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Habits Are More Important Than We Realise

2K views 13 replies 4 participants last post by  Phantasm 
#1 ·
I've always skipped over this section as well-meaning but pointless. After all, great problems require great solutions, right?

I've just finished reading a book called Atomic Habits by James Clear, and it talks about how big changes are not made by big efforts - it just appears that way.

In fact, big changes are the long-term result of many tiny, manageable and achievable behaviours - all the 1% improvements here and there. Little habits that we can achieve, right now, can lead to a growth of related habits we didn't think we were capable of down the line.

It's not about results, it's about who we want to be and being that way in all sorts of small ways throughout the day. Habits define our identity, just as our identity guides our choice of habits.

As such, this hugely effects mental health. "How would someone without depression act today?" The repetition of habits becomes proof of who we are.


Currently my daily ones are:

Touch toes
Open book file
Open art file

Doesn't sound like much, does it? But touching toes requires a warm up with leg swings, which leads to a general workout. (One good habit leads to another related one.)
Opening my book and art files each day, without any other requirement, typically leads to me writing a line or doing a bit of drawing.(Just establishing the small habit of opening the files every day leads to everything else).
 
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#4 ·
Are you sure that’s a habit? I think that was smart of him, he didn’t allow himself to form habits around his clothing.

Instead of wasting energy on thinking about what to wear, he didn’t because he bought all the same clothes. So, I really dont think that’s a habit, just saying
 
#6 ·
I don't think there is necessarily anything wrong with habits. When you learn how to drive you form habits and then it frees some of your mind to pay more attention on the road and drive more safely. You also make habits on what are the things that you need to pay attention to and what things you can ignore, which is very good when you drive.
But you are probably talking about what they say around mindfullness, that we do some things out of habit and without paying attention, we react automatically without being mindful, and then we make the same mistakes over and over for example, and our lives run by without being lived. I agree it is good to be mindful about stuff, but we cannot be mindful about absolutely everything, this is just impossible. We can prioritize our attention and habits help us to do that. Also habits can help us achieving stuff using less energy and less effort. But we can be mindful about how we use habits, we don't need to let them govern us.
 
#9 · (Edited)
I don't think there is necessarily anything wrong with habits. When you learn how to drive you form habits and then it frees some of your mind to pay more attention on the road and drive more safely. You also make habits on what are the things that you need to pay attention to and what things you can ignore, which is very good when you drive.
But you are probably talking about what they say around mindfullness, that we do some things out of habit and without paying attention, we react automatically without being mindful, and then we make the same mistakes over and over for example, and our lives run by without being lived. I agree it is good to be mindful about stuff, but we cannot be mindful about absolutely everything, this is just impossible. We can prioritize our attention and habits help us to do that. Also habits can help us achieving stuff using less energy and less effort. But we can be mindful about how we use habits, we don't need to let them govern us.
Wait, what are we defining as habitual? Learning how to drive a car, learning how to watch the road so you’re safer is not a habit. If it was habitual then it would have to be the SAME exact process every time. But when you’re driving you are watching attentively, because the same thing doesn’t happen every time. There’s a difference between learning how to do something and learning a habit. So, being free of habits means being aware of all psychological patterns. And we may not realize but most of us live IN habits, not just physical forms like brushing your teeth etc etc, but the whole way that we are. You think and form opinions around it, your mind has built a whole structure and network of habits. So I’m saying it’s important to be free of that, all psychological dependency and attachment.
 
#12 ·
coolwhip, if I understand rightly, it sounds like you are making a distinction between habits and learning, but I wasn't making that distinction as they both follow the same process. At first we practice something deliberately and consciously, until it becomes automatic and unconscious. If this didn't happen, we would not even be able to stand up, let alone walk or drive a car. The complexity of mechanical actions would be too much. When someone is learning to drive a car, at first their actions are slow, deliberate and awkward, but once they can operate it quickly and automatically they can direct their attention to where it should be, which is on the road. If they had to think about everything they were doing, they would not be watching where they were going or be able to react in time if there is danger.

However, you do make a point about doing things too unconsciously, and there is a chapter in the book which discusses this. At first repetition develops fluency, speed and skill, but once it becomes automatic you can become insensitive to feedback and stop paying attention to bad practice. In which case he simply suggests you use a combination of automatic habits and deliberate practice.
 
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