AFTERWORD

Some Things Learned About Weight Loss, Smoking, Procrastination,

and Teaching

A few months after The Power of Habit was published, I was at my

desk at The New York Times when an email appeared in my in-box. It
was from a woman who had received the book from a friend during a
dark time in her life. She had recently lost her job, she wrote, and
endured a painful breakup. She was drinking too much. It felt like
everything was spinning out of control.
“People had talked to me about trying Alcoholics Anonymous
before, but for many reasons I had never been able to go,” she told me.
“The day after I finished the first half of your book, I had what I hope
will be my last drink.
“I went to my first AA meeting on August 1, six days later. I have
now been sober for forty-one days. I have a long way to go, but I have a
new hope that I never had before. At thirty-seven years old, my life has
never been as good as it is today. I don’t know if I would have ever
made it to an AA meeting had I not read your book.”
I’ve worked as a journalist for more than a decade, and have been
fortunate to work on projects that helped expose wrongdoings, spark
judicial investigations, and convince lawmakers to improve the world
a little bit. In my work, I often hear from people who say that
newspaper stories have changed their lives.
But I never received a letter like this.
The truth is The Power of Habit played, at best, an infinitesimally
small role in helping this woman find solace. Credit for her recovery
rightfully goes to the friends who encouraged her to seek help, to the