We first make our habits, then our habits make us.

We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.

We tend to imitate the habits of three social groups: the close (family and friends), the many (the tribe), and the powerful (those with status and prestige). One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where (1) your desired behavior is the normal behavior and (2) you already have something in common with the group.

WHY IS IT so easy to repeat bad habits and so hard to form good ones?

We imitate the habits of three groups in particular: The close. The many. The powerful.

We are, all of us, creatures of habit, and when the seeeming necessity for schooling ourselves in new ways ceases to exist, we fall naturally and easily into the manner and customs which long usage has implanted ineradicably within us.

We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.” — JOHN DRYDEN

First you create your habits, and then they create you

For the most part we inherit our opinions. We are the heirs of habits and mental customs. Our beliefs, like the fashion of our garments, depend on where we were born. We are molded and fashioned by our surroundings.

Most people don't know why they're doing what they're doing. They imitate others, go with the flow, and follow paths without making their own.

We tend to adopt habits that are praised and approved of by our culture because we have a strong desire to fit in and belong to the tribe.

Habits, if not resisted, soon become necessity.

You don’t have to build the habits everyone tells you to build. Choose the habit that best suits you, not the one that is most popular.

We strive all the time to give our life its form, but we do so by copying willy-nilly, like a drawing, the features of the person that we are and not of the person we should like to be.