The summary of the book is available on Apple’s application Headway.

The Power of Habit: Why we do what we do in life and

business by Charles Duhigg

Decisions or habits?

The things you do without thinking are called habits, but do you decide to do
them, or do they happen without free will? A paper published by a researcher at Duke
University showed that 40% of actions done every single day weren’t actual decisions,
but rather habits that have been formed over time.

We think that we have control over everything we do, but our habits control us to
a certain extent. The good news is that negative habits can be changed, but it takes time
and effort to do so.

“Change might not be fast and isn’t always easy. But with time and
effort, almost any habit can be reshaped”. (Charles Duhigg)

DUHIGG became interested in habits around 8 years ago when he was

working for the media in Baghdad. He liken the US military to a huge experiment into
how habits are formed, because every single action performed is done like clockwork,
habitually every single day. All of this is done by basic training, to the point of
automation. This led him to want to understand more about how habits are formed and
how they can control our lives.

Habits help to save you brain power

In order to understand how habits are formed, we need to delve into something
called the habit loop.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is home to the Brain and Cognitive

Sciences Department. Within this department you will find many small operating theaters
with various machines which experiment on sedated rats. These experiments are designed
to learn more about habits. They (experiments) began in the 1990s, when researchers
became interested in a deep part of the brain, called the basal ganglia (this part of the
brain, which is found deep inside, close to the brain stem, is one of the more primitive
parts of this important organ; it is the size of a golf ball).

The researchers found that the basal ganglia plays an important part in
understanding and remembering patterns, forming the behavior linked to them. This part
of the brain acts as a storage area for habits, during waking and sleeping hours. The brain
is complex, but it’s always looking for ways to try and save your energy and effort.
Habits do this because they’re part of a routine. They’ve done without much thought
The summary of the book is available on Apple’s application Headway.

going into them once they’re set inside the brain.

“Habits don’t require thought or caution, they happen automatically.

Between 40-95% of what we do on a daily basis falls into the
category of habit”.

Once a habit is formed, decision making related to that habit slows down and
stops, therefore saving energy. If you fight the habit and work to change it, the process
reverts back on itself; otherwise, your brain is basically on autopilot relating to that
particular habit.

A three step process to form habits

The habit loop consists of three steps:

1) A cue *is a trigger, something which forces your brain into autopilot, making it choose
which habit it’s going to use;
2) A routine *can be physical, or it can be mental or emotional. This is way your brain
recognizes the habit once more;
3) A reward *this is what your brain uses in order to decide whether or not this action is
worth becoming a habit, you brain likes to have have something to make everything
worthwhile *a pleasant reward is required to formalize a habit in your mind *the reward
usually something that gives you a very pleasant physical sensation, forcing your brain to
recognize the good feeling.

These three steps help to form the habit but also encourage them to become
stronger and finally, push them to happen.

DUHIGG gives us the example of fast food. Perhaps you’re driving home
from work and the kids are hungry but you’re tired and can’t think of what to make for
dinner. You see McDonalds sign and you think it’s cheap and quick, so once won’t hurt.
This eventually becomes a habit, without you even meaning for it to be. Your brain
recognize the reward of not having to cook dinner, a quick fix which doesn’t cost a lot of
money, and that become attractive. Whenever you see the McDonalds sign from that
point on, you’ll be tempted to go back. This is all part of the habit loop.
The summary of the book is available on Apple’s application Headway.

How companies take advantage of your habits

It’s entirely possible for a company to make money from your habits. This is done
by giving you a cue that encourages you to find the reward. Remember, your brain is
always looking for a reward!

Some of the biggest companies on the planet work in this way, giving you a very
tempting cue, which forces a trigger for your three step loop to commence. After that, the
habit is firmly ingrained over time and you go back to purchase their goods and again.
They’re basically causing you to cave their product.

Can companies read your mind?

Companies use technological algorithms to predict you purchasing habits and

market their products to you.

Habits can easily influence your decisions when shopping. For instance, a study
showed that 5% of purchases were decided upon when customers saw the item in store,
and not because they had planned to purchase. In this case, despite their very best
intentions to save cash, their habits overrode them and forced a decision.

Large companies, such as Amazon, Capital One, Hewlett-Packard, Bank of

America, and Target, use demographic information in order to predict what you might
buy and what you might like. They then use the tactics we mentioned earlier, such as
tempting you with things you’re going to appreciate and causing a craving, to start the
three step process.

Why signals and craving are important when forming habits

Put simply, advertising is linked to psychology, pushing us toward temptation and

then purchasing. Your brain then starts to crave the reward associated with the habit,
causing a neurological craving.

Cravings and habits are so closely linked that researchers at New Mexico State
University conducted a study in 2002. They wanted to find out why people exercise
regularly, e.g. it becomes a habit. Nobody wants to get up early and go to the gym,
becoming tired and sweaty, but many of us do it on a habit loop. Why?

The reasons they carried on exercising are quite interesting, and it all came down
The summary of the book is available on Apple’s application Headway.

to their brains craving the reward, i.e. the endorphins which are released during exercise
and cause you to feel on a temporary high. In other words, they carried on exercising as a
habit because of how it made them feel.

Advertisers often add something into their products to give you proof that it is
working; this strengthens the reward and habit association. The craving pushes the habit
to form, but you also need a signal that it’s working, something to give you proof. For
instance, toothpaste is often marketed with a tingly feeling to clean your teeth effectively,
but it is added in because it makes your brain think it’s working. The same goes for
shampoo; it doesn’t need to foam to work, but when we see the foam we assume the
shampoo is really cleaning out hair well. These things are added in as signals to help
push the habit for you to keep using them and buying them.

All of this shows that cravings are real habit drives, and if you work out how you
can kick a craving into action, you can form a new habit quite easily.

Why it is easier to change old habit than form new ones

It is far easier to change a habit than you already have, e.g. a bad habit, than it is to
form a completely new one. The reason is because you already have a certain amount of
information pertaining to that habit in your brain; you already have the cue, the routine
and the reward, and you just need to change certain parts of it, rather than start from the
beginning.

“You can change bad habits using the cue that is already there, but
changing the routine, in order to gain the same reward”.

What are keystone habits?

Not all habits are bad, and some can be positive or very useful in starting. These
are what DUHIGG calls a chain reaction. These habits help to change others and can be
very influential.

Keystone habits are habits which matter more than others, either in life or in
business. They influence how you work, sit, live, spend money, and how you
communicate. These habits also explain why certain students in college do better than
others, seemingly against all odds. Self-discipline is one of these habits, and that includes
not being late, working hard, overcoming obstacles.

“Champions don’t do extraordinary things. They do ordinary things,

but they do them without thinking, too fast for the other team to
react. They follow the habits they’ve learned.”
The summary of the book is available on Apple’s application Headway.

How movements turn into habits

DUHIGG goes on to talk about habits in society and how these influence
individual people and affect how they think and behave. He highlights the famous story
of Rosa Parks, which kickstarted the biggest movement against racial inequality.

Rosa Parks refusing to move to the back of the bus, an area designated for black
people, began the civil rights movement and much of the equality we see today (she was
arrested for not moving from your seat on the bus on December 1, 1955). Of course,
there is still a lot to be done, and that is why movements and habits are intrinsically
linked and so important.

Rosa Parks’ story wasn’t just about defiance in the face of pressure, it was about
social patterns too. Movements begin because of social habits, with friendships and close
ties between various neighborhoods all playing a part. It gives a ‘we’re all in this
together’ feel, and allows a habit to grow. From there, the movement leader helps
participants to develop new habits that help them to own the movement and a new sense
of identity.

By using the power of habits, we can actually kickstart new movements which
will, hopefully, change the world and its injustices.

“Habits aren’t always negative, they can kick-start social movement

which create major change”.

Changing habits is an individual deal

Learning how to change a habit is a personal deal: there is no one size fits all
answer, and what works for one person may not work for another.

The Power of Habit is not designed to give you all the answers, but instead
DUHIGG aims to help you understand how habits are formed and reiterate how they can
be changed, by affecting the three step method we talked about earlier.

Habits can be formed in any niche of your life, but they can be changed too.
Despite the type of habit you’re trying to change, there are four main steps in order to get
to work.

1. Identify the routine that forms the habit, e.g. the cue, routine and reward;

2. Try and experiment with the types of rewards, e.g. change a negative reward
(smoking) for something more positive (endorphins from exercise);

3. Work out what the cue is and try to tweak it;

The summary of the book is available on Apple’s application Headway.

4. Make a plan and go for it!

“On average it takes 66 days to change a bad habit to a positive”.

Conclusion

Habits are extremely powerful and cause us to do things we possibly don’t really
want to do, without really thinking about it.

Try this:

1. Identify the habits which you want to change;

2. Think about the rewards which are important to you, whether they’re positive or
negative;

3. Thank carefully about the products you regularly purchase and identify whether
your purchasing habits are being manipulated by companies using your habits to
their own benefit!