An old cobbler sought out the village sage and asked him to please find a way to wean his son away from his bad habits. The wise man agreed and took the youth for a stroll through a garden. Stopping suddenly, he asked the boy to pull out a tiny plant growing there.
The youth held the plant between his thumb and forefinger and pulled it out. The wise man then asked him to pull out a slightly bigger plant. The youth pulled hard and the plant came out, roots and all. “Now pull out that one,” said the wise man pointing to a bush. The boy had to use all his strength to pull it out.
“Now take this one out,” he said, indicating a guava tree. The youth grasped the trunk and tried to pull it out. But it would not budge. “It’s impossible,” said the boy, panting with the effort.
“And so it is with bad habits,” said the sage. “When they are young it is easy to pull them out but when they take hold they cannot be uprooted.” That walk through the garden changed the boy’s life.
Moral: Don’t wait for bad habits to grow within you. Release them while you have control over them or else they will get control over you.