
- Taking a weekend trip to visit a friend
- Trying a new exercise class or sport (hello, pickleball)
- Walking a completely different route
- Learning a new skill or hobby
These small shifts boost your motivation, wake up your brain, create new neural pathways, and give you more energy—not less.
5. Overthinking Everything (The Mental Energy Vampire)
Overthinking is one of the sneakiest, most exhausting habits we fall into.
Did I say that right? Does that person think I’m an idiot? Do I look old? Does this match? Am I too serious? Am I laughing too much? Not enough?
Sound familiar?
Overthinking creates a constant state of stress and anxiety. It undermines your self-esteem. It keeps you stuck in negative thought loops. And it absolutely wipes out your energy.
The fix?
First, recognize that you’re an overthinker. Give yourself some grace.
Then:
- Write it down. Take 5 minutes and dump all the overthinking onto paper. Get it out of your head. You don’t even have to read it again—just write it and rip it up. Your brain will release it.
- Trust yourself. Stop worrying so much about what other people think. Practice letting go of people-pleasing (more on that next).
- Stay present. Overthinking is almost always about the past or the future. Bring yourself back to right now.
When you stop overthinking, you free up massive amounts of mental energy.
6. Undervaluing Yourself and People-Pleasing
Many of us become people-pleasers to avoid anxiety—anxiety about rejection, hurting someone’s feelings, or being seen as difficult.
But here’s the ironic part: people-pleasing actually creates more anxiety.
Because when you prioritize other people’s wants and opinions over your own, you forfeit your wellbeing. You increase your stress. You lower your self-respect.
And when you feel bad about yourself, you make more decisions that make you feel worse. It’s a vicious cycle.
The fix?
Commit to valuing yourself. Show yourself the same respect you’d show someone you admire.
Make choices that align with your values and your needs—not what you think will make everyone else happy.
When you stop people-pleasing and start honoring yourself, you become more empowered. Your motivation goes up. Your joy skyrockets. And your energy? It comes flooding back.
Because you’re no longer carrying around an anchor all day.
7. Not Following Through on Your Goals (The Self-Trust Killer)
This one cuts deep.
When you don’t follow through on your goals—when you abandon that new workout schedule, that commitment to eat better, that promise to get more rest—you erode your trust in yourself.
And when you don’t trust yourself, you lose confidence and motivation. You lose energy. You stop believing you’re capable of change.
Your brain starts to learn: “I don’t actually do what I say I’m going to do.”
And that pattern gets stronger every time you quit.
The fix?
When you make a goal, follow through. No matter how hard it is. Especially that first time when you don’t want to but you do it anyway.
Because that first follow-through creates a brand new neural pathway in your brain. It says: “I keep my word to myself. I am trustworthy.”
And that makes it exponentially easier to follow through the next time. And the next.
You build momentum. You build self-respect. And you build energy.
How to Actually Change These Habits (Without Relying on Willpower Alone)
Changing habits is hard. It’s like pushing a boulder uphill.
But there are strategies that work—strategies backed by research and real results.
The Habit Loop (from Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit):
Every habit has three parts:
- Trigger (the cue that starts the habit)
- Routine (the behavior itself)
- Reward (what you get from doing it)
To change a habit, identify the trigger and replace the routine with something healthier that gives you a similar reward.
Example: End-of-day stress (trigger) → glass of wine (routine) → relaxation (reward).
New habit: End-of-day stress (trigger) → kombucha or herbal tea (routine) → relaxation + better sleep (reward).
Identity Shift (from James Clear’s Atomic Habits):
This one’s powerful.
Instead of saying “I’m trying to quit smoking,” say “I’m not a smoker anymore.”
The difference? Identity.
When you identify as the person you want to be, your brain aligns your actions with that identity. It’s no longer a struggle—it’s just who you are.
Habit Stacking:
Attach a new habit to something you already do.
Want to meditate? Do it right after you brush your teeth in the morning.
Want to stretch? Do it right before bed.
New habits stick way better when you piggyback them onto existing routines.
The Bottom Line
These sneaky habits—negative thinking, multitasking, skipping rest, staying comfortable, overthinking, people-pleasing, and not following through—are quietly draining your energy every single day.
But here’s the good news: you have complete power to change them.
Pick one habit from this list. The one that resonated most. Work on it until it becomes second nature.
Then pick another.
Keep going until you start seeing real changes in your energy, your motivation, your health, and your life.
You’re not broken. You’re not lazy. You’re not “just tired.”
You’re human. And you’ve been running patterns that don’t serve you anymore.
So change them. One habit at a time.
Your energy is waiting on the other side.
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