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    The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change
    Unavailable
    The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change
    Unavailable
    The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change

    Written by Charles Duhigg

    Narrated by Mike Chamberlain

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    In The Power of Habit, award-winning New York Times business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. With penetrating intelligence and an ability to distill vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives, Duhigg brings to life a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential for transformation.

    Along the way we learn why some people and companies struggle to change, despite years of trying, while others seem to remake themselves overnight. We visit laboratories where neuroscientists explore how habits work and where, exactly, they reside in our brains. We discover how the right habits were crucial to the success of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and civil-rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr. We go inside Procter & Gamble, Target superstores, Rick Warren's Saddleback Church, NFL locker rooms, and the nation's largest hospitals and see how implementing so-called keystone habits can earn billions and mean the difference between failure and success, life and death.

    At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, raising exceptional children, becoming more productive, building revolutionary companies and social movements, and achieving success is understanding how habits work.

    Habits aren't destiny. As Charles Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRandom House UK Audio
    Release dateApr 5, 2012
    ISBN9781448135486
    Unavailable
    The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change

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    Reviews for The Power of Habit

    4/5

    1,330 ratings114 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I first came across this work when an excerpt of the Target customer habit tracking was posted online somewhere in 2012, and it was relevant, interesting, yet terrifying.

      A repost of Duhigg breaking his afternoon cookie habit came across my twitter feed earlier this year.

      When I saw this at the library a month ago, it seemed like a sign that I should finally get around to reading this, and like reading anything on TVTropes, once you see patterns, you can't unsee them.

      The thesis of The Power of Habit lies in our habit circle: a cue happens, we're compelled to perform our habit, and then get rewarded. Sometimes only a hint of a cue is required for us to automatically apply the habit, expecting reward. Duhigg demonstrates this again and again through anecdotes on an individual level, a company's level, and at a national level (the power of weak ties in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, for example).

      The notes section is quite extensive should you wish to continue reading on a particular topic, and it's also fascinating to see what various entities had to say (or didn't say) when asked for fact-checking comments.

      I can only hope that awareness of the cycle can be harnessed to change some of my own fidgety actions.
    • 3/5
      I heard the author interviewed and decided to read the book. I hoped that having a better understanding of triggers and goals would help me reestablish a workout routine. I got the theory and know what I need to do, now I just have to put it in practice. I lost interest after finishing the first part of the book, which deals with individuals. The latter part of gets into how businesses use habit.
    • 3/5
      Power of Habit, my friend recommended it to me. It is a quick, easy read with a lot of stories. The Book is structured from starting from, How Habits work, How an Individual forms a habit, How an Organization forms a habit, How Societies form Habit.

      The first story of lean-women in-front of researchers captured my attention. And it motivated me to dig deeper into this book. The meat of the book is in the first half, how Habits form, and what people have done to change their habits. Old Habits never die. If you are a Christian Theist like me, we believe, there's a warfare within us, And only God helps us in our walks each day. I'm not sure of, what key-stone habits do I have, and how do I help others to find them?

      I was happy to see William James's name in the book. I had thought of reading about him, for a long time.

      Overall, an excellent book. I would recommend this to everyone.

      Deus Vult,
      Gottfried
    • 3/5
      Personally, I'm tired of the streaming anecdotes format of nonfiction. Books end up being longer than they need to be with less of the information in interested in.
    • 4/5
      I only read the first section of the book dealing with habit changing for individuals. I decided to rate it, because I've begun using what I learned in those few pages and have found it enormously helpful. It's only been a couple days working with it, but I feel like I've gotten to the power of how to form a couple habits I've really wanted to develop. Finding a cue and a reward are the keys that opened this up for me. Duhigg gives enough examples to give a good idea of what to look for in analyzing what would be good cues and rewards.

      I had first read a short book, The Power of Habit ...in 30 Minutes, by Garamond Press which is a summary of Duhigg's book. That gave me the overall look at the process, but I found those early chapters in Duhigg's book to be very helpful in fleshing it out for me.

      I highly recommend this book, or at least the first few chapters, for those wanting to change bad habits to good ones or to develop new habits. I found a couple good summaries online as well, but I'm glad I read from the book.
    • 3/5
      This is an interesting work in that it helps to distil a good deal of scientific research into a practical and interesting guidebook. Habits are effortless ways to live, some good, some bad. But what is clear from the research is that habits consist of three elements:

      1. The Cue.

      2. The Routine.

      3. The Reward.

      Extrapolating from this process, the way to change one's habits is as follows:

      1. Identify the routine.

      2. Experiment with rewards.

      3. Isolate the cue.

      4. Have a plan.

      Duhigg not only looks at individuals, but discusses organisational habits. I would call these institutions (rules, routines, procedures), but Duhigg looks into various organisations such as Alcoholics Anonymous, and then broadens this to includes how Target uses statistical data to "target" advertising to customers. The discussion on Pepsodent toothpaste ans how the tingly feeling now associated with brushing one's teeth was a way to create a habit, to the point where if we do not experience the tingle from the toothpaste, we would consider our teeth not clean. What is equally interesting is the notion of suds forming when using cleaning products (including toothpaste). Some time back, we looked for soap alternatives that did not contain the foaming agent sodium lauryl ether sulfate(SLES). (I recall too how we learnt that not all vinegar products are created equal - if you use vinegar to clean your house in an environmentally-friendly manner, ensure you are using brewed vinegar, not the cheaper varieties which I understand are made from a petrochemical by-product.) Put simply, SLES is in almost every product we use because we have become habituated to the nation that cleaning products are not workings unless they foam up (yes, including your toothpaste). Duhigg doesn't mention this chemical but it now makes sense why so many products include this unnecessary chemical - it is to create habits that sell products. While this is quite depressing, Duhigg also mentions the social habits that kicked in during the Montgomery bus boycott in the 1960s, and Dr Martin Luther King Jr.'s use of such social habits to create a social movement. The book concludes with a discussion of free will, and in an appendix, Duhigg provides his procedure for changing his own habits. I find this work useful in combination with many others I have read, such as Change Anything, and almost any of the motivational work by Steven Pressfield. Putting the science behind the process makes for a more nuanced understanding of why we do the things we do. While at times I felt the work was overtly middle-class and mono-cultural, reading at times like a work written before the social decline in the US recognised in Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone, this shouldn't take away from the usefulness of recognising the processes of habits, and the ways to analyse these habits with an aim to changing oneself. As James Allen (1926) may have put it, it is only through self-examination and self-analysis that we can achieve self-purification. Duhigg provides a useful way to actualise such examination and analysis, and a starting point for action.
    • 5/5
      This was my mom's sole purchase during last year's book fair. I had tons of books while this was the only book she picked up. I don't even know if she's heard of it nor Duhigg before (most likely she hasn't) but nevertheless I'm really thankful she bought this book.

      Anyway. This book has a lot to say about habits, the kind of things our brain does on autopilot that it requires little to no effort or focus. It's essential because if you know how to intelligently build good habits and change the bad ones, productivity can increase x-fold.

      Plus, habits are so ingrained in many aspects of our daily lives that learning how to build good ones lead to various results- better relationships, improved leadership, weight loss, healthier lifestyles, mass movements and better organizational functioning, among many others.

      I'm still yet to identify and change/create my own habit loops. I know I got plenty I'd like to change (procrastination being on top of the list), so let's see.
    • 5/5
      How do we create - or break - a habit? In The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg uses current research about habit forming and many interviews to illuminate just what is going on in our brains, taking us through the habits of individuals, organizations, and society.This was a really fascinating, meaty account that read smoothly and kept me entertained and intrigued throughout. In the first chapter, Duhigg introduces the habit loop: there is a cue, a routine, and a reward that becomes ingrained in our brain, forming a habit until we follow the loop without thinking. To change the habit, you change the routine. As subsequent chapters show, of course, there are many other elements that complicate those habits, but in a nutshell if you can identify the three items of that loop and change the routine - say, when you want to grab a cookie from the cafeteria, spend a few minutes talking with a co-worker instead. And that's really just scratching the surface. Duhigg blends recent scientific studies with illustrative case studies such as Starbucks and Saddleback Church to explain how we create habits in our lives, work, and socially as a community. Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      This book is rated three stars not because it is a bad book, but because it is not quite as exciting as a work of nonfiction. That said, it is definitely an interesting work, and applies the science of habit to many things that I would not have previously associated with habits. Particularly interesting was the explanation of Target's data analysis, and how that relates to shopper habits, and the explanation of how a song becomes a habit. This was explained in terms of listening habits. In all, it is a useful book, and opens one's eyes to the habits that underlay everything we do.
    • 4/5
      Great - read it in Morocco on holiday and *****almost**** managed to get my non-reading husband to finish reading it also!
    • 3/5
      I was assigned to read this book as part of a training class. I read it as an ebook. The theme and discoveries presented were generally good. On the other hand some of the conclusions seemed simplistic and obvious. Overall however a worthwhile read as it focuses on something that all of us could become much better at if applied, habit.
    • 5/5
      Best book I've read all year
    • 2/5
      Decent book however I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone . It's about 280 pages, but I honestly think that there's about 250 pages of filler information and about 20 to 30 pages of actual useful content. He wrote a summary of it which would probably be more useful (The Power of Habit ...in 30 Minutes).
    • 5/5
      Very spot on for demonstrating how and why habits form. Insightful for reforming bad habits into good ones. A useful tool on many levels.
    • 3/5
      Some interesting information.
    • 5/5
      Clearly written and informative.
    • 5/5
      This was listed as one of Amazon's top 10 business books of 2012. I wouldn't list it as a business book, but it was very interesting and there are several takeaways that I will try to incorporate into my own life.
    • 4/5
      This is one of the very few books I think is worth buying and keeping. It lays out in simple readable terms what constitutes a habit. Why habits are important. How to create good ones and how to change bad ones. Duhigg explains what the habit loop is, Craving, Cue, Routine , and Reward, and why knowledge of these four stages are important. Unless all four are there its next to impossible to get real and lasting change. Duhigg uses the the biographies of famous and little known people to illustrate his points. The book covers habits on a personal level, organizational or corporate level, and societial level. The appendix of this book lays out an outline of an approach that some can use to observe, evaluate and possibly change their annoying habits. Duhigg emphasizes that this is not an offer of a magic bullet, or miracle formula. Change takes effort. This book is a good road map to follow to start creating change in your life.
    • 4/5
      Fantastic analysis of what makes a habit, well... a habit. While it certainly borders in the realm of pop-psychology (which is not itself a bad thing), it feels like it's well backed up with evidence and substantive references. I suspect I'll be revisiting this to better understand some of the habits I've developed and, most importantly, how to undo some of them.
    • 3/5
      Some of this was incredibly interesting, some of it was not. I listened to the audiobook and believe the narrator was on the brink of a serious cold ...
    • 4/5
      Fascinating, and very readable.
    • 4/5
      Good method to a topic that lends itself to pollyanna fluff.

      I'm interested in positive psychology, but the genres of self-help and business-motivation seem to write a script for snake-oil promises. This book does an admirable job of fitting into the expected genre while remaining true to the research. The writer manages to make the justifications for his claims stand out more than the claims themselves, which is the most important thing in this market segment.
    • 4/5
      After reading this, I'll never look at toothpaste or Starbucks the same way again. This is a very insightful book for individuals, organizations, and anyone in marketing.

      I learned that:
      Creating habits starts with a cue which triggers a routine that one does for a reward. The reason habits are so powerful is that they create subconscious neurological cravings, and particularly strong habits produce addiction-like reactions, or obsessive cravings. The key to getting a habit to stick is getting your brain to expect the reward.

      Alcoholics Anonymous gets members to create new habits: anxiety being the cue, meetings the routine, and social support the reward. Permanent habit changes come about when we believe change is feasible, and belief is easier with community support.

      Current research shows that willpower is the key to creating and sustaining good habits. Willpower is like a muscle in that when it is used in one area of your life, it spills over into other areas.

      Overall, I'm glad I read the book, well at least the first 2/3 of it. The last third about societal habits floundered a bit in my opinion.
    • 4/5
      I found this a very readable treatment of the power of habits. Duhigg explains the habit loop: cue, routine, and reward. The cue tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which behavior to use). The routine can be physical, mental or emotional. The reward helps your brain figure out if this loop is worth remembering for the future. The author uses examples from a variety of venues to make his points: Alcoholics Anonymous, the Rhode Island Hospital, Claude Hopkins and the marketing of Pepsodent, Alcoa, and Starbucks, among others. The author draws on academic studies, interviews, and research conducted at a number of companies, but the use of footnotes/references does not overwhelm the message of the book; they are in a notes section at the end. The message is that habits can be changed but the process requires understanding the how and why underlying a habit and consciously working to rebuild the habit into what is desired.
    • 4/5
      I normally just leave comments on books and skip the "review" section. As I got this through LT's Early Reviewers I'll leave my comments here.Very informative and interesting I thought it was great except for two issues. The first is that the author, presumably in a misguided attempt to build suspense, never tells a story straight through. Every story or anecdote has to be interrupted by more stories and anecdotes that are tangentially related but that feel more like distractions. This isn't a book that required any suspense. It had interesting things to say and just needed to get to them without the annoying topic changes.The second problem is that mine is an advanced reader copy that doesn't have the how-to-apply-this section. For this book that's critical enough that I knocked off an entire star because I haven't seen that section.
    • 4/5
      Fascinating look in to why people do what they do and how one can change their life by slightly tweaking "habits."
    • 3/5
      One excellent chapter/story (the turnaround of Aloa) buried in others of varying quality. Overall, a collection of vignettes and ideas, looking for a theme that really ties it together. 'Habit' doesn't.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book, because it answers the question why do we repeatedly do things that we haven't consciously decided to do. Performing actions that I haven't decided to do but still do, is unsettling for me. Earlier in my life, I would deny that such thing exists. Today, I'd rather learn something about it.
    • 3/5
      Interesting. Duhigg addresses habits of individuals, organizations and societies. I thought the part about individuals was packaged quite well. The organizational habits section was an eye opener and most definitely not for conspiracy theorists. What Target (the store chain) does to track people is disturbing (I wonder what my Guest ID is in their monster database), but all the more interesting to me because whatever they think they are doing fails with me - I never think of Target as a place to shop. Oh, I do shop there, but I see them as more expensive than their competitors. Anyway, the bar dropped significantly in the last section on societies. I thought he was reaching a bit with his stories.

      A few good references to studies and a LOT of anecdotes. If you don't have time to read the whole book, go for the first couple of chapters and the appendix (a method for changing personal habits) - the rest is fluff; not bad, but still fluff. (Note: each chapter covers at least two story lines, and Duhigg breaks them up as one would a television drama that uses flashback. I thought the connections for a few of them were a little tenuous, but the flow might take some a bit aback.)
    • 5/5
      I can't comment on the scientific accuracy or the strength of the conclusions, but I can say that I found the book engaging, entertaining, and thought provoking. It lines up with my belief that we are much less the product of thoughtful and deliberate choices than we like to think we are or than we like to think others are. In reality, we are creatures of reaction and habit.

      But this book also reminds me that we have some say in what we do. Not through force will power, but by setting ourselves up for the right reactions or habits to kick in at the right moment. In other words, it's not about how skillfully you set off the mousetrap, but how well you build it before the time comes.

      This isn't just a book about how to change your habits - in fact I would say it's mostly not about that at all. It's about how the human brain works. About the difference among learned behavior, habits, and cravings. It's about how retail stores and casinos learn way too much about you and actually manipulate your behavior (and you were worried about Facebook). There's also a really interesting section on the Montgomery bus boycott and how that became a movement instead of just a couple of protests (relevant, eh?).

      Anyway, if you want a how-to self-help book, you might be disappointed. If you like learning about how brains work, dig in!