THE LAW OF HABITS
Proverbs 24:30-34
The saying that we first make our habits and then our habits make us cannot be truer. Our daily habits have great impact upon our success in life. You cannot separate the outcome of a man’s life from his daily habits. Our character can be described as a composite of our habits. Habits are unconscious but consistent patterns that constantly and on daily basis reveals the real us. They become part of us.
There are good and bad habits. Bad habits can never make a successful life. They kill productivity and slow us down, holding us back from achieving our goals. A change in bad habits is capable of leading to a change in life, for the better. Depending on what they are, our habits will either make or break us. We become what we repeatedly do.
The Oxford Dictionary defines Habit as an action performed repeatedly and automatically, usually without awareness. Once we have formed a habit, it becomes automatic. You don’t have to think about it before acting it out. It then comes naturally. Habits are so important to the making of a man’s life. A large proportion of everything we do on a daily basis is habitual; which implies that we are almost on auto pilot mode on daily basis. Life is a succession of habits. Benjamin Franklin said, “Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good one”.
It is important that you develop habits that would bring about the realization of your dreams in life. Cultivate those habits that free your focus from distractions so that you can give attention to those things that matter. Habits help keep us on the track. It is important that you are guided by the fact that you are bought with a price (I Corinthians 6). So, you do not own yourself. You are accountable to God. You must therefore do right (both by God and yourself). Cultivating good habits is essential for a productive life.
Habits don’t achieve your vision but habits can sum up and become your character and your character becomes your destiny. For example, a simple habit of saying “”THANK YOU” after receiving a gift or gesture can have far reaching effects; it can make you a person of gratitude. When you are used to saying thank you, you begin to live it and act it. It becomes a part of you that it becomes impossible for you to be an ingrate. Another simple habit you can learn is to be tidy or learning to finish a task. If you make it a habit of always finishing a task at hand, you develop trustworthiness. People start trusting you for they know that whatever task is committed to you will be completed no matter what.
MEDITATION – Habits are basic components of character so watch it, character is everything.
