What is a Habit?

can be good or bad. Good habits help us get through our daily lives. When we drive, we use a number of habits – behaviors that are acquired and done automatically. Stopping at red lights, slowing down when going through a school zone, buckling seat belts. These are all good habits that protect us when we drive. Of course, we can also develop some pretty bad habits, ones that can be harmful to us, and to other people. Speeding through red lights and school zones and driving without a seat belt are examples of bad habits.

How do we know if a habit is a good one, a bad one – or neither good nor bad? This is one of the first steps in habit change, and we’ll discuss this here. Meanwhile, you can begin to make this determination. Divide a piece of paper into four parts. Write “Advantages of Keeping Habit” in one section and “Disadvantages of Keeping Habit" in the next section. Then write “Advantages of Changing,” and “Disadvantages of Changing” in the next two sections. For the next two weeks, list all the advantages and disadvantages of keeping or changing the habit in question. Meet me back here and we’ll further discuss habits and how to change them.

I’ve recently coauthored a book with Dr. James Claiborn, Ph.D. – The Habit Change Workbook, How to Break Bad Habits and Form Good Ones. It will be released by New Harbinger Publications in November 2001. Much of the information here will be gleaned from the research I did for this book.,Copyright 2001

Welcome to a brand new subject area here at Suite101. We will be discussing habits. All kinds of habits. Our lives are made up of habits. Almost everything we do involves the use of habitual behavior. Think about it. You get up in the morning and use habits to get ready to start the day. Otherwise, you would have to relearn everything you do – combing your hair, brushing your teeth, dressing, working the toaster, and even pouring a glass of milk.

The biggest part of our discussions will be changing habits. How do we go about changing a habit? Sounds simple enough. You just do it differently. Then you get up the next day and do it differently again. Or you stop doing the habitual behavior. And the next day you get up and stop doing it again. Try doing

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