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“Habit is overcome by habit.” — Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book 1.21

Self-improvement is, essentially, the development of good habits and the purging of bad ones. While bad habits are often easy to develop, positive habits need constant reinforcement to make sure that they take hold and root out the negative practices you are trying to eliminate. As Benjamnin Franklin puts it in his autobiography,

…the mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our slipping; and that the contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and established, before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform rectitude of conduct.

What Franklin was saying is that you cannot simply intend to improve yourself, but you have to be persistant in establishing your improvements. There are many things you can do to help yourself along; Franklin recorded his activities each day, and built a chart of what he felt were his vices and virtues. Ultimately, he found that this system did not work perfectly, but the clear purpose is to reflect upon and track each day’s improvements. A few lessons to be learned:

1. Keeping a journal

Taking five to ten minutes each day to reflect on your words and actions will force you to acknowledge your faults, and you’ll find yourself aiming to do better in the future. The key is that you have to be honest with yourself; a journal is a way of holding yourself accountable.

2. Have patience; be persistant

The whole point of this lesson is that it takes time to develop positive habits. Have patience with yourself; when you see that you are faultering, don’t give up; instead, acknowledge your shortcomings and aim to improve yourself in the future. Be persistant: there is no sense in giving yourself a break from improvement, and letting your guard down will just let the bad habits sneak back into your life.

3. Start small; grow big

This may work for some, but it may not work for others. Some people find it easier to take baby steps — to start with the low-hanging fruit and work their way up the tree. Others find it works best for them to do things cold-turkey — to make an all-or-nothing commitment and see it through. Identify which is best for you, and use it.

4. Look back and see how far you’ve come

Since everything is day-to-day, it is easy to feel like we haven’t progressed at all until we look back into the past and
see just how much improvement has been made (this is easier if there is a written record, like a journal). Occasionally, especially in times of hightened adversity, look back and mark how far you’ve come; you might surprise yourself.

Today’s quotes are from “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas à Kempis and “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin” by Benjamin Franklin. Image credit goes to craigemorsels.