10 Common Negative Personality Traits You Need to Avoid in Life

We all have these little quirks that we can relate to our personality and while it’s not bad to have these traits and quirks, we might have a few that can be considered negative. Without knowing, these negative personality traits we have might affect others around us and even influence our behaviors that might affect our well-being.

Recognizing these negative traits can be one of the most important things we can do to increase and maintain our self-awareness. Knowing our negative traits and how to avoid them can also assist us in our personal, emotional, and social growth.

And just like our negative personality traits can affect and influence our behavior toward others, the same kind of bad personality traits in others can affect our well-being too. Learning to identify these negative traits in others can help us stay away from toxic people.

In this article, I’ve listed some of the common negative personality traits that we all have and even seem to act on them from time to time. With this knowledge, you can learn to identify these traits and know how to avoid them for your sake and well-being.

What Are Negative Personality Traits?

As we grow up, we develop our personalities, and with that, we also develop certain personality traits. Some of them are negative while others are positive. The differences in our personalities and traits may depend on our cognitive development as well as social development.

Personality tests such as the Myers-Briggs personality test and the Big Five personality test may help in the analysis of our personality. We usually have complex character traits and the negative ones might even hinder our relationship growth as well as career development.

We usually believe that our personality traits are permanent or that they are incapable of change, however, psychologists have proven that we can change our personality traits from negative to positive. Now they can either change naturally, or you can practice certain behaviors and exercise to adopt more positive traits over time.

In any case, the first step begins with understanding and recognizing the negative personality traits we possess and how they might affect our behaviors and relationships.

Here is the list of common negative personality traits that you need to avoid in your life and develop a positive personality;

Common Negative Personality Traits to Avoid

1. Ego

One of the most common negative traits we have is ego. When you are egoistic, you believe that everything you do or say should be centered around you and should make you the center of attention.

Ego can make you feel like the world revolves around you and that you are the only one who deserves to be valued and feel important. The moment you shed your ego, you learn to accept everyone equally and even treat everyone as important.

2. Pessimism

Another negative personality trait that many of us, unintentionally have, is pessimism. When you have a pessimistic outlook on everything, you’re always looking for evidence that everything hates you. You believe that you’re doomed to live miserably and that everyone is out to get you.

Anytime anything goes awry, you take it as proof that you’re right and hated by all. Because of this, it hardly occurs to you that you can change your life. You cling to what you believe and conform yourself to live miserably.

3. Biased

If you are biased, it can be considered a negative personality trait as well. Biased people are very set in their attitude and hardly seem to look at things from a different perspective. If you have this negative trait, then you assess events, situations, and people around you, quite subjectively and never objectively. You tend to favor one side over the other and believe that you’re right even if there seem to be no facts backing your side.

4. Greed

As far as negative traits go, greed is there on top as well. Greed can make you feel insatiable and always leave you wanting more. If you need something, you’ll find ways to get it, even if in the process others are hurt – intentionally or unintentionally. People with greed never seem to have enough of anything – food, money, experiences. Others are just meant to get what they want and nothing more.

5. Dishonesty

Another negative personality trait I’d like to add to this list is dishonesty. While it’s pretty clear that dishonesty is a bad trait, it can become a bad personality trait if you’re not careful. A dishonest person does not do anything favorable for anyone without strings attached. For such people, others are meant to play in favor of their interests.

Trust me, it’s one thing to keep secrets or tell white lies to protect oneself or the people you love, but intentionally keeping others in the dark just for your means can be considered a negative trait.

6. Judgmental

Another negative trait that we all seem to have is being judgmental. I’ll be the first to admit that I have been judgmental based on what I saw and without knowing the whole story. With time, I realized that this trait was not only harming my loved ones but also altering my perception.

This self-appointed judgment might make you unwilling to accept others’ opinions if you’re not careful. There are people I know who judge others just to feel a sense of superiority, which again, is a trait that you need to avoid.

7. Manipulative

Manipulation is a negative trait that many people (not just narcissists or emotional abusers) use to get what they want. This ability might feel or sound not harmful, but it can eventually take a toll on the one doing the manipulation and the one on the receiving end of it.

One of the most common, (and effective) manipulation tactics that people use is guilt. I’ve seen many people in my life use guilt as a form of emotional manipulation to get what they want and that’s a trait you need to avoid.

8. Aggression

When we talk about negative traits and personality traits you need to avoid, we need to talk about aggression and anger. If you’re aggressive or tend to have hostile behavior, this personality trait might not be helping you or serving you any meaningful purpose. If you have this negative personality trait, then you rely on your impulses and threaten others to assert dominance and feel superior.

9. Jealousy

Whether you agree or disagree, jealousy is a negative trait that you need to learn to avoid in life. When you’re filled to the brim with jealousy and envy, it can make you lose sight of what’s in front of you. It can create a tunnel vision wherein the object of your jealousy gets all the attention and at the end of it, you’re left feeling hatred, insecure, and scared. Eventually, this can cause you to feel frustrated, criticizing, and possessive.

10. Unforgiving

Another negative personality trait is being unforgiving or unyielding. When you have this negative trait, you refuse to forgive those who hurt you, even if they did it without any bad intentions. Not allowing yourself to forgive others can cause you to hold grudges and develop feelings of hatred and anger. This character trait does not allow you to move forward in life and heal and instead makes you keep torturing yourself with the past.

Final Thoughts…

Once you realize what negative behaviors and traits are impacting your life and well-being, you can take active steps to change your traits. Seeking help from others can always be a good thing and instead of taking it as a sign of weakness, take it as a sign of strength as it takes a lot of courage and determination to seek positive change.

When you know what traits are harming you, you can take proper measures to reevaluate them and change them where necessary.

Ready to identify and change your negative personality traits? I hope this blog will help you. Best of luck!

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Take Care.