No Stupid Questions

Yeah the locker/towel thing would be a habit especially if you don't actively think about it.

You may not have a strong daily routine but all humans have habits and it's precisely because you don't actively think about them a lot that it's can be hard to become cognizant of them.

They also include behavioral preferences such as scratching your chin with your right hand when lost in thought 🤔, calling your girlfriend 'honey' frequently, consuming certain foods/beverages more than others, separating the trash, opening up social Media on your smart phone when bored, or taking your jacket with you when you go outside.

Those are not the same for everyone but everyone has them useless maybe some severe medical condition is present.

There's a route you take when you walk to the front door, there's a hand you open it with, there's a way you shift your weight as you open it. Yes, usually going to the pastry shop on the weekend can be a habit too, but there really are tons your never think about.

When someone calls your name, do you look or not? Fast or slow? When someone tells you their name do you repeat it to yourself in your head? Any of these things you do consistently without thinking are habits, and anything you do consistently through mental effort can be too, even if they aren't automatic.

My idea is something like showering, or locking your door/car. You can find yourself questioning it: did I wash my X? Did I lock my front door? You did it because it's a "force of habit".

Not sure if you are per se, but this is a commonly felt sentiment in the neurodivergent community. Especially ADHD and Autistic peeps.

Habits can be really hard. I really struggle with them as part of my ADHD. I could have written this post myself.

It might be worth considering an ADHD assessment. ADHD and autism commonly occur together

“Delete my belly” this is hilarious

I usually think of habits in terms of willpower. It's just one perspective, which is focused on the development of positive habits and routines.

Willpower is like muscle. You can only use so much before you get tired and it stops working, and if you regularly use it eventually it will get stronger. So, the strength of a habit depends on how much willpower it takes to complete. If you go for a run every morning without even thinking about it, that's a strong habit. If you do it regularly but have to drag yourself out of bed, it's a weak habit.

Worth noting that a key to building habits is to work on one at a time until it takes very little willpower.

A Habit is when it takes you less brain to do it, because it has become automatic.

What we call "muscle memory" is actually Kahneman1 mind, he calls it "System 1", but that's a useless label, without context, and its function is imprint->reaction.

"Thinking Fast & Slow", the most profoundly-important book in the whole world, right now ( because the ideologies/prejudices are trying to displace Kahneman2 mind, considered-reasoning, from all authority in our world, and the more stressed everybody gets, the more success they have in doing-so ) is on the difference between the 2 systems.

Imprint->reaction mind can be quite useful, in one's mental-economy, as it makes things happen on autopilot, but .. if one tolerates its systematic substituting of its convenient reactions, for the actually required actions, .. it can become strategically dangerous..