This year, resolve to think differently about habit. Meghan O’Gieblyn, author of God, Human, Animal, Machine: Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning, discusses the spiritual, cognitive, and creative benefits of embracing routine in an increasingly automated world. O’Gieblyn dispenses with narrow notions of life hacking and argues that habits can free us from rigid algorithms to create space for contemplation. Routine doesn’t have to mean killing all spontaneity, but instead can function as a bulwark against mindlessness.

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