inclination
inclination: a tendency to a particular aspect, state, character, or action. the clutch has an inclination to slip. : a deviation from the true vertical or horizontal : slant. also : the degree of such deviation.
— from Who Is Flying (Self, Nature & Nurture)
In the book
Maimonides, following Aristotle, separated three things I want you to carry for life: nature, what is inherent in you; nurture, what is learned; and inclination, a built-in tendency to act or feel a certain way. An inclination is a disposition, a standing urge — like a clutch with a tendency to slip: not a fate, but a pull you must account for. We do inherit and transmit a great deal — behaviors, emotions, beliefs, even our religion pass down more than we like to think. […] Then make it a recurring practice: a plain self-audit asking what in my life energizes me and what depletes me, what to keep and what to drop. Keep the gifts; retrain the inclinations. A tendency is a clutch that slips, not a sentence. You become what you repeatedly do — excellence is not an act but a habit — so if you want to be steadier, you must first act steadier; you can even, deliberately, behave as the person you wish to be until the behavior hardens into a self. — Who Is Flying (Self, Nature & Nurture)