Habit reduces the distance between wanting and doing

There are decisions you have to make all over again every day: starting to work, tidying up, holding back a hurtful reply, or keeping a promise. At first, the distance between wanting and doing feels enormous. Repetition creates a new ease. It does not eliminate freedom or guarantee that you will never fail, but it prevents you from spending all your energy on starting from scratch. Habit sustains you on days when motivation arrives late. That is why it is wise to design small and stable actions. A grandiose resolution can excite and vanish; a concrete behavior, repeated within the very same context, begins to shape character. Freedom is not diminished: it gains a capacity that previously existed only as a wish.