Our life is a mass of habits

In 1892, Williams James wrote, “All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits,—practical, emotional, and intellectual,—systematically organized for our weal or woe, and bearing us irresistibly toward our destiny, whatever the latter may be.”

Many of the choices we make on a daily basis are not choices at all; they are habits. According to a paper published by a Duke University researcher found that “more than 40% of the actions people performed each day weren’t actual decisions, but habits” (The Power of Habit).

Think about your day so far. What time did you get up? What did you do first? Did you tie your left or right shoe first? Did you put on your pants or your shirt first? Did you brush your teeth and then floss or the other way around? What side of the bed did you sleep on and in what position and with what pillow? Did you make conscious decisions for any of this? Of course not! They are all habits!

How about this? Have you ever been driving and a little zoned out, only find that you are driving to one place when you should be going to another? Then you suddenly realize that your brain has disengaged and your habits have taken over?

I figure if 40% or so of what I do day to day is caused by habits, I should probably figure them out and figure out a way to improve them. I’m working on that and is why I care so deeply about habit formation, destruction, and hacking. If we can all learn to better control this “mass of habits” that call our lives, we can dramatically improve our daily living and the lives of others as well.