Wisdom story: What is the secret to breaking bad habits?

There was once a wealthy man who wanted nothing but the best for his son. But to his misfortune his son did not have any good habits, and no work ethics. So the wealthy man went to an old scholar and requested him to wean his son away from his bad habits. The scholar agreed but first he wanted to see what kind of habits does the son has. So for one whole week the scholar followed the young boy and observed everything the boy did without saying a word. 

Then after a week of observing the scholar took the young boy for a stroll through the garden and they talked about what habits are and what they mean to a person’s life. The scholar also provided real-life stories that exemplified the good and bad habits and how they affected other people’s lives. Then the old scholar asked the young boy what does he want to be when he grows up? 

The boy described every detail of what he is going to do when he grows up with so much passion that half an hour just passed by like it was a minute. Then the old scholar asked the young boy if he had the right habits to achieve what he wanted. The young boy’s eyes suddenly turned sad and he admitted that from what he has learned that it was not so, and that he does not know how to change his bad habits. The old scholar suddenly stopped and asked the boy to pull out a tiny plant growing there.

The young boy held the plant between his thumb and forefinger and pulled it out. The old man then asked him to pull out a slightly bigger plant. The young boy pulled hard and the plant came out, roots and all. “Now pull out that one,” said the old man pointing to a bush. The boy had to use all his strength to pull it out. “Now take this one out,” said the old man, indicating a guava tree. The young boy grasped the trunk and tried to pull it out. But it would not budge. “It’s impossible,” said the boy, panting with the effort.

“So it is with bad habits,” said the old scholar. “When they are young and small it is easy to pull them out but when they take hold they cannot be uprooted easily or at all.” The session with the old man changed the boy’s life. And when the young boy got older and had his own family he made sure that each of his children experienced the same lesson as he did.