The Power of Habit

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business is a book by Charles Duhigg, a New York Times reporter, published in February 2012 by Random House. It explores the science behind habit creation and reformation. The book has reached the best seller list for The New York Times, Amazon.com, and USA Today.

The book was long listed for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award in 2012. Some of the main concepts Duhigg develops in it are described below.

The Habit loop: This is a neurological pattern that governs any habit. It consists of three elements: a cue, a routine, and a reward. Understanding these components can help in understanding how to change bad habits or form good ones. The habit loop is always started with a cue, a trigger that transfers your brain into a mode that automatically determines which habit to use. The heart of the habit is a mental, emotional, or physical routine. Finally there is a reward, which helps your brain determine if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future. In an article in The New York Times, Duhigg notes, "The cue and reward become neurologically intertwined until a sense of craving emerges." Craving drives all habits and is essential to starting a new habit, or destroying an old one. Duhigg describes how Procter and Gamble used research on the habit loop and its connection to cravings to develop the market for Febreze, a product that eliminates bad odors, to make a fortune.

Golden Rule of Habit: The Golden rule of habit is a rule to follow that will help you stop your addictive habits and replace them with new ones. It states that if you keep the initial cue, replace the routine, and keep the reward, change will eventually occur, although individuals who do not believe in what they are doing will likely fall short of the expectations and give up. Belief is a critical element of such a change, though it can be structured in a number of ways including group settings. Often people who join groups like accountability groups are better off than those who act alone as individuals. Charles Duhigg used several examples to illustrate his argument, including the case of Bill Wilson, an ex-alcoholic who found Jesus and created Alcoholics Anonymous. By understanding habits, the golden rule of habit, and the crucial role of belief, he was able to start a foundation that led to saving tens of thousands of alcoholics.

Keystone Habits: A keystone habit is an individual pattern that is unintentionally capable of triggering other habits in the lives of people. Duhigg wrote about the company Alcoa, and how the new CEO Paul O'Neil, was able to rise the company's market capitalization by 27 billion by attacking safety in the work environment. O'Neil said, "I knew I had to transform Alcoa, ... [b]ut you can't order people to change, that's not how the brain works. So I decided I was going to start by focusing on one thing. If I could start disrupting the habits around one thing, it would spread throughout the entire company."