Recent Read: The Power of Habit

When I saw this book featured at several different bookstores, it looked super interesting. I couldn’t wait to dig in. I finished it several weeks ago, but I am glad I took a couple weeks to decide what I thought about it. I’m not going to give you a full synopsis because 1) you can find that on Amazon, or 2) I am sure you just want to know if it is worth reading or not. The short answer to that question is YES.

Duhigg really spends most of the book laying out example after example of how powerful habits can be. He also spends a good amount of the book walking us through how habits go from being actions that we choose, to pathways in the brain that become automatic. For example, how do you get home driving your car and not remember how you got from point A to point B? It’s become a habit….and once its engrained, it becomes automatic and your mind is free to wander and think about other things.  It really is fascinating and kind of daunting all at the same time.

Here’s a clip of the author himself explaining the habit cycle, which involves a cue, a specific behavior, and your reward.

What hit me after I finished the book, was that I was now I able to start looking for and identifying these cycles in my own life (for the good and the bad). For now, I am okay with just watching and observing. Once I am ready to change a habit, it feels good that I am not going to leave it to willpower, but that I know that I will have to come up with replacement behaviors instead.

If you are frustrated with yourself for not being able kick a bad habit, or curious about human nature in general, this should definitely be your next read.

Posted by Ale & filed under Books, Learning. This post has 2 comments.