Word of the Week

Habit

Definition: a settled or regular tendency or practice

Habit

Consider this...

Did you know that you have do to something over 20 times before it becomes a habit? And not like, 20 times over the span of an entire year, but 20 times within, say, a month or two. Pretty crazy, huh?

Everyone has habits, good and bad, though we probably focus mostly on the bad ones. I bite my nails and I call my grandparents every week, and I’m sure you all can figure out which one my parents nag me about not doing anymore.

Another bad habit I have is that I leave my clothes in a pile on the floor when I change into my pajamas at the end of each day. By the end of each week, the pile is horrendous. It looks like a tornado blew through my closet. But it’s so convenient.

At the end of each week I collect all the clothing on the floor, fold it, and put it all away. And at the end of each week, I dread doing it. It’s so inconvenient.

But what about the habits that are good for us? We need the those good habits. They can make us feel good about ourselves and make other people feel good, too. And they can even do good things for our communities.

The good habits aren’t just good, they can be great habits. We should all have great habits in our lives.

But life is busy and a lot of us probably don’t have the time to introduce a new good habit, especially if we have to do it 20 times within the span of a few weeks. So why not take an existing bad habit and turn it into a good one to take it’s place?

Maybe you can substitute an unhealthy snack for a healthy one. Or, maybe you make a point to meet a friend each week for dinner instead of spending your umpteenth hour checking up on an old preschool nemesis on Facebook. There are an infinite number of ways to turn something bad into good.

I’ve been making an earnest attempt to put away my clothes at the end of each day. It’s still not my favorite thing to do right before bedtime, but I love waking up to a clean room. It’s not a habit yet, as I’ve only been doing it for about a week, but I’m going to stick with it.

Take a moment to think about some of your habits. Are any of them bad or unhealthy for you? What can you do to turn them into good (or great) habits?