Have Learning Lead to Habit

If we want good habits, we have to figure out how to take learning and turn it into habit. It sounds easy. We assume we hear something new, and then apply it continuously the rest of our lives.

But this isn’t the way it happens. Usually that new information fades over time before we can apply it to our behavior. If we are lucky to apply it to our behavior, we usually only apply it for a short time.

We replace that information with new information. Sometimes the new information challenges what we learned. We might hear about a new study of exercise and apply lessons to our workout. But then we start to feel the resistance of our muscles, which are not used to this movement.

It challenges us. We start to believe that it is too hard. Or we push through until it is easy. But then we disregard it because it is easy so it must not be that effective.

But if we can turn learning into habit, we can grow over time. We can start to apply life’s lessons. We can build a future version of ourselves that accounts for this information that we take in.

In Wooden – A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court, John Wooden says, “The four laws of learning are explanation, demonstration, imitation, and repetition. The goal is to create a correct habit that can be produced instinctively under great pressure.”

Must of us don’t have a great coach teaching us important lessons and then drilling them into habit. That means that it is up to us to figure out how to do this. We have to be responsible for our own lives. We have to learn how to take in new information, learn from it and then apply it. If we do this consistently enough through repetition, we can develop better habits over time.

Most people look at habits as something we don’t have much control over. They assume they form on their own without our involvement. Some of this is true that habits will continue to form whether we like it or not.

But I would challenge the idea that we don’t control our habits. We do control them. We devise our routines. We go through the motions. We are the only ones responsible for our behaviors. These are the fundamental aspects to habits. These are what create habits. Therefore, what we are doing is what is creating our habits.

If you want to achieve happiness and success in life, the key is to focus on habit. We have to learn how to habitually take the right steps. We have to make positive thoughts and behavior automatic. This will allow us to continue to move in the right direction, heading towards the happiness and success that we desire.