Using The Force of Habit to Your Advantage

The following is short excerpt from an excellent essay on the power of habit by one of my favorite authors, Steven Pressfield.

... We usually think of habits as bad. A drug habit, an alcohol habit. But habits can be tremendously positive too. The habit of going to the gym, of meditating, of daily visiting someone who could use a little kindly attention.

What I’m trying to do, myself, day-by-day in my professional regimen, is to reinforce the habit of a regular work schedule. I don’t succeed all the time. Days definitely get away from me. But the goal never changes and I never let up. I want to build a groove, I want to establish a positive, momentum-generating pattern ...

Habit builds up energy over time. The repetition of any action–good or evil–generates power. Energy concentrates and accumulates. Bad habits become harder to break. But good habits do too ...

Are your habits working for or against you? The full essay is available here, Habit.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.

Aristotle