habits....

Habits fascinate me. They are the compound interest of life. Over time they become powerful forces, the currents that sweep you through your life's journey. They are behind much of your luck and karma, whether good or bad.

We, as people, are really nothing more than a collection of habits. (Just try to think of some aspect of yourself that doesn't ultimately boil down to some sort of habit.)

Common examples of the power of interest...

:Most people don't realize that the average person pays for their house 3 times due to interest.

:Mathematics graphically explain why you would be a millionaire if, rather than smoke, you put the money for 2 packs a day into long term investments. (a quick check on an the first compound interest calculator I found on google shows that about $5.5 per day at 9%(average return from stocks) over 50 years adds up to $2 Million.)

That same power is working a zillion times per day in our personal habits. Every little thing we do is usually part of a habit. It can be aimed at making life better or worse, or just aimed randomly.

Mathematics can also explain why your life would tend to be set back by major accidents if you made habits out of taking little safety shortcuts. For instance, let's say that every time you jay walk you have one chance in 10,000 of an accident.

If you walk to and from work and end up jay walking 5 times per work day, that's 1000 times per year. In 5 years you have a 50/50 chance of being hit by a car during a jay walk.

What if you do it for 30 years?

Multiply that by the countless little habits that make up our lives and...

WOW! We really do create our own luck.