I recently read The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. The book is about research into how people develop habits, how they change them, and how big a role they play in the choices we make from moment to moment. The book persuaded me that many--if not most--of my choices are driven by habit. They are automatic responses to recurring triggers. I respond to the triggers with little thought, like a robot behaving as he was programmed. But this doesn't have to be bad. I can embrace my inner robot, as long as I'm aware of my habits and, over time, replace bad habits with good ones.
Duhigg describes research on laboratory rats. When they are first learning to get through a maze, they expend tremendous mental energy. When they have repeated the maze so often that they move through it out of habit, their mental activity relaxes greatly. Their actions become effortless. This is what I can value about my "inner robot". Habits allow me to do routine things effortlessly so that I conserve my mental energy for the really challenging, creative tasks. Also, good physical, social, spiritual, and mental habits can make me happier and healthier.
I feel cultural pressure to deny my "inner robot". It feels to me that our culture idealizes a life in which we make conscious, thoughtful decisions about everything we do. It is as if we should always be behaving deliberately and thoughtfully. Duhigg's book makes a strong case that humans are NOT designed to put a lot of thought into every decision. We don't need to think about what we will do when the alarm clock rings, when we drive our cars, when we first arrive in the office, when we get ready to leave for the day, etc.
I'm convinced that it's better accept my "inner robot". Accept the fact that many or most of my decisions will be based on habits--automatic responses to triggers. Don't expect to change that; to suddenly find ways to make all of my behavior deliberate and willful. Instead, analyze the habits I have and find ways to improve them.
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