How to Distinguish Between Good and Bad Habits

If your mind changes, your actions change.
If your actions change, your habits change.

If your habits change, your character changes.
If your character changes, your destiny changes.

- William James -

Good morning.
I am shogo, a habit supporter.

Are you able to distinguish your habits?

Distinguishing habits refers to being able to judge whether a habit is good or bad.

"I can judge them!"

Some people might say this,

"I'm not sure if this is a good habit..."

while others might feel this way.

This time, I will talk about how to distinguish between good and bad habits.

~Recommended for people like this~
・People who are about to start a new habit
・People who want to know if their current habits are good or bad
・People who think they have a bad habit but aren't sure

Someone important to you will tell you everything!

To start with the conclusion...

"Would you want your own child to make this a habit?"

is the question you should ask yourself.

If you don't have children, you should think about whether you would want your future child to"make it a habit."It is good to consider this.

The reason why asking your child helps you understand if it is a good habit

For example, if your elementary school son says...

Hey, I want to play soccer...

If he said that, most parents would probably answer...

Sure, why don't you give it a try?

I think that is how they would respond.

But what would you do if he said this?

Hey, I want to smoke cigarettes...

You already know the answer, don't you?

99.9% of parents would strongly object, saying, Absolutely not!! and strongly oppose it.

When recommending a habit to someone as important as your own child, you, as a parent, judge from an objective standpoint whether it is a habit you want them to have or a habit you don't want them to have, as a parent.

Underlying that is the awareness that, as a parent, you have a duty to think about your child's future.

I want my precious child to be happy.

I want them to walk their own path without being tainted by necessary evils.

I don't want the child I've raised with such care to learn bad habits.

Because you can view your child with that parental awareness, you can clearly distinguish between good habits and bad habits.

The reason your judgment becomes clouded when it comes to yourself

However, when it comes to our own habits, we humans continue even bad habits.

For example, even if you know that smoking is a bad habit...

"It's necessary for stress relief"

"Because I look cool when I'm smoking"

"I'm contributing to Japan through tobacco taxes"

We come up with every excuse possible to try and justify our bad habits.

We end up creating endless benefits for ourselves.

The big reason for this is that our standard of judgment is "only about myself".

Since you're an adult, you're responsible for everything...

Well then, why not just acquire whatever habits you like!

Thinking in such a self-serving way, and unable to distinguish between habits, we end up acquiring bad habits as our desires dictate.

Adults are the same as children

In reality, it's strange that we can act freely just because we've become adults.

When you were a child, didn't you hear things like "Stop watching TV all the time and study," "You can only play games for an hour," "Have you finished your homework instead of just playing?"...

Weren't you told those painful things by your parents?

This isn't limited to children.

It is just as necessary for adults as it is for children.

Just because you are an adult doesn't mean you don't need to control your habits, just like a child.

This is because people need education until the day they die...

Can you boast about the habits you have now to your children?

This time, I talked about distinguishing habits based on the criterion of “Would you want your own child to make this a habit?”

Your own child is a precious existence.

Because they are precious, you want them to live a happy life...

However, while your child is precious, you are also a precious existence.

For some reason, when it comes to themselves, I feel that many people tend to think “It’s just me, so it doesn’t matter.”

But your life is “your own one-and-only life” that no one else can replace.

That is precisely why you should avoid unnecessary habits and acquire only the habits you truly need.

When a “habit” appears before you, please ask yourself.

“Is this a necessary habit for a child?”

See you later.
Goodbye.