Some habits are hard to break, although the effort to break them may lead to new habits, which in result, could lead to new creativity. The brain becomes conditioned and finds safety in a habit. This "safety" is what the brain has become "familiar" with. If we consciously develop new habits, the path to this habit creates new brain cells and shifts our trains of thought significantly.

"HABITS are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine. “Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting herd,” William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word “habit” carries a negative connotation.

So it seems antithetical to talk about habits in the same context as creativity and innovation. But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.

Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try - the more we step outside our comfort zone - the more inherently creative we become, both in the workplace and in our personal lives."

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Source: NY Times
by Janet Rae-Dupree