Reflections on “The Power of Habit”
Part 1: The Habits of Individuals
We are creatures of habit.
I believe it is why we like to say that history repeats itself, because the people who are writing and recording history don’t really change (aka all of humanity).
It is also why researchers like Amos Tversky, Daniel Kahneman, and Dan Ariely are able to make a living helping to forge the relatively new field of behavioral economics, reteaching us everything we thought we knew about ourselves and our human decision-making processes.
It’s the same reason why year after year of trying a new exercise program, I still only manage to exercise when I really really feel like it. It’s not a habit. The habit I actively maintain in lieu of exercise despite my opposing desires is binging on salt & vinegar potato chips and the latest season of Emily in Paris — (my sincerest apologies to the city of Paris, and myself for admitting that on the internet).
But can people like this (like me) really change?
Charles Duhigg will try to convince you so in The Power of Habit. And while I’m only 7 years late to the party, after a year plus of the inability to maintain focus on even one book to completion, The Power of Habit has captivated me, and my imagination again. At least part 1, “The Habits of the Individual.” Stay tuned to see if I can actually finish this book in light of last year’s track record. I’m optimistic. But characteristics can’t be changed like habits can, right?
On a quick side note, the difference between habits and addictions is quite grey. How much is nature? How much is nurture? How can we tell? And does it even matter? There are a lot of philosophical quandaries to delve into there, so we can sidestep that landmine as long as we know it’s there for us to come back to. Someday. Maybe.
Habits are often behaviors we don’t even notice. They don’t even register as noticeable or notable because they are so ingrained, so innate, it’s like inhaling and exhaling — or clapping on cue to the theme song of FRIENDS — virtually involuntary.
A habit forms as a way of producing a desired result. This may seem like an overly simplistic definition, but Duhigg helps break it up into more comprehensible components. Duhigg describes what he calls the “habit loop” as a three-piece cycle. Cues, routines, and rewards. Instead of me regurgitating my understanding of this cycle I’ll provide an excerpt from the book:
This process within our brains is a three-step loop. First, there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. Then there is the routine, which can be physical or mental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remember for the future.
Over time, this loop — cue, routine, reward; cue routine, reward — becomes more and more automatic. The cue and reward become intertwined until a powerful sense of anticipation and craving emerges. Eventually…a habit is born.
Habits aren’t destiny…habits can be ignored, changed, or replaced. But the reason the discovery of the habit loop is so important is that it reveals a basic truth: When a habit emerges, the brain stops fully participating in decision making. It stops working so hard, or diverts focus to other tasks. So unless you deliberately fight a habit — unless you find new routines — the pattern will unfold automatically.
However, simply understanding how habits work — learning the structure of the habit loop — makes them easier to control. Once you break a habit into its components, you can fiddle with the gears.
-Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit pg.19–20
Since reading this, I have begun to overanalyze all of my behavior, examining myself for any unnoticed habits, wondering if this or that is an involuntary action. I have no foregone conclusions, just newfound knowledge that can in theory set me free — from myself.
If you caught it from the excerpt, habits and addictions both form as a result of cravings. Cravings are the later recognized engines underneath the hood of the habit loop.
Recognizing and identifying one’s own cravings seems to me to be both the most important and the most difficult task in habit reformation. A task so difficult you should hire a therapist to help sort out what is at the very heart of your desires, driving your decision making.
However, after a craving or a habit you would like to change is identified, Duhigg provides two of the most helpful keys to unlocking habit reformation: belief and community.
The global widespread success of programs like Alcoholics, Narcotics, Sex Addicts and fill in the blank Anonymous is largely attributed to both belief in a Higher Power and the communal aspect to it. Being beholden and accountable to others can be an overwhelmingly powerful force. We are simultaneously bolstered, strengthened, and encouraged by the knowledge that changing habits (or addictions) is made possible when we see and hear others who have done it. When we believe. Indeed many people have changed their repetitive behaviors. It can take a lot of hard work to alter habits, but at least we are not alone in trying.
Part 1 of The Power of Habit is full of fascinating, highly entertaining stories from the scientists making incredible breakthroughs in the science and understanding of human habits, elite level sports coaching using the power of habit to turn perpetual losers into championship teams, to the business people who sold our grandparents on Febreze and made millions by tapping into human cravings and habit formation. For these stories alone I would recommend reading this book.
I’ve looked at this book on shelves in bookstores everywhere for 7 years. My eyes always attracted to the bright yellow cover. Until recently I had never picked it up. An inherent mistrust of self-help lit. The belief that there are no books out there that can distill the silver bullet we are all hoping for that can help me or teach me to turn my life around. I don’t know if it was desperation or a simple desire to do more with my life, but something allowed me to pick it up this time. The anecdotes kept me turning the pages, and now I am quite convinced of the ample scientific study laid out in this book and the power of habit. I’m trying to not let the fear of failure stop me from trying to reform my habits and to lay out a path forward for the kind of life I want to live — in control of my actions and decisions. My life is not changed yet, so I can still try to gloat in my “healthy skepticism” of self-help books, but as of now I am grateful to Charles Duhigg for opening me up to belief.
