Humans are always looking for something new to do. This trial and error method is a very powerful way to finding out new things, be it good or bad. When a person stumbles across something new and that something benefits him to a certain degree, he’ll most likely do that thing again. Everytime he does it, the action becomes more and more a part of his daily routine until 1 day he’ll realise that he will do that action without thinking. By this stage, he has then developed a new habit.
A habit is the usual condition or state of a person or thing, either natural or acquired, regarded as something had, possessed, and firmly retained. (en.wikipedia.org).

Take James for an example (a purely fictional character). 1 day he returns home late from work and so couldn’t take a shower before he went to bed. He tells himself that he feels dirty and therefore the 1st thing in the morning he would take a shower. So early the next day, the 1st thing he does is to take a shower. That shower, rejuvenated him and made him more productive during the day. He felt refreshed, more happy and more motivated. So he tells himself ‘hey showering in the morning is great, lets do it again tomorrow.’ This scenario would repeat itself for weeks. Then after sometime, James would shower every morning without thinking about it.

The beginning of a habit is like an invisible thread, but every time we repeat the act we strengthen the strand, add to it another filament, until it becomes a great cable and binds us irrevocably in thought and act. -Orison Swett Marden.

Heres a secret for u people. Before every exam or test or maybe something very important, I’ll psych myself up with a ritualistic ‘series of actions’. It starts off with me standing up with my eyes closed. Then I form this image of a person’s silhouette standing in front of a big huge red ‘I’m ready’ sign. As I do that, I loosen my muscles up (ie I’ll hop on the spot, u know like what NFL players do before a game). The images gets clearer and clearer until finally I can see the person. Then a voice in my head reads that sign, and suddenly the image shifts to a wrestling arena, at the time when a wrestler makes his entrance. So actually its just a huge explosion. After that I revert to a Ray Lewis prematch prep talk (he is a NFL player) and chant like he would chant ‘How bad do you want it’ ‘ How bad do you want it’. Finally I’ll answer myself saying ‘I want it bad’ or something similar… my psyching up is complete. I know this story sounds weird but it works, the method actually works. To be honest, this might sound very cheesy to you guys but I feel super motivated after this, ready to tackle anything. So how did I adopt that habit? I can assure you that I only started doing this in 6th form or something. Haha, well come to think about it I can’t even remember how I started this ritual.

So what should James and I do if we wanted to break the habit. Simple. We just stop doing it. Initially we would not succeed, but like starting a habit, breaking it takes time as well. If u keep reminding yourself to stop everytime you do it, eventually you would stop doing it. This takes patience and time. Also associating your habit with something negative will make you be more inclined to stop doing it. Basically ask yourself this question ‘How bad do you want to break your habit?’ If you want it very badly, nothing can stop you from achieving that goal. “If there is a will there is always a way”