Chapter 8 - The Laws of Habit

In a chapter which is abundantly relevant to almost everyone, James explains the concept of habit as he sheds particular light on how habits are formed and maintained, the use of habituating positive actions, and presents a five maxims by which teachers my guide and lead by encouraging good habits in ourselves (p.34-37).

1. Launch ourselves with as strong and decided an initiative as possible
2. Never suffer an exception to occur till the new habit is securely rooted in your life
3. Seize the very first possible opportunity to act on every resolution you make, and on every emotional prompting you may experience in the direction of the habits you aspire to gain
4. Don't preach too much to your pupils or abound in good talk in the abstract
5. Keep the faculty of effort alive in you by a little gratuitous exercise every day.

Firstly, James suggests that when attempting to adopt a new habit, one should  make as great an effort as possible to manifest it within yourself. He suggests dedicating yourself fully by immersion in a supportive environment which will set you up for success with the highest chance of positive outcomes.

Second, James supports the first maxim by stating that until this habit is fully ensconced in your daily life to allow no exceptions or deviations in your practices or environmental factors to occur.

As James presents his third maxim, I believe he posits that a person should take every possible opportunity to reinforce or practice this habit as situations present themselves in everyday life. In previous entries, I mentioned  what I know of the linkages between B.F. Skinner and James. I believe while Skinner may claim that the environment may play more of a role in the shaping of human behavior, he has certainly said that in order to change behavior, you must change the environment. I do not know how much Skinner wrote about an individual's ability to control this in him or herself. However, I don't think that Skinner would disagree with this position on general terms.

Another fantastic piece of advice in my opinion that over 30 can use in dealing with younger folks is to allow natural occurrences to demonstrate proper behaviors or courses of action. I think a lot of people call these teachable moments. As I look back, I think my most influential memories are comprised of them.

Lastly, to borrow from conventional colloquialism, James tells us to practice, practice, practice! Do a thing for its own sake and because it is the type of thing you want to be doing. Moreover, there may come a time when having mastery of this particular habit may really make a difference in your life.

So far this is my favorite chapter because it proves the utility in reading seminal works that are still relevant and will perdure as long as humanity.

What habit have you successfully integrated into yourself despite the difficulties involved? What habits have you helped encourage in others and how was that intervention received?