Good habits spoiled by bad motivations

This post risks sounding a little holier-than-thou so I want to preface it: Obviously I do not have any answers to life’s questions regarding how to make a difference in the world. I’m just some guy. But something I think about a lot is the idea of trying to improve your life or improve the world, especially by changing your habits. This could be mean boycotting a company, getting off social media, recycling, eating vegan, signing petitions, biking to work, sharing a hashtag, buying groceries local, switching to Linux or whatever else. Things that you might feel will change the world or change your life in a significant way. These days I’m starting to believe that it’s imperative that you do not tell yourself that starting a good habit in this vein is going to change the world. And yet, you should still do the thing. Because it’s the right thing to do. I’m not a nihilistic doomer who thinks that nothing matters so you might as well not recycle. The exact opposite, actually. I think…