The large majority of people are controlled by their habits and
are buffeted around by them like waves of the ocean tossing a
piece of wood. They do things in a certain way because of the
power of habit. They seldom ever think of concentrating on why
they do them this or that way, or study to see if they could do
them in a better way. Now my object in this chapter is to get you
to concentrate on your habits so you can find out which are good
and which are bad for you. You will find that by making a few
needed changes you can make even those that are not good for you,
of service; the good habits you can make much better.

The first thing I want you to realize is that all habits are
governed consciously or unconsciously by the will. Most of us are
forming new habits all the time. Very often, if you repeat
something several times in the same way, you will have formed the
habit of doing it that way. But the oftener you repeat it the
stronger that habit grows and the more deeply it becomes embedded
in your nature. After a habit has been in force for a long time,
it becomes almost a part of you, and is therefore hard to
overcome. But you can still break any habit by strong
concentration on its opposite.

"All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of
habits--practical, emotional, and intellectual--systematically
organized, for our weal or woe, and bearing us irresistibly
toward our destiny whatever the latter may be."

We are creatures of habits, "imitators and copiers of our past
selves." We are liable to be "bent" or "curved" as we can bend a