Book Review: The Power of Habit
I bet that half of the time you pick up your phone or surf the web, you are probably unaware of why you are doing it. We operate as creatures of habit. Sure, once in a blue moon this habit can be beneficial (like when you run into a wavy book review like this one). Mostly, it is inconsequential and robotic. It seems that we break our own record for the amount of information and data we can generate more frequently than Stephen Curry breaks shooting records (sigh…was that another bad joke? I really should break that habit).
It makes sense that our brain puts many tasks on auto-pilot to shake off information overload. Given this phenomenon, learning about the psychology of habits can teach us to gain control and awareness of our actions. Enter The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. The book is a smooth read end-to-end and teaches us about habit formation through a mixture of stories and case studies. If you are interested in behavioral psychology of individuals and groups, this book is sure to educate and entertain you. If you are not yet sold, allow me to share my notable keys with you.
The habits of individuals are built on a “cue → routine → reward” skeleton. We feel a cue, perform a routine, and receive a psychological reward. Through repetition, you get to a point where you feel a cue, already anticipate the reward, and can’t help but perform the routine, thus forming a habit. For example:
Cue: A moment of boredom on the toilet seat after Chipotle.
Routine: Taking out your phone and scrolling through Facebook.
Reward: Feeling connected and mildly entertained.
The golden rule of habit change is keeping the same cue and reward, but replacing the routine.
Cue: Chipotle. Extra beans. Back at it again at the toilet seat.
Routine: Taking out your phone, picturing the Facebook icon as an intelligence-sucking demon, scrolling through News instead.
Reward: Feeling connected and mildly entertained.
For habits that require significant willpower to break (addictions, for example), Duhigg sites faith as another important factor.
The concept of “keystone habits” is important — these are habits that are instrumental in overall behavioral change. A change to one of these habits can have a positive domino effect on other habits, leading to a lifestyle change. For example, when speaking of the habits of an organization, Duhigg does a case study of Paul O’Neill and Alcoa. When O’Neill assumed the CEO rank, he emphasized on making Alcoa the safest workplace in America. “But Paul, how the hell will safety boost revenue?” asked the MBA grads and wall street stock-pickers. As it turned out, improving safety indirectly required that the company would need to improve their machines, processes, and management transparency. Interesting, eh? Reminds of of this quote:
“The best way to teach somebody something is to have them think they’re learning something else” — Randy Pausch.
Another key takeaway from Duhigg concerns with minimizing decision-making when one is head to head with pain or a tough situation. At the point when one is likeliest to quit, we must train our brain in advance to know how to combat those moments. That is how the “routine” part of the habit loop sticks and how a habit successfully changes. It pays to front-load the work and work out a tough situation in our head and plan a response to it, so that when that situation arises in real life, the brain does not even need to make a decision but can just respond habitually.
The last sections of the book are concerned with habits of society and the formation of movements, along with a short guide to applying all of the aforementioned principles in changing one’s own habits.
Pause Netflix, break the habit, pick up and read The Power of Habit instead!
