The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg (PDF)

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • This instant classic explores how we can change our lives by changing our habits.NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Wall Street Journal • Financial TimesIn The Power of Habit, award-winning business reporterCharles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. Distilling vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives that take us from the boardrooms of Procter & Gamble to the sidelines of the NFL to the front lines of the civil rights movement, Duhigg presents a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential. At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, being more productive, and achieving success is understanding how habits work. As Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.With a new Afterword by the author “Sharp, provocative, and useful.”—Jim Collins “Few [books] become essential manuals for business and living. The Power of Habit is an exception. Charles Duhigg not only explains how habits are formed but how to kick bad ones and hang on to the good.”—Financial Times “A flat-out great read.”—David Allen, bestselling author of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity “You’ll never look at yourself, your organization, or your world quite the same way.”—Daniel H. Pink, bestselling author of Drive and A Whole New Mind “Entertaining . . . enjoyable . . . fascinating . . . a serious look at the science of habit formation and change.”—The New York Times Book Review

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐The Economist magazine calls this a “first-rate” business book and I agree. Charles Duhigg tells of people – individuals, businesses, and other organizations – who carry out routines and act on habits in recurrent situations. The book puts a spotlight on people who succeed at shedding some habits and bringing new ones to life – in themselves and in people around them. In these pages lie a powerful concept and illustrative stories.Habits can be efficient. When a habit is activated, we don’t have to think so much about all the steps and breaths we take. Habits can be simple or more complex, making short work of such activities as: brushing one’s teeth while thinking about the workday ahead; driving a car while listening to the radio; or tending to customers, fielding their requests, and responding routinely in a warm, appreciative manner. Routines can do a lot of good when it comes to maintaining desirable habits. But things can get challenging when we would like a habit to be changed.A big part of the value in this book is its parade of human stories about how people have succeeded in replacing old habits with new ones. There are a few stories, too, about people who tried but failed to change a bad habit. Along the way, the author sketches a do-it-yourself model. He talks about people identifying existing “habit loops” which may include external triggers of time, place, people, and situations. Then, the idea is to interrupt and redirect activity toward the desired goals, eventually forming new habits.In some examples, small “wins” are shown leading to bigger wins as people build skills and confidence in new ways of doing things. And in stories of organizational or cultural habits, positive changes are shown sometimes to set off a ripple effect, where new habits spread to more people in a kind of social contagion.Charles Duhigg is a New York Times journalist and a graduate of Harvard Business School. He draws together a sampling of psychological research and real-life examples in business and other organizational endeavors. “The Power of Habit” delivers Duhigg’s report in the form of a book full of good stories about people who exemplify the concept of “habit” in action, including direct interviews with some of the players in the stories. With this Duhigg presents a psychological concept of habits that a general audience might apply in everyday business and personal life. This book, if it reaches a large readership, may follow in the grooves of what journalist and psychologist Daniel Goleman’s books did to popularize “emotional intelligence” and “EQ.” (Goleman focuses on business applications of emotional intelligence in his 1998 book,

⭐.)Duhigg’s stories are interesting in their own right, easy to understand, and memorable. They run the gamut from sports to neurosurgery, and from marketing toothpaste to overhauling the managerial culture of a heavy industrial corporation.For example, chapter 2 “The Craving Brain: How to Create New Habits,” showcases breakthroughs in consumer marketing (and in one case, the dental health of a whole society) connected to habit changes. The examples cover a variety of marketing obstacles and breakaway solutions including Pepsodent toothpaste, Schlitz beer, and Febreze household deodorizer.Chapter 5, “Starbucks and the Habit of Success: When Willpower Becomes Automatic,” talks about staff training programs that have been credited with enhancing customer service and tuning up whole organizational cultures. Examples besides Starbucks include Deloitte Consulting and the Container Store.Perhaps the most colorful and intriguing business story in the book is about the managerial successes of Paul O’Neill when he was CEO of the aluminum company Alcoa. (He later went on to serve as U.S. Treasury Secretary.) This is told mostly in Chapter 4, “Keystone Habits, or the Ballad of Paul O’Neill: Which Habits Matter Most.” When O’Neill became CEO of Alcoa in 1987, he spearheaded the company on a headlong drive to achieve an error-free standard of employee safety. He rallied employees up and down the hierarchy, and across functions, to the cause of becoming “the safest company in America… [despite that]… employees work with metals that are 1500 degrees and can rip a man’s arm off.” (p. 98)At first, Alcoa’s investors and employees alike were skeptical, seeing O’Neill’s radical quest for superiority in employee safety as too narrow, quixotic, and off-center. O’Neill conceived of the safety charge as a focal point that would trigger all sorts of changes in routines and habits of accountability throughout the company. Preventing employee injuries became a “keystone habit” in Duhigg’s lingo, that would set off a ripple effect leading to an upswing in total corporate performance.It worked. Within a year, Alcoa’s profits reached an all-time high. Over a 13-year run with O’Neill at the helm, profits and the stock price both increased by 400%. Time lost to worker injuries declined to one-twentieth the U.S. average. Duhigg’s book cites interviews with O’Neill himself and other Alcoa people who were there, and mentions that Alcoa stands as a case study in business schools.”The Power of Habit” shines a bright light on organizational habits, but not only that. Duhigg serves up stories that point to individual habits, with relevance for personal success, such as interrupting a snacking habit or ending addictions. I see Duhigg’s concept of habit loops as compatible with and complementary to the work of food and marketing psychologist Brian Wansink in his excellent book,

⭐(2006). At the other end of the scale, Duhigg talks about habits changing at a societal level of attitudes and behavior, offering an analysis of the civil rights movement’s Montgomery bus boycott as an example.The one disappointment I find is a lack of chapter summaries and sub-chapter headings. While the book certainly is accessible “as is,” such aids would make it easier to tie together diverse examples, remember themes and links, and go back to them later. The Audible.com version in particular is harder going without summaries and sub-headings because one is not looking at pages with the chapter heading in the upper right, nor is the listener just a page flip away from glancing at the book’s table of contents. The Audible.com version also could do a better job of mentioning the printed book’s many visual diagrams for listeners who are interested enough to cross-refer.The book begins and ends with fitting references to the 19th-century writings of an American philosopher and psychologist, William James, who elucidated the concept of habit before there was much science behind it. James was a prime mover in establishing two major streams of modern social science and philosophy: 1.) behavioral psychology – that is, putting a scientific focus on observable behavior and developing interventions to help people shape their lives according to their better ideals; and 2.) the philosophy of pragmatism – which for James meant evaluating scientific theories according to their “cash-value.” In James’s pragmatist view, a good theory is one that does good work in the minds of those who use it.James saw “habit,” like Duhigg does, as a core aspect of human nature. Duhigg draws attention to success stories in habit replacement, from dental hygiene to aluminum manufacture. In keeping with the philosophical pulse of James the pragmatist, I give Duhigg’s “The Power of Habit” a five-star rating for its eye-opening reports on useful research, chock full of real-world examples. Plus the book is written in a style that is vivid and inviting.

⭐Habits are things that can raise us up to the pinnacle of heaven or plunge us to the depths of misery. The author examines the habit loop and gives a thorough analysis of how it impacts our life and how we can use this influence to make positive changes. Thorough research was done in the writing of this book. Companies like Starbucks, Febreze, Pepsodent and and Alcoa were looked at as models of success and how the habit loop works. They also make for very entertaining reading on what might be a very dry subject.The part of the brain responsible for habits is the basal ganglia, not memory. The habit loop itself is a circular model that starts with a cue,then proceeds with a routine and then finishes with a reward. To create positive habits and /or eradicate new habits one must tweak the elements of the habit loop. The most effective habit changes involve modifying the routine part of the habit loop. In a sense you are already modifying a current habit. So to start a new habit you need to get in a new routine. Before the advent of Pepsodent, people really did not brush their teeth. Yeah that meant bad breath and a film over your teeth. Gross and yuck and yeah the nation suffered from poor hygiene. To sell toothpaste though you needed a new habit and yeah this one caught on. The reward part was manipulated here and thee reward was white teeth (which could be obtained by eating an apple) and that sharps sparkling taste in your mouth when you are done. The lather in shampoo serves the same function. Febreze used it as well. It was discovered on accident in a lab. It did such a great job killing odors that once you used it you put it in the closet and forgot about it. Not great for sales so you tweak the reward. After a good cleaning people liked a heavily perfumed spray just to finish things off. The company modified the formula.But sometimes changing the routine is not enough. In alcoholics anonymous which is a spiritual program they work with two or three things. One is the inventory which helps you identify the cues that make you want to drink. The second part is belief, you have to believe that things can get better . That is where the belief in a higher power comes in. Another example of belief playing a role was the team called the Bucs, a losing football team. The coach came in and taught them to memorize a few key plays by wrote. They drilled these routines to death until they knew them cold. They were successful all the way until the finals and then they started slipping up. They did not win the super bowl and the coach ended up transferring to another team he repeated the same process but with the new team something changed. The change was a a death in the coaches family of his son. It forced the team to pull together and believe. They won the super bowl. Belief and a support group.Starbucks has one of the best training programs hands down and they treat their employees right. The training not only gives them great work skills some of which can be used for college credit but they also give you life skills. One worker could not even hold down a job. He was the product of a broken family and his inner anger lead to temper flare ups at work among other things. Starbucks had something called a notebook where you write up a problem that arises then you write down your solution to the problem and then you practice it. This guy ended up getting a position in management. Bravo Starbucks. The book also analyzes how Howard Schultz bought the company and built it up to what it is today.A new CEO steps up at Alcoa. He totally shocks everyone by telling them he is going to focus on safety. A real turn off because people really care about money not worker safety. The CEO sets up a communication system that allows for employees to communicate with their supervisors and even the CEO himself. It also calls for interdepartmental communication. They end up with a near perfect safety record and they also boost productivity and stock values soar. This shows the power of changing key habits to change the over all scene.An analysis of how markets work is included by showcasing how Target Dept. Stores use computer to track consumer spending habits so they could determine which coupon they should send to you. They were so accurate that it creeped out the customer. Solution make it appear more random, so instead of sending a pregnant woman a bunch of ads for diapers and baby products they would mix it up with ads and coupons for a lawn mower. Make everything regular and familiar. Of course they use this to sell you stuff you will want in the future even before you know you’ll want it. Familiarity and regularizes also help hit songs become successful.The last two chapters focus on societal habits by examining the growth of the Saddle Back Church and the Montgomery bus strike involving Rosa Parks. This first chapter puts the leadership not in the hand of one person but in the hands of the people and it works. The Saddle back Church focuses on small weekday study groups that meet in people’s homes with or without the pastor. In the Montgomery Bus strike it showed the power of Personal Connections and also what is called weak links or what I call loose associations. We know it as peer pressure to invoke change.Finally there is the trick Casinos use.They reward you with all sorts of bonuses to get you to come to their casino. The flush of winning, free travel feel good. You also end up gambling away your life savings. Are you free to stop are you compelled to keep gambling. The story is contrasted to night terrors and sleep walking. Habit happen unconsiously when we sleep. fortunately for most our brain paralyzes us so we cannot move but for other they at function does not works. The subconscious is free to cause you to sleep walk, act out in violent fear. Force of habit.

⭐Before I begin my book review, for those who are planning to purchase this book, they must know what this book WILL NOT offer you (in case you’re looking for below points):1. This book will not help you inculcate habits or help you in forming new habits2. This book will not dramatically change your life (in case you were hoping so. If you wish to change your life dramatically, you’ll have to help your own self)3. This book will not help you get rid of your bad habits.Now that we’re clear with what this book doesn’t offer, let us look at what this book offers:1. The book will tell you how habits work and how are they formed (the scientific approach). So it does not directly help you in forming new habits or getting rid of bad ones, but you can try applying the scientific approach described in the book and see if it helps you or not.2. The book will help you understand the power of habits among individuals, organizations and societies through powerful and impactful examples3. The book will describe various instances and stories around products, instances, and individuals etc, to emphasize on the importance of habits and how we can use habits to our advantage.The book helps you understand why habits are at the very core of anything you do, how you can change them (scientific approach), and what impact that will have on your business, life and society.The book is primarily divided into 3 partsPart 1 – Habits of IndividualsPart 2 – Habits of Successful OrganisationsPart 3 – Habits of SocietiesThe book is written by Pulitzer-prize winning author Charles Duhigg, and was first published in 2012. It is one of the bestseller in the ‘Self-help’ category. Duhigg wrote this book when he got fascinated by the intelligence of a US army major in Iraq, who controlled numerous riots by persuading the town’s mayor to keep food vendors away from gatherings. When people couldn’t satisfy their hunger with food, as they usually did (put of habit), they just left. Duhigg published this book after a lot of research, 8 years after this incident.Now that you know what led to creation of this book, let’s look at the book summary:1. Habits work in 3-step loops: cue, routine, reward. The cue is what triggers you to do the habit. The routine is the behavior you then automatically engage in. Lastly, you’ll receive a reward for completing the routine. Example: You get up every morning (Cue), make coffee (routine) and have a rich tasting coffee with a great aroma (reward).2. You can change your habits by substituting just one part of the loop, the routine. The trick to changing a habit then, is to switch the routine, and leave everything else intact.3. Your most important habit is willpower, and you can strengthen it over time in 3 ways. These three ways are:- Do something that requires a lot of discipline. – For example a tough wake-up regimen or strict diet will make you constantly practice delaying gratification and thus give you more willpower- Plan ahead for worst-case scenarios.- Preserve your autonomy – When you’re assigned tasks by someone else, which you must do, your willpower muscle tires much quicker.4. Keystone Habits are those habits which help you transform other habits. Figuring out these habits and working on them can create great transformation. Example – Getting up early can be a keystone habit that can have a positive impact on your other spheres of life such as having breakfast daily without skipping it, reaching work on time, having more time throughout the day for various tasks etc.The author describes this with wonderful example of Alcoa’s transformation by Paul Neill.5. Every small habit is like a small win. And a series small wins will help you form a routine/habit. Small wins are a steady application of a small advantage. Once a small win has been accomplished, forces are set in motion that favors another small win. Small wins fuel transformative changes by leveraging tiny advantages into patterns that convince people that bigger achievements are within reach.The author describes this with the story Michael Phelps, the world renowned swimmer.6. Transformation is always easier in groups, rather than alone or in isolation. Example – If you have a gym buddy, you’re more likely to hit the gym, than skip it.7. Good leaders seize crises to remake organizational habits. In fact, crises are such valuable opportunities that a wise leader often prolongs a sense of emergency on purpose. The author describes this with transformation of a subway station after a major fire broke out killing many people.8. People’s habits are more likely to change when they go through a major life event. To encourage people to practice new behavior, it needs to take advantage of patterns that already exists within them. Author uses example of the hypermarket chain Target, and how it uses customer’s demographics and spending habits to extract key inferences that help them sell relevant products to these consumers.9. Social change and movement only happen with the existence of the weak link – the change as a whole within a group of people without a direct connection – and the strong link – the change of people around with close relationship (peer pressure). The author describes the movement in Montgomery against racial discrimination and how the movement gathered momentum.10. Habits emerge within the brain and often, we don’t have the ability to control them, but we’re conscious and aware of them. With that said, it’s still our responsibility to cultivate our own habits and take charge of our own life.The book is filled with multiple stories and instances that reiterate how important habits are and how we can use them to our advantage. I hope this was helpful! Thanks.Favorite Quote from the book:“The difference between who you are and who you want to be is what you do.” – Charles Duhigg

⭐Believe me or not, but everything i’m Writing here is true.I’m a 20 y/o pretty normal male, living in EnglandAnd this book has completely changed my life.I was a regular smoker of both tobacco and cannabis, and the routine change taught in this book, and the methods of distraction taught in this book has helped me so much. I just want to say Thanks to Charles for making such an enjoyable book, which has taught me a lot about habits.10/10 would read again.Callum

⭐“Self-help books” are like chain restaurants. There are too many of them, most of them are rubbish, but you can’t deny that they are useful.Habit is a book that is extremely useful. We start off with some obvious but solid reminders of how what we perceive as excellence is habit. It’s not about “grit” as some other books would say.Simply setting a reminder to go to bed and putting your trainers next to your bed every night is a better way to get exercising than watching motivational videos on YouTube. Humans look for the way way out. Make things easy. Create a reward loop and you will develop a habit.After a solid start the book falters and diverges quickly. Stories become way too drawn out and – I would argue – not relevant to the reason most people buy this book. We get a long chapter on how supermarkets are monitoring our shopping habits via reward cards and can tell if your are pregnant from your food grocery list.We have a chapter that massively drags on how a cassino kept a gambler coming back but stimulating her habit and reminding her of the rewards (debt in this case).Like many self help books, you want to throw it out the window at times. But it’s got a solid thesis. I now keep my trainers next to my bed and have created a habit I never thought feasible. Thus the book is worth it’s weight of gold. It’s just got a core of lead to go along with it.

⭐Habit is a choice that we deliberately make at some point and then stop thinking about it, but continue doing, often every day. Author in this book examines why some people and organizations struggle to change while others seem to rediscover themselves by building a compelling argument around the power of habits.This book is divided into three parts. Each part explains a different aspect of why habits exist and how they function.The examples used in this book are so powerful and relevant that reader will feel a lot of wow moments. This is one of the books which we need to read again and again.

⭐I bought this book so I could learn more about habits within an organisation. I quickly realised those habits were too deep and moved on so the book became less relevant. Picking it up again several months later, I see that it explores habits of individuals and society rather than just organisations so I decided that it might be interesting.Quickly I found myself engrossed by the ideas explored in this book. Lots of examples and research is examined to look at how habits form and how they can be changed.The book is split into three sections – individuals, organisations and society in general. I found the first two sections extremely engaging but thought that the society narrative was slightly less well defined and held my interest less.Very cleverly, real people are used to prove theories and familiar companies are used as examples of habit changes.I was surprised how interesting I found this book and have talked about it to various people whilst I was reading.

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