Why Habits are neither Good, nor Bad.

You hear it all the time “That’s a bad habit!” (break it!), “Wow that’s a good habit!” (I should copy it!)

Calling a habit good or bad is a side affect of not actually understanding what a habit is. It also handicaps your ability to alter habits to your advantage.

So what really is a habit?

Lets have a look at one habit that is common to pretty much everyone on the planet…… walking.

As toddlers we observed what our parents, siblings, and pretty much everyone around us as they did this ‘walking thing’.

“Seems like a good way of moving around quicker. Got this crawling thing covered, but its not fast, and my knees hurt, I gotta get this walking thing working for me!”

So you observe those around you, tried standing, probably while propped up against a coffee table. Pretty sure you fell over several times, but you eventually stood! After a while you had that standing thing covered. Then after a lot of effort you took your first wobbly steps. Yes! Walking – Finally!

Over time you got better and better at walking. Sure you fell over, probably while learning how to run, do flips and cartwheels, trying to get better at using your legs, pushing them and your body, learning from your mistakes.

Bet you can walk pretty good now. Bet you don’t have to think about it when you are walking. Bet you don’t even have to think that you ‘have to walk now’ – you just up and do it!

You honed the habit of walking! Level Up!

Now, that habit of walking would be less useful if you were in the sea, but that doesn’t make the habit bad, it is what it is, a habit.

You would need to develop the habit of swimming to do better in the sea.

Note: You don’t get rid of the old habit of ‘walking’ you simply add a new habit of ‘swimming’.

Habits are often moulded by the environment we are in.

The little voice in your head at this point may be saying “Wait, those are skills, not habits!”

And you would be correct, they are indeed skills. But they are not just skills, they are skills that we execute WITHOUT THINKING! They become automatic, they can urge us to do things, they become hard-wired into our brains, muscles, nerves and body. In many respects your habits define who you are as they autonomously guide how you physically, emotionally, mentally act and react to things.

Try not walking for a day, or scratching the tip of your nose when it gets itchy. Did you just scratch your nose, or at least think about doing so?

Yea habits, they are you, to your very core, and this is why they are one of the most powerful things you have!