Title: The Power of Habit
Author: Charles Duhigg
Basic Overview:
In The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg shares interesting and engaging stories to explain the science behind how habits work in our lives. He then suggests tools to change our habits in order to start becoming the people that we ultimately want to be. Because the truth is, our habits define who we are.
Parts I liked best:
Keystone Habits
Keystone habits are habits that, if you choose to implement them, will have a positive ripple effect on other areas of your life. Keystone habits start a positive chain reaction. Examples are exercise, eating family dinner together, and making your bed every morning.
Exercise is a great keystone habit because people who exercise also tend to sleep better, have less stress, eat healthier, etc. It ripples over to other areas in your life. Families who eat dinner together have children with higher grades and more confidence. Those who make their beds every morning tend to have more productivity during the day and are better at keeping a budget.
Willpower
“Willpower isn’t just a skill. It’s a muscle, like the muscles in your arms or legs, and it gets tired as it works harder, so there’s less power left over for other things” (Mark Muraven, pg. 137).
“[The] best way to strengthen willpower…is to make it a habit” (Charles Duhigg, pg. 131).
Habit Loop
All habits are made up of a loop: a cue, a routine, and a reward. An example of this is brushing your teeth. Your teeth feel dirty (cue), so you brush your teeth (routine), and then your teeth feel clean (reward). It’s important to understand that every habit has to have a cue and a reward, but you can change the routine. For example, Duhigg had a habit of going to the cafeteria every afternoon to buy a cookie at work. He wanted to change that habit, so he went through a series of questions (that are in the book) to figure out why he had that habit and how he could change it.
One important thing for him to figure out was why he was having that craving. For him, he wasn’t sure if it was because he wanted the sugar high or if he needed the social interaction of talking to friends in the cafeteria. He experimented and realized it wasn’t really the cookie he wanted, but the social interaction. He was able to swap out the routine of eating the cookie every afternoon with going to talk to a coworker instead. That gave him the real reward he was craving, without adding the extra calories.
Good Habits Create Success
One of my favorite stories in the book was about how Starbucks decided to teach their employees positive habits to improve customer service. One of the ways they did this was to teach their employees how to deal with “inflection points.” In their case, inflection points were dealing with angry customers or long lines. They gave their employees clear instructions to follow in these situations, and then they drilled and role-played until the employees’ responses became automatic—a habit. This gave them great customer service skills, which in turn helped the company become very successful.
How this book made an impact in my life, especially as a mother:
This book has empowered me with the knowledge and tools to become the person and mother that I want to be. Discovering my keystone habit—sleep—has really impacted my life for good. When I go to bed early and get enough rest, I’ve noticed that I have more energy, I’m more productive, I exercise better, have more patience with my kids, and I feel happier. Habits really do have power, and I’m glad that I now have more tools to change mine for the better.
QUESTION: What is a keystone habit that could have a positive ripple effect in your life right now?
CHALLENGE: Identify a habit loop that will help reinforce your keystone habit.
To learn more about habits, check out these additional Power of Moms resources:
Power of Moms Radio: Tiny Habits
Book Review: Better Than Before
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Edited by Aubrey Degn and Sarah Monson.
I am now a grandmother and we have always insisted on eating together every evening. We also spent time before bed chatting with the children about their day and reading to them up to the age of 9-10.then they continue their own interest in reading as it does help them relax.
family holidays were part of our life; we did not go off alone for years and now we can all share the memories.
We believed that a small job on a saturday helped develop responsibility. In the summer, Our girls often worked on a local farm and were proud of what they earned. we now encourage our granddaughter to do the same as long as it does not interfer with schoolwork.
I should have had my kids make their beds more often than once a week! Oh well, they still turned out pretty awesome.
Defiantly am interested in picking up this book! Thanks!