Power of habit

The Power of Habit: Book Review
Charles Duhigg, an investigative reporter for The New York Times, has written a marvelous book, “The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business.” He has read hundreds of scientific papers and interviewed many of the scientists who wrote them, and passes on intriguing findings on habit formation and change from the fields of psychology and neuroscience. This is not a self-help book, a motivational book, nor a textbook. It is a great piece of journalism intended to inform and educate those on the serious look at the science of habit formation and change.
As years go by, I gain more awareness of how strongly ingrained the patterns of my life have become. The premise is simple; we create and maintain habits to conserve brain energy allowing us to use it for more complex and difficult thinking. For example, throughout the summer I woke up majorly around 9 o’ clock and went to the gym at 10:30 am and my path of destination has always been the same. After so much repetitions, I was practically driving mindlessly. I already knew what to do, it was like my body was on auto pilot while my brain could function on other things. This is the “habit loop”, which consist of a cue, a routine, and a reward. Simple. A more typical and relatable habit loop would be your mornings. The alarm clock rings (the cue), get up, bathroom duties, eat breakfast, (the routine), then you get to leave to your destination on time and prepared (reward). Habits are also rarely forgotten. It is very difficult to change because tis grooves are so worn in our minds. Bad habits are overcome by learning new routines and practicing them over and over again. Habitual behaviors come in various forms, and squeezing them into one framework misses some of the nuances of how to alter behavior effectively. Psychologists have developed many effective interventions to assist in improving other people’s lives, only some of which include shattering bad habits in a way Duhigg describes.
One of the best examples in the book comes from the author himself. He talks about having the habit of getting up from his desk at a certain time of the day, going to the cafeteria and grabbing a cookie. At some point he decided that the cookie component of this habit wasn’t doing him much good and he looked for ways to change this habit. He started by tracking his day to look for specific triggers. For example, was it a specific time of the day that he had to have a cookie? Did an event occur during the day that triggered his need to get up and have a cookie? And so on. With his data in hand, he had a clearer understanding of what triggered his need for a cookie and when the trigger occurred. He was able to replace getting a cookie by simply walking around and saying hello to fellow workers. What he needed was a break. He didn’t need a cookie.
Duhigg is always positive about how we can put scientific information to use. “Once you understand that habits can change,” he concludes, “you have the freedom — and the responsibility — to remake them. Once you understand that habits can be rebuilt, the power becomes easier to grasp, and the only option left is to get to work.” He advises that by understanding the nature of habits we can alter group behavior, changing companies into profit makers and guarantee the success of social movements. He makes his case by presenting interesting stories and pieces of history. I learned how and why Target can tell which of its female customers are pregnant, even before they have told their friends and family; how Rick Warren went from a depressed minister of a small congregation to the leader of one of the biggest mega churches in the world; why Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat started a movement when similar refusals by others had not; and why a 1987 fire in a London Underground station failed to be contained, leading to the deaths of 31 people.
As described by Duhigg, companies have a team of educated statisticians committed to studying customer’s habits. They observed their ages, occupation background, salaries, types of credit cards, and the specific items they purchase in stores. After researching, they send precisely timed coupons and reminders to adjust buyers’ habits without them even realizing it. They could offer irresistible offers to retrieve lost customers or customers of another company, the cue, to shop at their store and make it a routine to get said item after receiving the coupon and rewarded with a good price of an item.
Duhigg didn’t write Power of Habit under someone else’s demand or job purposes, it actually came out of his own curiosity. He had heard of an army major in Iraq who had been analyzing video tapes of riots. He noticed a pattern in the riots after watching many footages. In each footage, there was a person wandering around the crowded marketplace at the surroundings of the crowds. Eventually, this person would throw something and then a riot would ensure. The fix to this was to keep food vendors out of the plaza so that crowds wouldn’t form. The food vendors caused crowds, crowds attracted trouble makers and trouble makers triggered riots. And wha-la, a book is born.
The Power of Habit is a great book which guides people and organizations through the difficult process of accomplishing change when the need to do so is agreed upon. It contains all kinds of insights and strategies that you can use to see behind your brain’s own veil or curtain. You’ll begin to understand how habits are formed and how to recognize that a habitual behavior is at play and how to change the habits you don’t like and create habits you do like. It is easy to read and digest as well as good written content.