Habit: Servant or Master?

“Habit,” said Nathaniel Emmons, “is either the best of servants or the worst of masters.”

In considering this subject we often emphasize the negative side⎯habit as the “worst of masters.” But there is also the positive side: habit as “the best of servants”⎯for forming good habits is as important as breaking bad ones.

“Young persons are creatures of impulse,” said George Cheever. “Old persons are creatures of habit. Almost everything is impulse with a little child, almost everything is habit in… old age.”

“We are all the time following the influences which will presently be our rulers,” said Herman Wayland. “We are making our own destiny. We are choosing our habits…. In time these acquire a power over us.” This is true and sobering, but not necessarily negative.

We can break bad habits and make good habits⎯if we want to. And right habits can be as useful as wrong habits can be destructive. Indeed, in one sense, habit is another word for routine, or at least habit and routine run together. And like all the other forces in life, habit may be directed to negative or positive purposes.

Constructively, we may form the habit of studying, the habit or working, the habit of reading; the habit of paying debts,⎯we may form habits of kindness and courtesy; the habit of wholesome thinking; even the habit of happiness. Some habits lead to frustration, inefficiency, ill health, and heartache. Some lead to accomplishment, effectiveness, good character, and quiet conscience.

These words of George D. Boardman are recalled, “Sow an act, and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character; sow a character, and you reap a destiny.”