Seth Godin recently posted some thoughts on habit, mainly through the lens of things like anger.  I’ve been thinking a lot about habit lately, through the lenses of faith (James Smith) and psychology (Charles Duhigg).  Godin says:

Habits are great when they help us get what we want. Bad habits, on the other hand, are bad because the shortcut that satisfies us in the moment gets in the way of our long term goals.

Once you can see that your emotions are as much as a habit as cracking your knuckles, they’re a lot easier to work with.

Sometimes you can direct your habits (let me tell you about how I changed me diet last year).  Others just kind of creep in and take a foothold (Godin mentions distrust and generosity.  Whatever their place on the spectrum, habits are powerful things.  Check out this interview with Duhigg below or check out his book, The Power of Habit.  You can read Godin’s blog post here.