Habits are Highly Effective
You're waiting at a redlight and the woman in the car in front
of you absentmindedly continues to twist and twirl strands of
hair with her fingers -- her therapy curl.
You've just filled out an order form and the guy who is waiting
for someone from the warehouse to get back to him impatiently
taps his pencil on the side of the desk. Was there a musical
accompaniment? There didn't have to be, he was tapping the
minutes away.
You're at work and the woman in the cubicle across from you
draws tiny swirls and symbols on a piece of paper when her phone
call gets placed on hold. If all her spiraling lines could
eventually be connected they'd probably stretch the distance of
the Great Wall of China.
What do these people have in common? Habits. They each do
something automatically to help pass the time away when they
have to wait for something.
Common to Us All
Not all habits, however, are nervous ones that have been
designated to fill a void in time. Some are instant actions
based on ongoing assumptions. For instance, ever since I
switched the locations of a floor lamp and a recliner, my
husband and I have been walking toward the lamp to sit and
toward the chair to switch on the light. Then, later, when I
replaced a wall clock with a framed painting, for days we were
looking over at the painting to see what time it was. Naturally,
we knew better afterward. But for a split-second interval, our
thinking had taken a hike and habit had taken over (a trained
response to an asumption that things were as they had been
before).
All habits though, are not based on impatient time-filling or
based on things you've done before and memorized to do again.
Some have a complicated addictive quality to them
(over-indulgence in eating, drinking, gambling, etc.). These are
habits gone awry because other psychological/physical things are
involved.
Of course, we're all aware of some of the more
socially-irritating habits, such as interrupting someone when
they're talking, laughing at inappropriate times, digging ear
wax out of your ear and then not knowing what to do with it, and
other kinds of "nails on the chalkboard" things that people
around you might do. I'm sure you can vividly recall a number of
other irritations as well.
Thinking Takes a Hike
During the act of a habit, our mind is not fully engaged and,
since most of us usually follow the path of least resistance,
it's quite easy to relinquish our thinking powers over to
routines and habits. Habits are not to be confused for reflexes
and instincts however, although reflexes and instincts certainly
play a part in developing some (and possibly most) habits.
But we're creatures of habit. From the way we put our clothes
away (or don't put them away), to the manner in which we speak,
habits sneak in and set up shop. An ever-increasing one is the
appearance of 4-letter words that has taken over the English
language. Language as we have known it gets taken in another
direction when those "word gems" become the bulk of the sentence
structure. Cussing is no different than any other form of
expressing feelings in order to communicate them to others. But
when that expression becomes a habit and that habit
increases...well, thank goodness for the few verbs and
adjectives that actually do make it into the conversation or
there would be no conversation at all.
Habits heed no boundaries and play no games. They can plant
themselves, take root and dare you to get rid of them. If you've
ever tired to break one, it quickly becomes apparent to you just
how strongly they can take hold. Technically, all regular
routines are habits, since after awhile, all routines by their
very nature become habitual. You go to bed at eleven, get up at
six and go off to work at seven-thirty so often that you don't
even think about it anymore...you just do it. It's that
repeating and not having to think about it that qualifies
routines as habits.
They Have Dual Personalities
Obviously, some habits are good and some are not so good. Saying
"thank you" is a good one to develop. Chewing our fingernails
down to the flesh might be one to avoid. Any habit that helps us
to be better human beings are habits to embrace. Any that would
drive those around us up the wall might be some to reconsider.
And any that would be grounds for divorce would definitely be
ones to avoid altogether.
Highly Effective
The fact that habits can be good things is evidenced in the
popularity of list-writings based on Stephen Covey's "The 7
Habits of Highly Effective People." Do a search online and
you'll find everything from "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective
Teens" to "The 7 Highly Effective Habits of Brand Champions."
So, it's obvious that habits can be a good thing. Let them work
for you. Make them work for you! Harness the bad ones and let
the good ones help you. Who knows what you can accomplish with
the right habits assisting and strengthening you. Who knows!