Every year at Christmas dinner my family puts together a list of things each of us want to accomplish next year, then the following Christmas we sit down and see how much progress we made. A lot of what each of us works towards is either trying to form new habits or break bad ones. The exercise (which I love) has forced me to think about how to build good habits.
I am convinced that good habits are formed incrementally, not overnight. It comes in installments; you get a little bit today, a little bit tomorrow, bit by bit you form the habit until it becomes second nature. Habits are formed in the mundanity of every day life when no one is watching or reminding you how to act. Being a better family member isn’t about grand gestures of affection, it comes from taking two minutes to call you parents to say hi when a childhood memory pops into your mind. It’s about taking a detour home to say hi to your brothers when all you want to do is get home and relax. All of those little gestures build up over time and before you know it you perform them without having to remind yourself that you're working towards being a better family member.