Thoughtful Thursday - habit

One of my favourite sayings is "a habit is hard to get rid of. You get rid of the h, but you still have 'a bit,' get rid of the a, you still have 'bit,' get rid of the b, and you still have 'it.'" What makes habits so hard to get rid of, and why do they develop? Is it purely muscle memory? Or is there some hidden longing for something familliar? Something consistent? I have a habit of leaving things to the last minute. I leave at the last possible moment to make it to class (more or less) on time. I wait until the last second to hand in homework (and to start it...). I also have a habit of putting my right show on before my left. Some people bite their nails, or pick scabs. But why? How does it start? And why is it so hard to stop? I think sometimes it's muscle memory. For something like bad posture, it's not an action in itself, but a sort of reaction to sitting down. The muscles have been "programmed" by repetition to slouch when sitting. It can be consciously reversed, but won't just happen unless you never slouched. But there are times, like procrastination, where muscle memory has nothing to do with it at all. I think to myself 'I still have time,' but then Facebook turns itself on, or one of my games opens itself. And when that happens its so hard to yet back to the important stuff. It's a conscious decision to not do the work long before it is required. But even though I know the consequences, and I know they can't be avoided, I do it anyway. I don't know why I do it. I don't consider myself a lazy person, because when I work, I work hard. I put a lot of effort into whatever I may be doing. Unfortunately, it's too often not the thing I should be putting time and effort into. Anyhoo, I'm getting sidetracked. It's a bad habit. I don't know why it started, and I don't know why it's so hard to throw. I guess I'm just used to the feeling of being behind, or in a rush, that I intentionally put myself in that position because its familiar? I don't know. This has been an unbelievably side-tracked post...