Riddle: Who Am I?

Riddle: Who Am I?

I am your constant companion.

I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden.

I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.

I am completely at your command.

Half the things you do might just as well be turned over to me

and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly.

I am easily managed – you must merely be firm with me.

Show me exactly how you want something done;

and after a few lessons I will do it automatically.

I am the servant of all great individuals and, alas, of all failures as well.

Those who are great, I have made great.

Those who are failures, I have made failures.

I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision

of a machine, plus the intelligence of a human.

You may run me for profit or run me for ruin – it makes no difference to me.

Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your feet.

Be easy with me and I will destroy you.

Who am I?

I am called Habit.

-Anonymous


Habits, once created, can be one’s best friend. Some people believe they weren’t “born organized” and therefore will never be organized.  The good news is that being organized is a LEARNED skill and gets easier when practiced.  It becomes even easier when the skills become HABITS.

What kind of habits?

- PUTTING THINGS AWAY instead of putting them down

- Keeping “LIKE” THINGS TOGETHER near where you use them

- ASSIGNING HOMES FOR EVERYTHING in order to find them easily

- Assessing WHAT’S IMPORTANT, rather than what’s urgent or feels good

Carve out a bit of time each day to work on making a desired process a habit.  Yes, it requires self discipline in the beginning, but before long it will become, as the riddles states, your constant companion and greatest helper!

Ellen Tozzi

About Ellen Tozzi

Ellen Tozzi is a Greater Philadelphia professional organizer with Natural Order based in Hamilton, NJ.
Visit Ellen Tozzi's website
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