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Habit loop
o cue, routine, reward
Habits are super-important – they let our brains save energy and size for other things
Eugene could function almost normally without a memory due to his habits
o He could also build new habits over time
Habits are also delicate – if the cue isn’t there, they won’t trigger
Habits don’t leave us; once they’re ingrained, they stay under the surface waiting for cues to
trigger them. It’s work to avoid running those routines if a cue happens.
McDonald’s fries are designed to melt immediately, in order to give the reward right away and
tighten the habit loop
o The store designs and everything else are as standardized as possible in order to keep
cues consistent and trigger routines
Squire’s paper on Eugene’s habits was the spark that really ignited habit research
Habits are bound up in the basil ganglia, one of the most ancient and central parts of the brain
Brain activity is much lower when executing the routine part of the habit loop
“Chunking” – the brain’s process of converting a sequence of actions into an automatic routine
Chapter 2
Hopkins thought it was the reward of clean teeth that drove the habit loop
o It’s actually confirmation of the product “working”
Exercisers crave the “good feeling” after a workout, or a specific reward, or are envisioning a
result
Shampoo doesn’t have to foam and toothpaste doesn’t need to feel tingly to work – but those
components fill the craving fr validation of effectiveness
Chapter 3
Claude Hopkins created a new habit with Pepsodent – but old habits can’t be destroyed. Rather,
they must be replaced.
The Golden Rule of habit change:
o Keep the same cues and rewards, but replace the routine.
o Smokers have a cigarette cue and a rush reward – replacements for the routine can
include nicotine gum, caffeine, or other things
o This can be used for small behavioral tics – such as nail biting – as well as large
problems like addiction
Replacing the routine is not effective on its own when stressful situations arise in people’s lives.
Then, belief is the key addition.
o AA uses a belief in God as one of its central tenants
o Researchers find it’s not necessarily a belief in God, but rather a belief in something
greater than one’s self
o Having support groups is a huge boon to habit change
Coach Dungy found that drilling habits into his players – first on the Bucs, then the Colts, made
them faster and less likely to hesitate by trying to think during plays
o Most coaches at that time relied on hugely complex playbooks with feints and
counterfeints
o Dungy focused on a few plays, drilled into automatic habits
Chapter 4
Paul O’Neill used worker safety as a keystone habit at Alcoa in order to improve almost every
aspect of the business
o All parties involved – execs, employees, union – could get behind safety. Nobody would
fight him on it.
o Improving safety naturally improved efficiency
Michael Phelps keystone habit was “the videotape” – a visualization of every part of a race in his
head, which helped keep him calm and focused
“Small wins are a steady application of a small advantage.” – Cornell professor in 1984
Chapter 5
Starbucks eventually incorporated this idea into their training programs. Now they have
employees write out plans for how to deal with stressful situations
o LATTE – listen, acknowledge problem, take action to solve it, thank them, explain why it
happened
This is how willpower becomes a habit – by choosing a certain behavior ahead of time and
following a planned routine when an inflection point arrives
Another incredibly important aspect is autonomy. Much of willpower comes from the feeling that
you are in control of your life.
o Two groups were told to ignore cookies in Mark Muraven’s research.
1 group was told very politely, and told they could suggest changes to make the
study better
Other group was simply told “You must not eat the cookies.”
o No one ate the cookies, but people who were told impolitely were much worse at hitting
a space bar when a 6 flashed on a screen followed by a 4.
o The group who was treated well felt they had a sense of control over the experience, so
their willpower muscle wasn’t depleted as fast
2010 study – manufacturing plant in Ohio let employees design their uniforms
and control scheduling – 20% increase in productivity within 2 months. Nothing
else was changed.
Chapter 6
Companies are battlefields of a civil war. Department heads, individual employees, etc all
compete for prestige and power, and operate partly on fear. Self-interest plays into everything.
o However, most companies operate peacefully due to truces.
o It’s basic game theory. Sacrifice a bit of your self-interest to keep things running
smoothly.
Try to bolster your own department instead of sabotaging others. Otherwise
everyone will gang up on you.
If every salesperson offered huge discounts, the company would tank. So they
compromise to limit discounts, even though each individual salesperson would
like to give tons of them to rack up sales for themselves.
o Rhode Island Hospital didn’t have a good truce because nurses had no power.
A crisis (or perceived crisis) can be the event that gets previously stubborn people to change. A
crisis can help people to see that certain things need a re-balancing of power in order for safety
or other crucial things to be taken care of.
o Rhode Island Hospital’s media frenzy was the crisis that the administration was able to
use to enact change. Now, nurses are empowered and the hospital is very safe.
o Desmond Fennel was assigned to investigate the King’s Cross fire. So many department
heads wouldn’t budge on proposed changes, so he created a media frenzy out of it as
well. It worked – the leadership was fired, new laws were passed, and now King’s Cross
has much better safety procedures.
o “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” – Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s chief of
staff 2008
Chapter 7
Target has massive data collection capabilities – they tie all data to a Guest ID so they know what
people by, why, and what they can do with that data
Before using analytics, companies would use sorta-scientific psychology tactics designed to
exploit subconscious mind when shopping
o Produce is first in a store because you put it in your cart, feel good, and are then more
likely to justify buying more profitable junk food
However, shoppers have individual habits – so those tricks only go so far. Hence the data
collection and analysis
o “Consumers sometimes act like creatures of habit, automatically repeating past behavior
with little regard to current goals.” – USC 2009 psychologists
o Each person’s habits are different though
1984 – UCLA professor Alan Andreasen wanted to know why people suddenly change buying
habits
o Surveyed hundreds of consumers in LA
o People changed buying habits when they went through a major life event
U.S. government did this too – because so much meat was going overseas in WWII, Americans
needed to eat organ meats. But they didn’t want to
o The government launched a campaign to educate housewives on how to disguise these
meats as familiar dishes. By the 1950’s, offal food was a staple.
This is why Target made their ads look random. People were familiar with that type of advertising
YMCA learned the same thing – people were actually looking for things explained by familiar
human drives, such as friendship. So instead of focusing too much on new gym equipment, they
focused on group fitness and trained employees to learn customers’ names.
Chapter 8
Rosa Parks’ arrest on the Montgomery bus was a catalyst for making the civil rights movement
successful. The subsequent bus boycott that happened was successful because movements are
carried by three things
o Strong ties – friendships between individuals – start the movement
o Weak ties – casual relationships that cause social pressure – grow it
o Habits are created that give participants a new sense of identity – which helps the
movement endure
Most bus arrests caused no stir, but Rosa’s did because she had friendships across all social
circles. She was involved in a ton of different clubs and activities
o Most of us have friends that are similar to us – look similar, make a similar amount of
money, etc.
Rosa’s relationships really spanned social circles of all types
Chapter 9
Brian Thomas strangled his wife to death while they camped in a van
o There had been people racing around the parking lot where they parked
o In his subconscious state, Brian thought an attacker was on his wife. He thought he was
strangling the attacker.
o In reality, he strangled his wife
Brian suffered a sleep terror – like sleepwalking, but much more powerful. Inconsolable
o Sleepwalking happens when the brain doesn’t make “the switch” – putting the body into
sleep paralysis before going into dream state
o Sleep terror brain activity is different than awake, sleeping, or even sleepwalking
Brain shuts down except for most primitive neurological regions (“central
pattern generators”), so base instincts take over
Automatic behaviors are acted upon with no control from higher regions of
brain
Fight or flight response – the response will be carried out, even if it’s
murder. The brain isn’t aware what’s even happening
It’s automatically following the habit loop
The jury and even prosecution decided that Brian was not a murderer. He had no idea of what he
was doing, and wasn’t even aware that something of this nature might happen. Sleepwalking isn’t
indicative of sleep terror
Angie Bachmann’s life took some bad turns – her parents died, her relationship with her family
was deteriorating, etc
o At the same time, Harrah’s Entertainment would pressure her to come gamble
o Eventually, it became a habit. Even though she didn’t want to, she’d give in and go
gamble to get that quick reward. Eventually, she lost $250,000 in one night
o She eventually gambled away all the family’s money and their house
When Bachmann was sued, she used the same defense that Brian used. However, they ruled
against her.
o The difference was that she was aware of her habits, and didn’t take steps to mitigate
them enough
To modify a habit, you must decide to change it. There must be a conscious decision
o The point of the book: Once you understand that habits can change, you have the
freedom and the responsibility to change them.
“Some thinkers hold that it is by nature that people become good, others that it is by habit, and
other that it is by instruction.” – Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics – Aristotle believed habits were key
o “Just as a piece of land has to be prepared beforehand if it is to nourish the seed, so the
mind of the pupil has to be prepared in its habits if it is to enjoy and dislike the right
things.”
“All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits – practical, emotional, and
intellectual – systematically organized for our weal or woe, and bearing us irresistibly toward our
destiny, whatever the latter may be.” – William James
o James practiced affirming that he had control in his diary every day – and he went from
a failure to massively successful. His “one year experiment” worked.
Habits are like water – to a fish, water isn’t noticed. To us, most of our habits aren’t either. We
must deliberately notice them.
o Water hollows out a channel and flows through it. If its flow is stopped, it’ll flow the same
way when it starts again. Habits are similar
James – The Principles of Psychology – chapter on habits
Afterword
No matter how strong our willpower, we will occasionally fall back on bad habits. It’s important
not to make the “second mistake” (as James Clear would say) or commit the “What the Hell”
effect – leave these slip-ups as slip-ups. Outliers.
Smokers often fail 7 times or more before finally quitting for good
o This isn’t really failure – it’s experimentation.
o They learn more about themselves, where the cues actually lie, and what new habits
provide good rewards
For Eric, that habit was meditation
“That’s why failure is so valuable. It forces us to learn, even if we don’t want to.”
Procrastination studies – people’s willpower often fails after a while, and then they’re back to
Facebook
o The key is to pay attention to how resolve eventually fades
Don’t ignore it
o Learn when you feel the urge to check Facebook or another website
Appendix
Formulas do exist for changing habits – but doing so is still hard because habits and individuals
are all different. However, change can be made with effort.
Framework for changing habits:
o Identify the routine
The reward might not be obvious. It might not just be satisfying hunger
What are you craving? To find out, experiment with different rewards
At first, think of yourself as a scientist collecting data. Don’t think of failures as
true failures yet
After getting the reward, write down the first thing on your mind afterwards
Studies show this helps in remembering what you were thinking at the
time later on
Also, set a 15-minute alarm after you get the new reward. When it goes off, ask
yourself if you still feel the urge for the old routine
If you do, you know the new reward isn’t what you were craving
o Isolate the cue