Habits

Habits. 

"Powerful indeed is the empire of habit." These are the words of Publilius Syrus, a man born in 85 BC. Apparently the pull of the habit has been around for a long time. 

In her book, Small Move, Big Change, author Caroline L. Arnold writes about the auto-pilot 
component of habit. She stresses how most of our habits have followed us from childhood. 
Habits can either be good or bad, and we spend most of our life either trying to eliminate bad habits, or embracing good ones. However, we often find ourselves falling short on both sides. 

She proposes something she calls a microresolution as a way of changing behavior. By beginning with small manageable changes we can begin to work toward the auto-pilot component of habit formation. Rather than changing everything at once when attempting to lose weight, start with a microresolution like making sure to eat breakfast in the morning. Look for changes that  you can reasonably achieve without Herculean effort. 

When we are constantly weighing our options and making choices, our resolve can quickly be worn down. While on the other hand, we have a much better chance at success when habits prevent us from constant decision making.  Obviously habits can be powerful in both negative and positive ways, but don't allow the negative ones to reign supreme.