Habits

I recently finished the book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. I would highly recommend this book to everyone. It is very informative, and it is easy to read. My main takeaways from the book were the habit loop, keystone habits, and how impactful habits are on our daily lives.

Understanding the habit loop is a good place to start. Every habit has a cue, routine, and reward. This is essential for understanding any habit that you currently have. If you can understand this, going about changing an existing, or creating a new habit, is easier. The cue of a habit is what starts to trigger your action, say your stomach growls. The routine is what you do because of the cue. For my example, you get up, go to the fridge, and grab some food. The reward is the benefit/result you have from taking the action, in this case it is stopping your hunger.

My second takeaway was about keystone habits. When you are going about implementing habit changes certain ones have more profound effects than others. Exercising and planning out your day the night before or in the morning are two examples. These habits flow over into other aspects of your life and have an impact there. Exercising, in general, makes you eat healthier, be less stressed, and be more productive. This is the perfect example of a keystone habit.

My last point was how habits have an affect on our daily lives. Habits are a big part of how we act, and they help to “automate” some of our simpler tasks. Being able to recognize your habits and implement new ones in place of it, by changing the routine after a given cue, is vital to changing one’s life.

Habits are very impactful on how we live day to day. Many people have habits that they don’t realize are there, and they can have a very positive or negative effect on themselves. Recognizing your habit loops is crucial for change. What habits do you want to change?