"The Power of Habit" is a fun read that will leave you questioning everything you've ever known about habits. Charles Duhigg gives the readers example after example of how habits can change people. organizations, and societies for the good or the bad. I highly recommend this book, particularly if you have an addictive personality like myself. It has opened my eyes to issues regarding my eating and has helped me reorganize patterns for healthier results.
During my time in The Fellowship Residency Program, I will be reading a long list of powerful books. To read more about my residency experience click here. One aspect of my assignments is to summarize and write key takeaways from each of the books. This is a summary of "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business" by Charles Duhigg.
When compared to the other books that we have read this year, the Power of Habit is unique. It walks readers through understanding how habits are created, maintained, and endured over time in the lives of individuals, organizations, and societies at large. The overall argument is simple yet freeing, “Habits can be changed if we know and understand how they work.”
Part One: The Habits of Individuals
If an individual’s brain is an onion, then the outside of the brain is considered to be utilized for the more complex thinking. Whereas the core section of the brain is used for more automatic behaviors and reflexes. This center core is called the basal ganglia and is responsible for habits. “Chucking” is the process during which repeated actions are turned into automatic patterns and ultimately habits. Our brains are consistently looking for ways to exert less effort, and therefore, chucking occurs and habits are continuously formed.
The habit loop always begins with a cue or trigger that tells the brain whether or not to go into habit mode. Next, there is a routine that involves actions, feelings or both. Finally, there is a reward that lets the brain know if this process, loop, or habit is worth remembering and storing. This process remains true for all habits whether it be with an individual, an organization, or society as a whole. When a habit is formed, the brain is no longer actively participating in the decision-making process. That is why unless you deliberately fight a habit, the routine will unfold and initiate automatically.
If we want to create a craving towards a particular habit, we should, “first, find a simple and obvious cue. Second, clearly define the rewards.” When people anticipate a reward but do not receive it, a neurological pattern associated with desire and anger explodes in our brain and has the power to drive us to depression. In other words, once we develop a habit or our brains begin to anticipate the reward, we are unable to be distracted easily from the possibility of receiving said reward. In order to overpower or change a habit, we must first understand which particular craving is the driving force of the behavior. Only then can a new habit be established.
Even though the habits are extreme, AA is able to demonstrate that even the most distinguished habits may be changed. “AA is successful, because it helps alcoholics use the same cues, and get the same reward, but it shifts the routine” To follow the 12 steps AA members, have to create a list of triggers as well as identify what specific reward the drinking offers them. Commonly, the feeling of intoxication is not on the list. Instead, it is the desire for escape, relaxation, friendship, ease of fears, emotional release, and a way to forget about their stressors. One of the ways AA fights the habit is by offering sponsors who will offer the same rewards to the alcoholic in place of a drink at a bar. Therapists will commonly ask patients to explain what triggers the dysfunctional habitual behavior to improve their awareness as many do not even recognize what prompts the behavior in the first place.
Additionally, belief is a huge factor in transforming reestablished habit loops into permanently changed behavior. Belief is easier when there is a community helping the individual believe that change is possible. To summarize, habits cannot be removed entirely, but they can be transformed. The golden rule is to keep the same cue or trigger and reward and simply change the routine. For example, if boredom at 3:00pm is the cue, rather than eating a snack, one could take a walk for ten minutes to receive the reward of a break from work. Finally, to continue changing the habit, there must be belief. The belief is best utilized with the support of a group or community.
Part Two: The Habits of Successful Organizations
You cannot order a person or organization to change, because our brains do not function in that way. Instead, you focus on one important habit. Keystone habits are habits that matter most in initiating larger change. “The habits that matter most are the ones that, when they start to shift, dislodge, and remake other patterns.” While individuals exhibit habits, organizations operate with routines. Some keystone habits include: exercise, making the bed, or families that eat together. The success behind these keystone habits is in the small wins. One win will be the ignition one needs towards more and more habitual change.
Willpower is the most important keystone habit one can hold for individual success. When people have wonderful self-control, it looks as if they are not trying, but it is only because their willpower has truly become automatic. Willpower itself is not simply a skill, but also a muscle. In other words, when you use it often, it gets tired. However, it can actually grow stronger overtime. Planning for weak moments strengthens the willpower. When attempting to encourage other’s willpower, simply telling people that they can do something encourages them to prove you right.
Unfortunately, not all habits are formed in the best circumstances. “Sometimes in the heat of a crisis, the right habits emerge.” Routines establish the unwritten handbook for the entire organization to adopt and function under. Routines and agreed upon “truces” are only healthy if everyone is working to establish the truce and maintain the peace. Sometimes the “truces” ensure that everyone knows their level of authority, but they prevent widespread education and empowerment that can lead to significant problems. So how does an organization balance authority while also prioritizing a primary goal? By “seizing the possibilities created by a crisis.” A crisis can be the kickoff that forces change within an organization. Additionally, our brains have a familiarity loop that crave what is familiar to us. “If you dress a new something in old habits, it’s easier for the public to accept it.”
Part Three: The Habits of Societies
When looking at the habits of societies, Rosa Park is a great example. Her actions shifted advocacy as a whole from courtroom discussions to entire communities and social protests. We know that movements usually start as a result of the social habits of friends and acquaintances. They grow when the community habits begin to tie together, and they are able to endure when their leaders author new habits that create a exciting or newly original sense of identity and ownership for the community. Ironically, it is through our weaker ties within community that protests are able to spread from a tight clique to a larger social movement. The habits of peer pressure that encourage people to seek to fit in and conform are also what allows business to get done and communities to adapt a sense of organization. “The only way you get people to take responsibility for their spiritual maturity is to teach them habits of faith. Once that happens, they become self-feeders. People follow Christ not because you’ve led them there, but because it’s who they are.” A good reminder for those working in ministry is to focus on building the people, and God will cover the building of the church.
Even the deepest-rooted habits are not necessarily there to stay. Habits can be changed so long as you understand how they are functioning. However, we must make the decision to change our habits or else they will overpower the will. “If you believe you can change – if you make it a habit – the change becomes real. This is the real power of habit: the insight that your habits are what you choose them to be.” Ultimately, when debating with a habit in need of change, we must ask ourselves, “how much pain do you have to feel before you start to believe that it can end?” When we reach our rock bottom and understand the power of habits, we can initiate change. To do so, we Identify the routine, experiment with rewards, isolate the cue, and have a plan for when temptation slips in.