That Which We Persist in Doing

“That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed but that our power to do has increased.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is one of my favorite principles: Exercise. Improved capacity through repeated attempts. Diligence yields ability.

It reflects something that President Deiter F. Uchtdorf said in his October 2009 talk, The Love of God:

My dear brothers and sisters, don’t get discouraged if you stumble at times. Don’t feel downcast or despair if you don’t feel worthy to be a disciple of Christ at all times. The first step to walking in righteousness is simply to try. We must try to believe. Try to learn of God: read the scriptures; study the words of His latter-day prophets; choose to listen to the Father, and do the things He asks of us. Try and keep on trying until that which seems difficult becomes possible—and that which seems only possible becomes habit and a real part of you. (Emphasis Added)

I used to need to remind myself to blog every morning. I taped a piece of paper with the word "BLOG"  written on it to the computer screen, so that when I go on the computer each day, "BLOG" is the first thing I see, and do. But now I don't need that reminder. That piece of paper has been resting on top of the computer for months now. That which seemed only possible - maintaining a daily blog - has become a habit and, in some ways, I suppose, a part of me.

There are lots of things that we do regularly, or that we're supposed to do regularly. Such things become easier as we repeatedly do them. The more we do them, the easier it becomes to keep doing them, not because the tasks actually become easier, but because we have developed a habit of doing them.

I've recently started to keep a journal again. I write a little bit every night. As habits go, that one wasn't very hard to pick up, perhaps partly because I used to write in my journal every day until shortly before I started blogging. Because I had already developed a habit of journal-writing, it wasn't hard to pick back up.

So, we can become better people by developing habits of doing good things. Unfortunately, habits can also work against us. As Nathaniel Emmons once said: “Habit is either the best of servants or the worst of masters.” If we choose our habits carefully and wisely, they will do a great of good for us by helping us to do good things. If we choose our habits poorly, they will get us stuck in ruts, leading us down roads the ends of which we'd rather not reach, or even think about.

We need to make good choices. We need to make good choices as frequently as we can so we can develop a habit of making good choices. Sometimes, making the right choice is difficult, but I believe that God will always make it possible. If we pray for His help and do what we can, we can succeed. And if we can succeed once, we can succeed again. And if we can succeed again and again, we can form a habit of succeeding, and if we etch that habit deeply enough, it will eventually become difficult to fail.

God may increase the challenge of the test, and Satan may increase the temptation to give up, but if we decide to choose the right, that choice will become easier and easier every time we make it. If we persist in making good choices, that will become easier for us to do until it eventually becomes a habit and a real part of us.