We crave habit, regularity and consistency. And for good reason.
Habits allow us to automate good behaviours and leverage muscle memory. They help us achieve a state of unconscious competence with practices that we want to engage in regularly.
But every behaviour turns dark when taken to the extreme and our habits are no exception.
We can calcify around our habits, even our good ones, becoming rigid and dogmatic about the when, the what and the how.
When our habits first form, they are quite elastic and open to influence. But over time – as they become more automatic – they become plastic, losing some of their elasticity before eventually becoming solid. Once this happens, they’re completely fixed in their aspect.
A better metaphor here is to think about developing habits as finding a rhythm. The rhythm has momentum and power, but it’s not fixed and is always open to change.
A rhythm can also be public. It can be communal. It can be shared. Others can join in a rhythm, adding to its diversity and power.
The words we use for our ideas really matter. They can create space for inclusion, they can create possibility and power. They can also shut down thinking, enforce compliance and limit creativity.
When building a practice, a pattern or a habit, making it a rhythm is one way to stop it from turning into a rut.
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