Willpower- and Habits

Lately I'm reading this book, "The Power of Habit: Why we do what we do."  You have to understand - I'm a bit of a junkie for this stuff.  Any book that talks about maximizing time, or addressing un-used hours in the day - I'm in.

I'm probably a quarter of the way through the book - and I gotta tell you - it's really good so far.  I'm reading it on my newly-given-to-me - Kindle Fire.

One thought I'd leave you with today is something I just read - the difference between WILLPOWER and HABITS.  So, we all only have so much WILLPOWER to get through the day.  Willpower is that thing you force yourself to do -- Habits on the other hand -- we have them all day long.  They are just things that we've taught ourselves -- do we brush our teeth when we get up, do we have coffee, then brush our teeth -- the order of things, cue, habit, reward -- these things are just there.  These things, these habits -- do not require any brain power.  So, the trick is - to turn as many things into habit as possible -- because if you really want to get something done - you can only white-knuckle your way through so many days -- through so many activities -- the way you love your spouse, the way you address the morning, the way you THINK about a problem -- has to be a habit.

The whole thing kind of takes the mystery out of things doesn't it?  It's like... so you're saying I can teach myself good habits about pretty much anything?  Well, that's what it seems like -- some of us had the benefit of having habits taught to us early on -- maybe by parents, or school, or something we just picked up - then there are other habits that we need to look at and go -- this is fine, but I want better -- how do I get better?

Habit.

The trick is focusing on one habit.  Just one -- and then others will fall in line.  This is nothing new.  This is very similar territory to 7 Habit of Highly Effective people.

But you are what you do.

What did you do today?