THE STRENGTH OF HABIT
Materials:You need severalcompanionsfor this exercise. Infact, it makes
a lively game for aparty. Provide eachparticipantwith pencil andpaper.
Follow this procedure: Read the following sentences rapidly to your
companions. Instructthem to write exactly what you read as fast as they can
withoutcrossing any t's ordottingany i's.
After you have finished,countup the numberoft's crossed and the i's
yourcompanionshavedotted.
These are the sentences:
Indians like kittens and little rabbits. They take tiny arrows tohunt
theseanimalswith.
The rain hit the window like soft tufts of cattails.
Time and tide wait for no man.
Aftertea for two the twins left the inn.
You will observe:Eventhoughthey wereinstructednot to do so, mostof
yourcompanionswill have crossed several t's anddottedseveral i's.
Dottingi's and crossing t's when writing is a deeply ingrained habit.
Ahabitdevelops after you haverepeatedthe same thing, in the samemanner,
over and over again.
Goodhabits areofgreat advantageto us. They save time and energy.
They enable us to do certainthings automaticallyso as to have time and
energy toconcentrate on things which require a great deal ofthoughtand
judgment.
HABIT FORMATION
Materials:Pencils and sheets ofpaper. Ask several friends toparticipate
in this experiment. The more the merrier;this game would be a good one
for aparty.
Follow this procedure:Ask yourcompanionsto divide their sheets ofpaper
into two columns headed A and B. Ask them to write their full names in
ColumnA, as many times as they can in a minute. At the endofthis time,
ask them to write their full namesbackwardinColumnB asmanytimes as
they can. Again, call time at the endofa minute.
Countthenumberof times the name waswrittenin each column.
You will observe:Very few names willappearinColumnB.