Page 41 - Failure to Triumph - Journey of A Student

his mind would have worked differently. He would have known that it
works and it is beneficial to him. This would have prompted him to be
curious to learn new things, he would have been enthusiastic. He

would easily sit among intellectuals, learn new things and pass it on
to others.

Inculcating a good habit leads you to another positive habit. A bad
habit takes you away from your goal.

The biggest question is about the amount of strength and motivation
required for developing a good habit. If you feel that you need

persuasion to develop a habit and keep following it, then how do you
make this entire process easy for yourself? Let me illustrate this by
giving an example- Imagine that there is a heavy iron chain kept on
your table. This chain is so heavy that you can only move it a little;
you cannot lift it up. Your aim is to throw the chain on the floor, and

for that you pull an end of it to shift it. If this chain is to be thrown
down, how much effort do you need to put into it? Is it really
necessary to pull the entire chain down? No, you don’t have to do
that. Because: when only 1/3rd part of the chain is left on the desk, it
will slip down automatically due to its weight. Your effort is needed
only to pull down one side of the chain, the rest will fall by itself.

This is the beauty of having a good habit—it pulls you towards
success. The weight of a habit is more than that of any kind of
motivation. Another positive thing is that once a good habit gets
developed, you cannot quit it easily.
Now, it is entirely up to you as to what kind of habit you want to
develop. All you have to remember is that with age, habits become

more rooted, more permanent. The power that your habits will
acquire with every passing year, will make it all the more difficult for
you to quit them. It would also be difficult to replace old habits with
new ones. As the old saying goes,” Old habits die hard.” So, choose
your habits wisely.

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”-

Jim Ryun.