Epictetus on the Power of Habit

It is impossible for any one to begin to learn what he thinks he already knows.

Epictetus. The Discourses, The Handbook, Fragments. Vermont: Everyman, 1995, 115.

I like this. But - dealing with quickness of temper and frustration issues myself - I like the following even more.

If, then, you do not wish to be ill-tempered, do not feed the habit. Give nothing to promote its growth. Keep quiet to begin with, and count the days on which you have not been angry.

[...]

If you set these thoughts against your impression, you will overpower it, and not be swept away by it. But, in the first place, do not allow yourself to be carried away by its intensity: but say, 'Impression, wait for me a little. Let me see what you are, and what you represent. Let me test you.' Then, afterwards, do not allow it to draw you on by picturing what may come next, for if you do, it will lead you wherever it pleases. But rather, you should introduce some fair and noble impression to replace it, and banish this base and sordid one. 

If you become habituated to this kind of exercise, you will see what shoulders, what sinews and what vigor you will come to have. But now you have trifling talk, and nothing more.

Epictetus. The Discourses, The Handbook, Fragments. Vermont: Everyman, 1995, 120-21.

Epictetus's idea that we should keep count of the days that we have not been angry reminds me of the weight-loss method of weighing yourself every day. It helps you keep yourself disciplined.

Here is to making tomorrow day one.