Out Of The Habit

As much social interaction as I have now with my always-expanding circle of friends and well-wishers, there remain a lot of things I do on my own. Some of them seem to require no conscious effort on my part to stay on the ball. Perusing the internet and watching TV are things which I find it easy to stick to. Likewise eating, at least most of the time. Other things prove to be a lot tougher, even if they're things I want to do. It seems like it might be interesting to consider why that might be.

I guess that there are a lot of things that I want to like, rather than that I actually like. I had made an effort to get into comic books, but got out of that after a number of weeks. Comics are not exactly like the laundry or paying bills- they're supposed to be fun and without any difficult hurdles to jump. They ought to be like ice cream- high reward, low effort. And yet, the pursuit of reading them is something I lapse from readily. I think that they are a deceptively difficult thing to keep up with. So it is, perhaps, with a lot of these things.

Watching movies is one that can be easily interrupted, and yet they are practically my whole life. I've spoken before about my Netflix habit and other ways of taking in movies. There have been, however, numerous periods of inactivity in this area. Recently, my dvd player broke. I didn't replace it promptly or switch in the interim to my computer's dvd player or my roommate's player in the living room. I just stopped watching dvds for several weeks. I love movies dearly, but somehow that little hitch brought my consumption of them to an absolute halt.

I spoke of laundry. There's no mystery as to why I would go without doing that for a while. Sure, the social and professional consequences are unmistakable and potentially severe, but doing laundry is both unpleasant and inconvenient. It takes time and effort, and is just not enjoyable. The having of clean laundry is enjoyable, and has far-reaching benefits, but getting there is more onerous than the ice cream example. As I write this, I am aware that it would be very wise to do some laundry, but am likely to put it off a little longer at least. The thing is, thought, that if I get into the habit of doing it very regularly, as I have at times in the past, this would not be a problematic thing.

That's the key- forming useful and productive habits. Getting up early becomes easier when you do it every single day, regardless of need. Routine is what is needed. One doesn't want it to become a rut, so an entirely routine lifestyle is no good, but those little things that one should do and which will slip away and get out of hand if one doesn't- those things should be done with military regularity.