We first make our habits and then: This quote talks about the power of habits and how they influence our life. At first, habits is a set of things that we do on a daily basis. But with time, these define who we are, what we think and how we act on a daily basis. Soon enough they start defining who we are. The main point of this quote is to be aware and define these habits. Make sure that these serve us and create better practices that help us rather than create a harm.
We First Make Our Habits, Then Our Habits Make Us
John Dryden (Source)
We first make our habits Meaning
How do we make our habits? It is simple, doing the same thing over and over. It may be conscious or unconscious depending on our awareness. Some of these practices help us and keep us sane. Whereas some others are innocuous but they can harm us. Hence, it is very important to be aware of what habits we create.
Some of these practices are consciously defined and some are automatic. I’ll attribute the ones which form automatically to things we like. The key thing to remember here is – we first make our habits and then they become a part of our lives. These activities define and slowly become a part of your everyday life. If you introspect to find out what behaviours classify your activities, you can easily start identifying how they contribute to your everyday life.
The most important thing however to remember is that these routines are created by us. By definition, we should be able to change them to be able to serve us. If there are practices which are holding you back, then clearly you can interrupt them to create an alternate habit.
Then our habits make us
This is the crux of the quote by John Dryden. In this section, we’ll focus on the – our habits make us.
Our character, thoughts, values and beliefs are all reflected in our actions. Naturally, these actions are driven by a set of thoughts which identify us as people. But these actions naturally become our routine to define us. For instance, if your practices are around an active lifestyle, you’ll embody the activities of a healthy person. These translate into defining who you are because they are consistent actions, defining who you are.
In other words, you’re performing an audit or review of your routines. Once you identify them, classify them into two sections – the practices that help you and the ones which don’t. I’m not asking you to kill all these routines which don’t work for you, but let’s just start with the consciousness of what your practices are.
Creating new routines to control our life
Ultimately, we want our lives to be the best they can be. This includes you looking into your routines with the knowledge that first we make our habits. If we’re going by this premise, bad practices have no place in your life because they harm you.
Coming out of a habit is akin to separating yourself from addiction. I don’t mean this in any bad way, but creating any new habit demands that you cultivate a new set of activities through conscious effort and consistent action. These two are key factors in developing a new habit. It might take a certain amount of time for this to be ingrained into you unconsciously, but the point is – we first make our habits and then everything else revolves around them.
All I’m saying through this article is to be conscious about picking these routines and making sure that they help you. Any other practices need to prove their worth before they are surgically extracted from your life. The removal process, just like the creation process requires consistent conscious effort. This is how you can get the habits to work for you eventually.
References:
https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/john-dryden-quotes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habit
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Very inspiring. It was said in ‘To kill a mockingbird’ about the Dad, that he was a man who was exactly in private what he was in public. I think that’s how the author was defining a truly non hypocritical person, who has ingrained goodness into his bloodstream as habit.
Thank you Sweety :).. I haven’t had an opportunity to read that book or even watch that movie yet although it has been on my bucket list from such a long time :).. Goodness into the bloodstream as a habit. I couldn’t have imagined it any way better. Thank you :)
Urmost welcome. Not yet read the book? Get onto it pronto! Its a classic.
It’s a powerful quote by Dryden and nothing can be truer than this! It’s indeed difficult to know a person to the core. Often, I think, we even fail to understand our own self…let alone other persons… Nice post, Vinay, as always… :-)
True Maniparana.. Absolutely spot on, I never feel that I really understand myself. Most times after an event I have questioned myself – “Is it really me? I mean I really thought I would behave differently”
But I guess that is in retrospect, when I had time to think. Probably what comes out in the moment is the real truth or the lifetime of experiences which we have been through which brings out that action.. Kinda puzzled word don’t you think? :)
To be truthful this is the first time I came accross this quote and my my such a thoughtful quote ! How come you come with such meaningful lines every single time in every blogpost? !!! How how how?! I love it how you explain on the perspective part of a human being. The best part is you sort out every single sentence and everything seems crystal clear . Loved the quote for today !
He he, I have always loved quotes Najm, growing up I used to maintain a book where I used to write down every quote I loved and when I open it today I realize that it has become quite a big one. I guess I am only digitizing it now with a few additional thoughts plus some neat images :)..
Thanks so much for such kind words Najm, your words really inspire me to write more and more.. And I really love doing it :).. And to see such wonderful comments is a delight to say the least :)
Hi Vinay! Such a powerful quote by John Dryden. Habit brings a constant evolution within us and it so much revolves around our ethics and character. One such habit in my case is keeping self fit… they say it takes 21 days of regular activity and it converts into a habit. So I am trying that one on work-out. Let’s see how far will I stick with it.
Thank you Tara :).. John Dryden, poet and his way with the words is simply beautiful.. I think there are two kinds of quotes – the ones which romanticise life, fill you with optimism and push you to action. The other kind sits you through makes you reflect and look inside and realize that there is so much more to us than we are showing to the world.
The 21 days bit is a very interesting one. I had read about it somewhere, but I can’t seem to put a finger on it. And it really works, purs you into action. I had read elsewhere that it takes 6 months for a result to kick in and become a part of our neural network. Of the two I would really like to believe the 21 days bit, it is faster and seems more result oriented..