Daily Inspiration #60
Samuel Johnson
Habit

Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 [O.S. 7 September] – 13 December 1784), often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. Johnson was a devout Anglican and committed Tory, and is described by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history". He is the subject of perhaps the most famous biography in English literature, namely The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell.
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I don't know a lot about this guy actually.

I really love this quote though.

"The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.".

This is really a great statement.

Habits have a way of sneaking up on us in the beginning.

Especially ones we do not plan like bad habits.

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Usually we start by just enjoying something.

Then we do it again and again and before we know it we have a habit formed.

Habit is a strong key to success as much as it can be for failure.

Actually, when a person is considered a "failure" they have actually succeeded.

They have succeeded at all the things they were doing that were not good for them.

They have done so through forming habits that led them there.

The same can be said for wild successes.

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They formed habits as well that led them to their success.

The truth is we all have habits.

Some good for us and some not.

The trick to really succeeding is to create more habits that will help to progress you toward your goals and less that will not progress you toward your goals.

So how do we create good habits?

Through spaced repetition.

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You start doing something that will help you, then continue to do that thing on a regular basis at regular intervals.

For instance you may do something daily or weekly, you might do it upon waking and before bed, or even before or after meals.

The trick is to keep that regular interval and not waiver.

After doing it 30 or so times you will have started reinforcing the habit.

Before you know it you will be doing that thing without even thinking about it.

This is when you know the habit is there and strong.

At first it will be very easy to just not do it.

Eventually it will be very hard to stop doing it.

The conscious mind can only focus on so much of life at once before it is full.

Souorce

If we are consistently building new good habits, the old bad ones have a tendency to slip away.

When the good habits we are creating are taking up enough of our focus there simply is not room for the other ones.

This is one of the easiest ways to rid ourselves of bad habits.

This allows us to get away from them without fighting them.

When our good habits are strong enough that they are very hard to break we have finally won over the bad ones that we have left behind.

So use habits to your benefit by making the choice which habits to have.

Start one new one at a time so you can show yourself how true this all is.

Understanding and mastering habits is vital to your success.

Remember,

"The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.".

Thanks for reading,
Michael David
@michaeldavid

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