The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change

Firstly, I would like to congratulate Charles Duhigg on the success of his book which I think is well deserved for the time he has spent in writing. You often come across books such as this one where reading is insightful and an absolute pleasure. This book is not work of fiction but hours and hours of research - we're talking academic journals, interviews, etc. As a reporter for New York Times, Duhigg's really knows how to captivate his readers by illustrating stories. His way of writing is interesting because, the way he's written this book is through case studies and while explaining one case, he'd jump to a different story entirely but still on the same subject keeping the reader at suspense. The case studies are basically real life examples on how habits are created and explains with the help of Neurological Sciences in the first couple of chapters. Personally speaking, it was a fascinating read. Few chapters in, there is a repetitive pattern in writing where the writer keeps emphasising on habit loop - whether it's good or bad.Well of course, being the author, he has to go by the title. The case studies or real life examples written covers what goes in changing or reprogramming that habit loop and it's divided into three sections with chapters in those sections - (I) As an individual (Part One. The Habits Of Individuals) Chapters: 1. The Habit Loop - How Habits Work 2. The Craving Brain - How to Create New Habits 3. The Golden Rule of Habit Change - Why Transformation Occurs (II), As an Organisation (Part Two - The Habits Of Successful Organisations) Chapters: 4. Keystone Habits, or The Ballad of Paul O'Neill - Which Habits Matter Most 5. Starbucks and the Habit of Success - When Willpower Becomes Automatic 6. The Power of a Crisis - How Leaders Create Habits Through Accident and Design 7. How Target Knows What You Want Before You Do - When Companies Predict (and manipulate) Habits (III) As a society (Part Three - The Habits Of Societies) Chapters: 8. Saddleback Church and the Montgomery Bus Boycott - How Movements Happen 9. The Neurology of Free Will - Are We Responsible for Our Habits? I'm unaware of how long Duhigg spent writing this book but I can easily say it has taken a while. Brilliantly put together and never boring, Charles Duhigg has done a fantastic job with The Power of Habit. A thorough read into reprogramming the habit loop.

Edit: (After almost an year) The main themes conveyed: 1.Habit Loop Cycle 2.Keystone Habits 3.Habits & Society 1.Habit Loop Cycle consists of 3 components namely Cue, Routine, Reward. Cue - Signal (such as time, place, environment etc.) Routine - Action (habit) Reward - How does a habit satisfy us ? Is it Physical ? Emotional ? For example, John exercises regularly. John see clock striking 6AM (Cue) and he starts exercising (routine) and after exercise, he feels proud (emotional reward). Some people do exercise in the evenings (Cue) and they may drink a smoothie (Physical Reward) after exercising (Routine).Everyone has set their own cues and rewards In order to break a habit, Rewards must be the same but routine should be replaced. For example, replace exercise with playing Tennis but keep reward same as before. 2.Keystone Habits are Contagious. In other words, they spread into other aspects of life. For example, exercise in morning can improve self-esteem which may indirectly lead to better health, less credit-card spending, more confidence and better social skills. Everyone can create Keystone habits in their life by carefully observing their life style. Keystone habits have changed companies like Alcoa, Starbucks. They can change individuals as well as organizations. Book is also filled with fascinating stories. It just feels like reading a Malcolm Gladwell or Dale Carnegie book. Language is easy to understand. A must-buy for everyone who want to be more aware of their day-to-day actions. I am glued to this book atm. For anyone who is interested to know more about premise of this concept, watch the author's [Charless Duhigg] video : [...] Second HALF of the book IMO is a filler. That being said. This book is definitely a MUST read. Its worth reading.

While this book kept popping in my feeds and conversations since many years, somehow got to reading it only now. This is a well-researched book. The underlying premise is a good one – we carry out many actions as a result of habits rather than by careful evaluation, it is the way our brain develops. By recognizing how this happens, we have an opportunity to change our habits. The format of how we act out our habits is a simple loop of a cue which triggers anticipation, after which we follow-up a familiar good feeling pattern of action, which results in a reward we crave for. If we can recognize the cues and the rewards we crave, we can make substitutions in our actions to derive an equivalent satisfaction with some other action. Another key requirement is strengthening belief that this can be done. Some keystone habits can have a cascading trigger of effects across many dimensions and this is very well explained. This is a very readable book – it has a good mix of neuroscience, research and some interesting stories. The appendix with tips on changing habits should actually be part of the main section itself. Some of the neuroscience quoted is still evolving though. Also, while the habit loop is abstracted to a nice simple flow, it does not ask a key question – what if your underlying reward craving is in itself flawed/misdirected? How can you graduate your thinking to a higher purpose and form habits which address that? An intellectually stimulating read, which I recommend.

Eye opening and very insightful

Packaging is good and quality of book is outstanding

The Power of Habit describes how habits revolve around a concept of cue, routine and reward, and how this knowledge can be used to create new habits. The author Charles Duhigg also talks about the power of habit in organisations, whether in driving proper behavior in employees, or in getting consumers to behave in a certain way. He then goes on to explain how habits in societies can drive important social movements. What I loved about the book is the numerous examples he has cited throughout - research on brain activity during habit formation, the story about how Eugene led a life with a wiped out memory, how coach Dungy used the power of habit to help the football team Colts to a Super Bowl victory, how the Febreze brand made it big, how Pepsodent made people brush their teeth, the story of Rosa Parks, how Phelps' mind works before a swim, Starbucks focus on employee empowerment, addictions, and other insightful stories. Those stories made it more practical than just theory, and thus an interesting book for me.

The book is good and readable. Charles Duhigg has structured the book well, dividing it into three sections - 1. personal habits. 2. the corporate angle, 3. and ending with society. He focussed on the essential nature of habit, and I sense that he got some information from other authors. However, while the anecdotes are interesting, the lessons are buried deep. The insights are not particularly deep.

What’s the common success factor between Michael Phelps, Aluminium Company of America and African-American Civil Rights Movement ? Talent, Scale, Persistence? Nopes. Habit.Says the author. In this well researched book, Charles Duhigg takes us through an interesting journey of human behavior and the underlying habits which lead us to different paths. He refers several psychological and neurological studies to first illustrate what habits are, how they work and then how these can be changed. In the process gives us an almost scientific method of how to develop or change habits. It did help me see habits in a new light and also gave the confidence to change or build these, through a step by step process. The book defines Habits as 3 step process – Cue, Routine and Reward. Cue is what triggers the habitual behavior, Routine is the behavior itself and the Reward is the end result. For example – Boredom is the Cue which leads an office worker to routinely take a coffee break and get rewarded with some socializing in cafeteria. While you may look at habits in multiple other ways, the author relates the above process with many studies and examples and wonderfully divides each into these 3 steps. The book further illustrates how tackling each of these steps can help one to transform or change habits. One of the interesting example is how these constructive routes have helped Michael Phelps build habits with the ultimate reward – excellence. The book is divided into three parts - Habits of Individuals, Organisations and Societies. As you navigate through the book , from examples of personal transformation of addicts and sportsmen to those of Corporations and further of Communities , you do notice the logic paradigm, so painstakingly build by the author, becoming weaker. The author starts to rely more on the strength of narrative than the scientific basis. You may start noticing these chinks as you read through elaborate examples of Organisational Habits and get very distant from initial logic and inspiration by the time you are mid way in the Society. Nevertheless the examples throughout the book are well written, elaborate and make for an inspiring read and the first part is possibly much scientifically convincing than the 7 habits by Stephen Covey. The concept of Keystone Habits seems good reminder of how small key changes can cause dominos effect, leading to change in many other behaviors. In the end, the author compensates with a well written last chapter on how to apply the learnings from the book for personal transformation. In a nutshell, this is a personal transformation, management philosophy and socio-cultural research rolled into a single book. The book is entertaining, inspiring, not necessarily unputdownable but never a drag. I m sure this isn’t the last word from Charles Duhigg and keen to read and review his next work, which I hear is already out. Recommended read.