Reading Summary: The Power of Habit 

By Charles Duhigg

Part 1: The Habits of Individuals

Most of what we do on a day to day basis is habit. A habit can be broken down into three components: a cue, a routine, and a reward. Habits form because they allow us perform routine activities our brains having to expend too much effort. When performing a habit, your brain is less active than when you are performing a new activity.

The part of the brain responsible for habits is a small lobe in the center called the basal ganglia. It’s an older (more primitive) area of the brain, responsible for primal and automatic behaviors.

When a habit has formed, the cue causes a spike of activity in the basal ganglia. That spike is your brain recognizing that the current situation is familiar and can be responded to using a habit. The brain then relaxes, and the routine is performed and the reward is attained (another brief spike). The reward lets the brain know that this is a habit worth remembering. Cravings form when you anticipate the reward (spike in brain activity) after the cue but before the reward is actually received.

The Golden Rule of Habit Change, according to Duhigg, is one of the keys to changing bad habits and forming good ones. The rule is to change the routine without changing the cue or the reward. He uses AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) as an example. When alcoholics are asked why they feel the urge to drink, many mention relaxation, escape from anxiety, release from the real world, etc. AA offers alcoholics a voice in a community. When they feel an urge to drink, they’re able to achieve the same release by talking about it. The cue (an urge to drink) and the reward (relief) are the same, but the routine changes and eventually the bad habit is gone (obviously easier said than done).

Duhigg uses three large examples to illustrate his point throughout this chapter: Tony Dungee’s coaching career, Claude Hopkins’ success making Pepsodent toothpaste popular in the early 1900's, and the marketing team behind Febreeze. Dungee’s acheived success as a coach not by dialing up plays from a thick playbook. Instead, it was by changing habits of players so that all movement on the field was instinct, not decision making. Although several toothpaste companies existed before Pepsodent, Claude Hopkins’ succeeded by making Americans crave that fresh tingling sensation that comes after brushing one’s teeth. Febreeze was originally marketed as a spray used to get rid of bad smells, but that marketing effort failed because those who were around bad smells were often accustomed to them so they didn’t see the problem. It was only until the spray was marketed as a finishing touch to cleaning did the product become popular. This is because cleaners of households (often women) would feel incomplete without that smell at the end of cleaning.

Lastly, Duhigg brings up that belief is a key factor to changing habits. Many people who successfully change habits cite that God has helped them, but simply being in a group can help one believe that change is possible. The idea is that if someone else can do it, I can too.