Does habit inhibit you?

[aitm]

Unless you are of the movie genre that varying your routine will make it harder for evil agents to intercept you (obviously proving that you are indeed one worthy of being watched) the apparent habit of “habit” seems to be a necessity of human behavior. I have pondered this deep and important and nearly impossible trait to shake, with mixed thoughts.

Habit, for those of us who seem to have a head filled with swirling thoughts is indeed a necessity for a truly beneficial day and a day that would appear to provide the maximum of fruition by following a rigid, fixed and comfortable routine. My daily habits, I find, are necessary to provide the maximum opportunity for production.

When I find myself willingly ignoring routine or should said routine be interrupted it is stunning what I find I have forgotten to do. Simple things as taking the right medication at the right time prevents taking it three times in the day because my mind is often on a myriad of problems and I can never remember if I took said pills unless the routine is followed.

Simple tasks that are indeed simple, if out of order, can be downright frustrating. I have a robot vacuum and my routine is to empty it right after the morning cup and prior to giving the dogs their breakfast so that my activity is minimized by the distance of travel from the kitchen to vacuum to waste basket to porch to garage and back to porch door and back to kitchen which follows a complete circle with the least amount of wasted motion (and yes, I think that way, nearly everything I do is in consideration of what I am about to do four steps later and how to minimize the energy and motion). Should for some reason, the vacuum gets mixed up, it can take several seconds for my mind to remember how to open the damn thing.

It appears in our early development, the benefits of habit overcame the dangers of habit. Most animals exhibit extreme habit, (making deer somewhat easy to hunt). What do you think would be a driving input in the establishment of habit, and is a rigid habit actually bad by removing spontaneity which some think keeps people more creative and engaged? Do you think your habits inhibit you, or make you more productive?

[SGOS]

I remember reading about this in the context of why humans use self-defeating behavior.  It's an evolutionary advantage to act habitually a good part of the time (see a grizzly?  Move out of the area).  There are obvious advantages most of the time, where thinking, even the laborious and time consuming process of following careful logic, can be a disadvantage.  Which explains, in my opinion, why logic is not the human default behavior.  And of course, we all know that there are good habits and bad habits.  Habit allows us to act without thinking, and in many situations, thinking isn't necessarily good for survival.

[Baruch]

Repetitive day to day action calms me.  I don't care if it is efficient or not.  Keeping the "panic attack" away is higher priority.

[Mike Cl]

I love my routine.  It allows me to get my daily activities done with the minimum of stress.  And stress is not a good thing.  Besides, at this time, my daily activities are mainly fun. 

[stromboli]

Depends on the person and depends on the habit. I take a shower every morning and developed the habit of setting out clothing the night before so I can dress quickly. Put dirty dishes in a dish pan after rinsing them so I can wash them quickly later. I don't see how positive habits could be detrimental. Negative habits like talking to yourself or other shit, yeah.

[Baruch]

Depends on the person and depends on the habit. I take a shower every morning and developed the habit of setting out clothing the night before so I can dress quickly. Put dirty dishes in a dish pan after rinsing them so I can wash them quickly later. I don't see how positive habits could be detrimental. Negative habits like talking to yourself or other shit, yeah.

Let me guess ... you learned good habits in the military? ;-)  Do you make your bed drum tight, and bounce a nickel off of it just to be sure?

[stromboli]

Let me guess ... you learned good habits in the military? ;-)  Do you make your bed drum tight, and bounce a nickel off of it just to be sure?

I learned good habits growing up in a household where every nickel counted and you learned to not waste or throw away anything you could reuse. The only thing the military taught me was how to get drunk.

[Mike Cl]

Let me guess ... you learned good habits in the military? ;-)  Do you make your bed drum tight, and bounce a nickel off of it just to be sure?

Baruch, that's a quarter----not a nickle; a quarter.  I learned my bed-making from my mother--my DI simply refined the method. :)

[GSOgymrat]

I'm very much a creature of habit. I like things orderly and efficient. I can be spontaneous as long as it is planned in advance.

Sent from my SM-T710 using Tapatalk

[stromboli]

Spend some time aboard a ship with different personalities and you can get a sense of what is good and what isn't. People who are spontaneous and fun on the outside, a rave at parties, get old when you deal with them day to day. The steady guys, the ones that make their rack monotonously, show up on watch monotonously and put the silverware in the hot water and cutlery in the separate pan (I was a cook) are a fuckload better to live with than the "spontaneous" ones.  People you don't have to clean up after are a whole lot better to live with than otherwise.

[aitm]

Do you think we really can choose not be to habitual? I mean sure for a while if we pay attention to it, but I am of the thought that eventually we settle back into a habit and will always return to a habit because it probably somehow promotes a healthier life. So genetics eh?

[aitm]

Maybe it is a degree of maturity Strom, I don't see much habit in my kid other than my view, her being lazy. But perhaps she has just a much habit I am unaware of.

[stromboli]

Maybe it is a degree of maturity Strom, I don't see much habit in my kid other than my view, her being lazy. But perhaps she has just a much habit I am unaware of.

Don't know if its genetic or training, but having dealt with multiple individuals in a closed environment, I can see the value of it. It seemed to me like the ones who were sloppy were always sloppy and relatively not trainable, where the ones who were habitually neat did it as a matter of course. Raising 3 kids I can see where they may have picked it up from the parents. I had one son career Army and another career Navy, and they bought into it wholesale. I never presented my military experience in a negative light, so that may have something to do with it.

[jonb]

Horses for courses.
I knew a bloke who was sacked for coming and leaving work on time, when others often turned up an hour late, took long lunches etc, and yet I think it was a good decision because he would not adapt to the nature of the business we were working in.
Maybe adaptability is the way forward?

Yes aitm I know what you mean in the OP it is actually a conundrum that I play about with often, if from a slightly different angle.
Jean-Paul Sartre and the existentialists held that one of the things that caused anxiety is that modern man is forced into taking too many decisions, and it would be better to cut down on the amount of decisions we take in daily life. If all your trousers are black you don't have to spend time deciding each morning which colour trousers you are going to wear. Which I think is the same as your notion habits improve life.
Recently I was listening to a science programme on the radio that was saying, that there is now a good deal of evidence from psychological papers that back Sartre's position. However it was pointed out how this undermined consumerism and the almost endless choice of slightly different things that capitalism is supposed to provide. Being that the benefit of capitalism is the choice and these papers are showing that choice is harmful, I can understand a person who has enjoyed the regimented life of the military with its limited choice of foods from the kitchens of a battle ship (which provides to each according to their needs for all) pushing for this socialist Utopia. But I do wonder would we all be better off conforming to repetition, driving the same standard model state designed cars, and living in the same state provided housing? It would certainly be more efficient, and the science now says that we are happier if we live that sort of habitual life, so who am I to disagree?

Yet as an Absurdist I have to question, was the reason why Jean-Paul Sartre hid the Soviet atrocities under the carpet that he did not want his habitual position questioned, in that by questioning it would force him to make choices, and as we see from above that goes in itself against a happy life of habit.

[Baruch]

Jon - Deep.  Artists are deep, man ;-)  What do you think of Alvin Toffler and "Future Shock" ... I am practically electrocuted, and I am a technical person!