It’s just like him!

Bad habits are things that accompany us throughout our lifetime. They distinguish us from others, define and characterize our personality and, paradoxically, also unite us. We’d like to inherit and pass on the best of qualities, but as we get older, all the baggage our parents have passed on to us becomes more and more evident. So, our society comprises not only families tied together by genetic roots, but also other families comprising more distant “relations” as well – that’s what we often call individuals who are the proud bearers of some of our own bad habits.

The origins of the National Collection of Bad habits

The idea for the project emerged in July 2022, on the occasion of the 200th birthday of the founder of genetics, Gregor Johann Mendel. The anniversary led me to the idea of ​​giving the general public (or the whole nation!) a unique chance to find and get to know „relatives“ they may not have had any idea existed. All people had to do was register their bad habits in a National Collection of Bad Habits – the largest most unique of its kind in the world!

The Collection Phase

The collection itself of bad habits all across the Czech Republic, both online and directly in the field, became the primary phase of the whole project, during which the goal was to collect the widest possible range of bad habits. We collected them at 200 locations in Bohemia and Moravia, approaching individuals in towns and villages, and large groups at cultural and sporting events. We visited schools, homes for the elderly, different associations, clubs, leisure groups, and all sorts of businesses. We were always try to inspire individuals to reflect on themselves and on society in general. We weren’t looking for notorious things (nail biting) or addictions (smoking, alcohol), but original patterns of behaviour that irk us about someone/something, or that are passed down in a family from generation to generation. We were looking for all sorts of bad habits: both our own and those of other people, our families and the country as a whole. We were looking for bad habits we had no idea existed, bad habits that would enable us to perceive the world around us in new ways.

Prvním významným mezníkem projektu se stala seznamka BolesLOVE, která se uskutečnila v Mladé Boleslavi a jejímž prostřednictvím jsme se pokusili na základě místních zlozvyků přímo propojit obyvatele, a projekt tak posunout do další roviny. HERE.

The opening of the National Statistical Institute, which was open to the public on the Smíchov Riverbank Quay throughout June 2024, also helped us significantly with the phase during which we collected and analysed the data we collected. For more on the National Statistical Institute click HERE.

At present

We originally planned to collect 10,000 bad habits in the course of the year, but as other surprising areas opened up before us, we decided to push the idea of ​​the project even further. As of now, the collection has been going on for more than two years. We’ve collected more than 30,000 bad habits, and the project has largely taken on a life of its own. For example, the project inspired the production of a theatrical performance: click HERE.

And what’s next?

We’ve already started sorting the bad habits we’ve collected into a database of bad habits, which will eventually become the largest online database of its kind in the world and will serve not only as a basic template that you can continue to supplement and expand, but at the same time as a platform where you can search for distant relatives. And that’s not all! The amount and variety of material exceeded our original expectations many times over, so we decided to create an ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BAD HABITS, which will also be our way of thanking everyone who participated in the project in any way.

You can start looking forward to it now – it’s on its way!
Kateřina Šedá