Habits are as unique and personal as fingerprints. In broad strokes, habits of homogenous groups of people might look uncannily the same – but the devil is in the details. Each one of us has habits unique unto ourselves.
So we have people who have habits like swimming, exercising or taking walks daily; reading their bibles and praying daily; fixing their closets daily; flossing their teeth after every meal; watching an instructional video or reading a book daily; cleaning up or organizing things, working on a task or project, etc. on a regular basis.
The frequency, intensity, and length of time spent on each activity varies. That’s where our habits become unique and personal. For instance, a scheduled “decompression time” for me can look totally worthless or silly to you. But to me, it’s priceless.
The first thing to remember about habits, if you ask me, is this: our habits make us or break us. Pause and think of that in an unhurried fashion.
When I was in high school, I developed good study habits by choosing to go with a group of classmates who studied during recess, and reviewed for quizzes or tests during lunch – letting the best student in that subject lead the review. My grades shot up like fireworks. Immediately.
So raising the bar for ourselves can mean going with people who’ll raise the bar for us!
That’s one way to develop good habits. The flip side is the opposite – having close friends with bad habits or destructive interests will make us sink with them, sooner or later. By osmosis or the law of gravity.
Secondly, no one has a corner on perfect habits. Except for the only perfect person I know: Jesus Christ.
Ergo, we shouldn’t impose our good habits on others. Yes, we can suggest, and explain the advantages. But we shouldn’t impose them. Instead of listening to us, people might get turned off and not listen. They might get offended, discouraged or defensive because they’re not as disciplined and organized as we are – or think we are.
It’s also being precariously proud if we compare ourselves with others and think that our habits are superior to theirs. That’s called self-deception (at the very least) or pride (at its worst).
So what am I saying? Never think that you’re superior to someone else just because you think you have good, healthy, productive habits – while the other person is floundering in a Royal lack of self-discipline. That person might be beating you at something else – like being habitually kind, habitually humble, habitually compassionate.
Yes. You’re getting my drift! The habits that make us or break us are composed of our physical, mental, spiritual, as well as our work and character habits. All are important. The goal is to develop good habits in all these areas.
Habits (when they’re upstanding) can also be interchangeably called “disciplines” – as in “spiritual habits” or “spiritual disciplines”.
There’s intentionality. There’s an investment of time, effort, abilities, and resources.
Thirdly, there’s nothing wrong with being pleased that one has good habits. You deserve feeling good about having good habits! But don’t blow it all out of proportion by thinking you’re superior to others just because you have these ironclad, healthy habits. There’s supposed to be no competition going on here.
To keep ourselves humble – just compare your daily regimen with that of someone like Federer or Nadal, for example. Or the daily regimen of a prima ballerina. Or a master chess player. Or a piano virtuoso. Our scintillating personal habits might look pretty paltry and anaemic compared to theirs.
Habits are as personal as fingerprints. Don’t allow yourself to feel superior or devastatingly inferior or undisciplined by comparing yourself to someone else. To each his own. Work on your own regimen, see what works for you, and check how you’re improving week by week.
Remember – Guilt is a huge demotivator. Comparisons are odious if they only demotivate.
What’s important is that we develop healthy habits that make life better not only for ourselves but also for others.
So along with developing a habit of exercising daily – why not also develop a habit of encouraging or helping someone daily?
Those are habits that will really make our world a better place in practical, tangible, humble ways!
