------------------------------------------- > ます is present/future and ています is present continuous, First, I don't think so. I think Japanese verbs are based on the concept of 'ASPECT' , not of 'TENSE'. >but I am having trouble understanding how they are used in the context of habit/habitual actions. The trouble like that can happen when you try to understand Japanese verbs with tense concept. Extremely saying, Japanse verbs has no time/tense, even though it appears to have. ------------------------------------------- *** ASPECT: - concept A: "completed, fixed, convinced." vs - concept B: "not completed, not fixed, not convinced." ------------------------------------------- *** 起きます　： The (B) above. ->　起きます can mean 'habit (=what you do usually/always)' because 'usually/always' covers the past, present and future. Covering all the time also can mean "it is timeless"., ”not fixed at certain point of time". So you can apply the concept (B) ------------------------------------------- *** 起きています　＝ 起き　＋ て　＋　い + ます て : This particle indicates the concept (A) 　　　something is fixed. います　＝　いる: The verb いる means "staying for a while", the concept (B). (※ if you say "いた", it is the concept (A)) then ています/ている　means "Fixed then continue ( for a while)" 「毎朝七時に起きています」 　　-> The action of "waking up every morning at 7" has been fixed (a short time before in the past) then continue (for a while in the future). This covers the short period of past, present and future, and can mean "(recent)habit" ------------------------------------------- +++ 毎朝七時に起きます。 -> long time habit. 「私は毎朝必ず7時に起きます。小学校のときからそうです。私の変わらぬ習慣です」 The reader can be sure that the speaker will keep waking up at 7 in the future, maybe as long as the speaker is alive. +++ 毎朝七時に起きています。 　-> recent habit. 「私は最近、毎朝7時に起きています。早起きは気持ちがいいですね！」 The reader is not sure whether the speaker will waking up at 7 a year later.

These sentence express to repeated act or habit in this case. 毎朝七時に起きます。 毎朝七時に起きています。 So, both are same meaning. Because we cannot determine if a habit continues from these sentence. ------------------ When we use 'これからも' instead of '毎朝'. これからも七時に起きます。（will or make a declaration） これからも七時に起きています。（×） second sentence cannot be used. ------------------ When we use '私は' instead of '毎朝'. 私は七時に起きます。（I get up at 7:00） 私は七時に起きています。（I usually get up at 7：00) In this case, these sentence can have a different meaning. ------------------ 習慣を表現する場合に「～ます」「～ています」の両方使うことができます。 We usually use both 「～ます」and「～ています」to express a custom.