On Your Mind: Dropping a bad habit? Make the hurdle easier to
clear  Pauline Wallin, Ph.D. By Pauline Wallin, Ph.D. on
February 22, 2011 at 12:01 AM wallinheadshot.JPGView full
sizeColumnist Dr. Pauline Wallin  Have you ever tried to change
a habit and failed? Not surprising. Once you acquire a habit, it
tends to stick around with the habit memory etched in your
brain. For the most part, that's a good thing.  Habits have
survival value. They make your life more efficient. They put
routine tasks on autopilot, so that you can focus on more
important things. Habits allow you to multi-task — for example,
wash dishes while talking on the phone. They also add
predictability to your life and help keep you in your comfort
zone.  Once you develop a habit, you do it without thinking,
which is great for adaptive behaviors. Imagine if you had to
think through all the steps of tying your shoelaces or finding
your way to work each day, as if it were your first time. That
would be a lot of work.  It’s much easier to repeat