More duct tape
The modern era has been heavily marked by a great confusion: it assumes that deep issues can be solved with superficial solutions. It says: take cold showers to feel better, meditate, exercise, wake up early, do this, do that... And, to be fair, all of these are actually valuable habits with multiple benefits… But…
The problem, however, is that people often believe these habits will lead them to happiness or some form of fulfillment. As a result, they become distracted from the more essential, deeper problems of their lifes: things like a lack of discipline, a lack of meaning and purpose, one's passive and weak general mindset, attitude, and life philosophy. And certainly, these problems can't be solved just with a cold shower.
Believing that is like trying to patch a hole in a sinking boat with duct tape—it might temporarily slow the leak and offer some relief, but sooner or later, the water will find a way in.
Now, as to whether a habit can change someone's life, I would definitely say yes: it can. After all, our habits shape our future lives. A good habit can certainly give our life a positive turn, help us discover a new passion, open new paths, or even lead us to an entirely new purpose in life.
As for negative habits, I would say the solution is to replace them with more positive ones. But! Let's not try to save the boat with duct tape. We must look deeper: where does the habit come from?
For example, if someone spends all day doing nothing, lying like a starfish watching empty shows and content on their phone—in other words, if procrastination has become a habit—we must examine its roots. Looking deeper, we might discover it stems from a lack of meaning.
Here, in my view, the goal is to reshape the person's overall life philosophy so that their mindset itself becomes the driving force for life and strength.
Whereas, if we were to simply replace that habit with a more positive one, while completely ignoring the deeper issue—and I emphasize this last point—then we’d just need
more duct tape.