Why Good Habits Fail: The Missing Truth in Psychology and Philosophy
William James on Habit as the Bridge Between Mind and Body — and Why It’s Not Enough
Each essay is paired with a 500-word Reflection Journal—an analytical summary—followed by a deeper exploration combining lessons from the reading with personal insights.
What is Psychology?
William James defines psychology as the science of mental life and the study of its phenomena and conditions. After reading the first four chapters of The Principles of Psychology, it’s clear that James understood mental life to be shaped not solely by the mind, but by the deep connection between mind and body — a unique insight for his time.
This realization led him to explore the ties between philosophy (mind) and physiology (body) that influence the conditions of mental life. In many ways, James was exploring neuroscience before neuroscience was recognized as a discipline. Specifically, he examined neuroplasticity and the mind's ability to adapt over time — ideas well ahead of his era.
This exploration led to two of James’ most important contributions to psychology: his conclusions on habit and his establishment of functionalism. The former, though largely unpopular at the time, resurfaced later through evolutionary psychology. The latter — the focus of the essay to follow — remains crucial to understanding how we overcome conditions of the mind and improve mental life.
But this leaves a deeper question: Are good habits truly the saving grace — or is there something even more essential?
At the very bottom of each essay, there is a simplified version for those looking for something less comprehensive and easily digested.
William James on Psychology’s Role Between Mind and Body
Objective: To explore how philosophy and physiology shape psychology — so we can consciously use habit to help overcome conditions of mental life.
I. Philosophy and Psychology: How Beliefs Shape Mental Life
A. The Role of Philosophy in Shaping Our Worldview
Our beliefs about the world undoubtedly influence how we live. Our worldview presents itself in every moment, shaping our conscious decisions from the depths of our subconscious mind. If we believe the world is full of liars, our subconscious mind conducts itself as if that belief is true — and so we live accordingly, trusting no one, even those we think we do. On the other hand, if our beliefs are grounded in a moral framework of truth, we find ourselves living in alignment with an objective reality — one that is unshakeable.
But if we fail to take our philosophies seriously, we can easily lose touch with reality. Our subjective perspective drifts farther from the objective, and life becomes full of delusion. Ultimately, the quality of our mental life is a direct result of the effort we put toward shaping our worldview. That is the role philosophy plays in our daily lives.
However, when we shift our focus from beliefs about the world to actions within it, something else becomes clear: beliefs are not the sole determinant of our subjective experience. In other words, the role of the body is equal to that of the mind. Is it not true, then, that physiology is just as important as philosophy — insofar as we are concerned with quality of life?
B. The Role of Physiology: How Actions Reinforce or Destroy Philosophy
It can be said that our philosophies are either reinforced or diminished by our actions — they cannot stand alone; they require action. Take the age-old saying: “Our habits must be aligned with our expectations.” This is accepted as truth by many. In other words, we all recognize that our actions directly influence the quality of our life.
If we stand tall and strong, with our chin up and shoulders back, life plays out accordingly. If we sulk, our experience reflects that of someone who sulks. If we are sad but stand tall and strong, our sadness slowly diminishes. To that extent, we are in control of our body through the actions we take. With this in mind, we accept that we can influence our general state of being through action. We have free will.
To improve our state of mind, we take actions that align with our philosophies. When we act in ways that deviate from them, our mental state deteriorates. But of course, life is unpredictable — and predictable action is not the only role physiology plays. Much like the subconscious mind, the “subconscious body” plays an integral role in shaping our experience.
When we are struck by profound life events, whether positive or negative, our subconscious physiology is deeply affected. When a child is born, our bodies are overwhelmed with joy and love — the stress in our chest is relieved, and even our immune system improves, if only temporarily. Or the opposite occurs: a loved one is lost, and suddenly there is a heaviness in our chest, and we find ourselves sick more often. These physiological responses are beyond our immediate control.
But still, we can fight these “subconscious” responses through conscious effort — otherwise, we would be doomed to our flesh, and free will would serve no purpose. If we understand the cause of our depressed state, we can face it directly.
But what happens when there is no clear tragedy or trauma to explain our suffering — when we are at the mercy of our body and mind with no obvious way out? Any semblance of control is lost, and our mental life begins to unravel before us.
It is in these moments that psychology plays a critical role — offering us a way to restore balance when our bodies betray us and our minds suffer.
II. Mind, Body, and the Signals of Psychology
A. Bridging the Gap: Understanding Mental Conditions as Signals
According to James, during these moments of great divide between mind and body, the separation manifests as a condition in the mental life. Hence his definition:
Psychology is the science of mental life, both of its phenomena and its conditions. - William James, Principles of Psychology, Volume 1
Psychology, then, encourages us to look at these conditions as signals — signals that tell us either “Yes, keep going” or “Hey, something is wrong.”
These signals, however, are only as clear as the cause of the condition. The greatest problems arise when there is no obvious explanation. In such cases, signals can go unnoticed — or worse, misinterpreted. If ignored too long, they can become incapacitating.
Take, for example, a leaky pipe. If we know where the leak is, all we need to do is patch it. But if we can’t find the leak, we end up with a flood in the kitchen. And in the worst case, we’re forced to turn off the water completely.
In the same way, when we can’t identify the cause of our mental distress — much like water that keeps leaking — these signals keep firing: sadness, hopelessness, confusion, and more, with no clear resolution. Over time, the signals amplify, until we are left drowning in a mental hell.
B. Making Sense of Signals: The First Step Toward Healing
These conditions of the mental life are the result of actions repeated over time — actions that either bring us closer to alignment with our philosophies or pull us further away. When we repeat healthy processes, our health improves. When we repeat unhealthy ones, it deteriorates.
Over time, unhealthy habits give rise to mental conditions — signals that something is wrong. This is how we can begin to understand conditions as signals: the mind’s way of warning us when we are living out of alignment. Making sense of these signals is the task of the psychologist.
However, for those of us who strive for self-sufficiency, this answer will not suffice. We don’t want to go to a psychologist — we want to heal ourselves.
And we can. If we understand the role that habit plays in psychology, we can learn to reshape these signals ourselves.
III. Habit: Where Free Will Meets Action
A. Habit as the Method: Rewiring Mind and Body
We understand the role psychology plays in bridging the gap between philosophy and physiology. Now it’s time to cross the bridge, bringing everything full circle. In Principles of Psychology, in the chapter on Habit, William James implicitly positions habit as a way to use conscious action and thought to rewire the subconscious mind and body. This is because habit is where free will and necessity collide — where conscious choice meets unconscious pattern. Through habit, we exercise our free will by deciding which actions we repeat until they become part of us. For most, this is common sense. However, the true power of habit deserves deeper consideration.
James insinuates the existence of neural plasticity — our ability to literally form new neural connections through repetition. Over time, the friction in these neural pathways lessens, and with it, the resistance to associated thoughts and actions fades. Eventually, these habits become part of our personality and shape the world around us. That means habit grants us the ability to change our personality — and our lives.
But that, too, is the danger of habit. Left to their own devices, the mind and body will create bad habits, often leading to conditions of the mental life. That’s why it’s critical to actively form good habits — ones that bring us closer to alignment. And to do that, we need a concrete philosophy to guide us in the right direction.
B. Controlling Our Habits: From Fear to Strength
Let’s begin with an example of someone who dreads public speaking — but as part of their job, they have to do it every week.
Before the presentation even begins, they recall a time they were embarrassed in class for answering a question incorrectly. The mind pulls this memory forward, and the body follows — exhibiting nervousness long before they step up to speak.
The following week, when someone says, “Hey, are you ready for this week’s presentation?” — just hearing the word "presentation" triggers a nervous reaction.
Later, over the weekend, a friend casually mentions a "presentation" in an unrelated conversation — and the same anxious response fires again.
Now, a habit has formed. Any time public speaking is mentioned or implied, nerves are triggered.
In the worst case, this habit can unravel into a condition that consumes the mind. The mere anticipation of speaking could incapacitate them for days. Afterward, retrospective anxiety — replaying what went wrong — could create a spiral that wreaks havoc long after the event is over.
Over time, this can harden into chronic anxiety, and if left unaddressed, can evolve into social anxiety — or worse, depression.
However, knowing what we know now, we can recognize these conditions for what they are: signals. Signals warning us that something is misaligned. By seeing them this way, we avoid falling into a destructive cycle of anxiety about anxiety. Instead, we approach these signals with curiosity, questioning their cause, and decoding their meaning.
And fortunately, the same faculty of psychology that created this suffering — habit — is also our saving grace. We can break the cycle of passive habit by actively forcing new habits to take its place.
C. Forming Good Habits: The Path to Freedom
Unfortunately, forming good habits is much easier said than done. But at least there is hope.
While the path forward for the anxious public speaker is simple, it is not easy. Breaking bad habits requires time and repetition — and lots of it. Yet, in a world of shrinking attention spans, where chasing trends has replaced consistency, the idea of time and repetition is deeply unappealing.
Still, if the anxious speaker can get over that hump, they are on the path to freedom.
The first step is to identify the trigger — the cause of the leaky pipe. For simplicity, let’s consider the word “presentation” as the trigger. Every time “presentation” is mentioned, their heart drops, their palms sweat, and their thoughts spiral into obsessive anticipation — completely consumed by anxiety about the event.
Now that they’ve identified the trigger, they can begin forcing a new association — one of excitement and confidence — around the word "presentation."
To do this, they must make a promise to themselves:
"Next time I hear the word 'presentation,' I will imagine the best possible outcome — no matter how unrealistic it may seem."
This imagined outcome could be a promotion, a vacation, a standing ovation — anything that generates a positive emotional response.
With time and repetition, these positive associations will form a new habit. And as performance inevitably improves, the retrospective anxiety that used to follow will lessen.
Altogether, the anxious public speaker becomes a confident one — someone who has formed a habit of responding to presentations with positive expectation rather than fear. But even as habit offers a way out of mental suffering, we are left with an uncomfortable question — what happens when good habits fail to resolve our deepest struggles? Can habit alone carry us across the bridge, or is something more needed?
IV. The Limits of Habit: When Good Habits Aren’t Enough
Now, the question becomes again: what happens in the absence of a known trigger?
We’re doing all the right things — replacing bad habits with good ones, rewiring the body and mind — yet the condition remains, and the suffering continues. What then?
While this wasn’t a primary concern of James, it is ours. So we continue. James himself suggested that habit belongs more to the conversation of physics than psychology — and he isn’t wrong. Habit seems to be nothing more than a series of triggers and reactions, learned over time, consciously or unconsciously.
But this leads us to ask: What is the driving force — the baseline — by which habits are judged “good” or “bad”?
Carl Jung, in Modern Man in Search of a Soul, questions whether this task belongs to the psychologist or the clergyman. Viktor Frankl, in response, developed logotherapy, centered around the search for meaning.
Considering the perspectives of these great minds, our philosophy appears to be the foundation on which our entire mental life is built. Our psychology, then, is determined by the degree to which our mind and body move into or out of alignment with those philosophies.
Understanding the faculty of habit can help us remove bad habits and create new ones that reorient us around our guiding philosophies.
Yet, as we think through countless scenarios and the application of positive habits, we inevitably encounter those who, even after successfully reorienting themselves, still find themselves at the mercy of an unceasing psychological condition.
The only explanation is that the philosophies they have oriented their habits around are not the right philosophies.
Which leads us to ask: What is the right philosophy? Is there a right philosophy?
If habit is the tool we use to shape our lives, then philosophy — our understanding of truth — must be what guides that tool. A habit formed around falsehood can only lead to further suffering. Thus, before we can form good habits, we must ask: Are our philosophies grounded in truth?
V. Final Thoughts: Philosophy, Free Will, and the Search for Truth
I believe these chapters in The Principles of Psychology provide a foundational understanding of James’ definition of psychology, as well as an insightful introduction to habit as a method for leveraging free will to rewire the mind and address the conditions of mental life.
However, without having read both volumes in their entirety, it would be premature to draw any final conclusions — especially regarding the full scope of James’ findings on habit, which, to be fair, is not my central focus.
I’m less concerned with the brain’s function or the conditions of mental life, and more concerned with the faculty of the mind itself — and the role free will plays in using habit to shape how we live.
Thus far, it seems that the pursuit of truth remains our most important task, because misguided habits will only add to the chaos within and around us.
Why Good Habits Aren’t Enough
(Simplified for Everyone)
What is Psychology? — William James' Perspective
William James, one of the founders of modern psychology, defines psychology as the science of mental life and the study of its experiences and conditions.
When reading the first chapters of The Principles of Psychology, it's clear that James didn’t just see mental life as something happening in our minds — he saw it as something deeply connected to our bodies. This was a unique insight for his time.
James explored how our beliefs (philosophy) and our bodies (physiology) shape our mental life. In a way, he was thinking about neuroscience before it was even a field. He even recognized that our brains can change over time — what we now call "neuroplasticity."
From this work, James gave psychology two major ideas: the power of habit and functionalism (understanding how mental processes help us adapt to life). Habit, which we'll focus on here, shows us how our actions — when repeated — can shape our minds and lives. But as we’ll see, habit is powerful, but not always enough.
How Beliefs Shape Mental Life
Our beliefs about the world affect everything we do. If we believe people are dishonest, we live with suspicion. If we believe in truth and goodness, we live with more trust.
But if we ignore our beliefs or let them drift aimlessly, we lose touch with reality. Our mental life — the way we think and feel — is shaped by the beliefs we hold, whether we realize it or not.
This is why philosophy matters in daily life. Our worldview — what we believe about life, people, and truth — directly affects our mental health.
However, beliefs alone don’t determine how we experience life. Our actions matter just as much.
How Actions Reinforce or Undermine Beliefs
Our actions either strengthen or weaken our beliefs. We cannot believe one thing and live in a way that completely goes against it — at least not without consequences.
Take a simple truth: "Our habits must align with our expectations." We all know that if we want to live a good life, we need to act in ways that support that life.
For example, if we stand tall and speak with confidence, we feel stronger. If we sulk and avoid others, we feel worse. Our body reflects our inner life, but it also shapes it.
But life isn’t always predictable. Sometimes, our body reacts on its own, beyond our control. Stress, trauma, or profound experiences affect us physically and emotionally, whether we want them to or not.
This is why understanding the body’s role in mental life is essential — because sometimes, we suffer without a clear reason.
Psychology: The Bridge Between Mind and Body
According to James, when the mind and body are out of sync, this disconnect shows up as mental distress. That's why psychology is the study of mental life — of both what we experience and what causes those experiences.
Psychology teaches us to see mental struggles as signals. Sometimes they tell us, "Keep going." Other times, they say, "Something is wrong."
But these signals are not always clear. Sometimes we don’t know why we feel anxious or depressed. Like a leaking faucet we can't find, the problem grows until it floods our life.
When we don’t understand these signals, we can be overwhelmed by sadness, hopelessness, and fear.
Habit: The Bridge We Build
Habit is one way we can bridge the mind and body — a tool James saw as essential for mental health.
Habits are formed by repeating actions over time. Through repetition, the brain changes, and actions become easier. Eventually, habits become part of who we are.
But this is also the danger of habit — because bad habits form just as easily as good ones. If we’re not careful, our mind and body will develop patterns that harm us.
That's why we need a clear philosophy to guide which habits we build.
Controlling Our Habits
Imagine someone who dreads public speaking but has to do it every week.
At first, they remember being embarrassed speaking in class. Their body reacts — heart racing, palms sweating — even before they get up to speak.
Soon, just hearing the word "presentation" makes them anxious. A friend mentioning it over coffee triggers the same fear.
A habit is formed: every time public speaking is mentioned or required, anxiety takes over.
If nothing changes, this habit can grow into chronic anxiety, even depression.
But knowing this is a habit — a signal that something is wrong — gives us power. Instead of being trapped, we can face these signals with curiosity and begin to change them.
Forming Good Habits
Changing habits takes time and repetition.
First, we must identify triggers. If the word "presentation" sparks anxiety, that’s the trigger.
Next, we must create new, positive associations. Each time "presentation" is mentioned, we imagine a positive outcome — a promotion, applause, success.
By repeating this over and over, a new habit forms. Over time, the body and mind respond with confidence, not fear.
But this process is hard. In today’s world of quick fixes and short attention spans, the discipline of habit-building feels foreign. Yet, this is the way to lasting change.
When Habits Fail Us
But what if, after all this effort, the suffering remains?
James gives us habit as a tool, but he doesn’t fully answer what to do when habits don’t solve the problem. Primarily because that wasn’t his concern. But, it is ours.
This raises a deeper question: What makes a habit "good" or "bad"? On what foundation are we building these habits?
Carl Jung asked whether this is a task for the psychologist or the clergyman — is the issue mental or spiritual? Viktor Frankl argued that we need meaning — without it, habits are empty.
So maybe the problem isn’t just habit. Maybe it’s that we’re building habits on the wrong philosophies — on beliefs that don’t lead us to truth.
Final Thoughts
In the end, our philosophy shapes everything. Our beliefs determine which habits we form — and whether those habits will bring healing or harm.
Psychology helps us see and adjust habits. But philosophy guides what kind of life we aim to live.
If our habits are misaligned with truth, they will only deepen our suffering.
Thus, our task is not just to build habits — but to pursue truth. Because without truth, even the best habits will lead us astray.