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Introduction
Lisa Allen's life was a mess. At 34, she was overweight, in debt, and struggled with smoking and drinking. But with an incident where she tried to light a cigarette and accidentally burned a pen instead, Lisa hit rock bottom. In that moment of despair, she made a decision: she had to quit smoking!! And changing this one habit led to a complete lifestyle overhaul. This "keystone habit" had rewired her brain.
Lisa's keystone habit gives us a glimpse of how habits work in our brains. According to this one study, nearly half of your day is running on a pre-programmed script. Change one thing, and it can spark a chain reaction in your whole life. And Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit teaches us how to do just that!
So let’s understand how we can re-write the individual habits, organizational habits, and societal habits; each one affecting the other; and transforming our days for the best. Starting with the individual habits!
How Do Habits Work?
Habits are fascinating! We do things without consciously deciding we’d do them. Our brains can run on autopilot. How amazing is that! Still don’t see what’s so amazing about this? Then the story of Eugene Pauly, a man who lost his memory but kept his habits, is just for you!Eugene's journey began with a severe illness that damaged his brain, leaving him unable to form new memories. Or remember his past. But what’s fascinating is that even though he lost his ability to form new memories, he could still develop new habits, even though he had no conscious memory of learning them. His brain didn’t remember events, but it did remember his daily morning walk. How?? Through the simple loop of cue, routine, and reward. This habit loop helps your brain automate behaviors. For Eugene, the cue might be seeing his front door, the routine or the action in response to the cue would be taking his daily walk, and the reward could be the satisfaction of familiar surroundings. This loop, reinforced in Eugene’s brain before his illness, allowed Eugene to navigate his world despite his memory impairment. Some of his brain was damaged but the part that looks after habit formulation deep inside the brain was intact. So, once he saw the cue, out came the rest of the habit loop.Habit loops are all around us. Like when you drive to work: chances are, you don't recall every turn and stop sign. That's habit loop! Automating decisions and freeing up your brain to ponder more important things – such as what to have for lunch!Scientists at MIT, eager to understand habit better, decided to peek into the brains of rats. They found that as rats learned to navigate a maze for food, their brain activity changed. Initially, their little rat brains were working overtime. But as the route became habitual, their mental activity decreased. Further research proved that our brain has a tiny control center that stores our routines, allowing us to perform complex behaviors without much thought. That’s the basal ganglia – the habit headquarters!Now, there’s an issue: habits can be both a blessing and a curse. They can help us navigate our daily lives efficiently, but they can also lead us astray. Just ask anyone who's tried to quit smoking or stop binge-watching their favorite show. The habit loop doesn't discriminate between good and bad habits. Eugene's...
How to Create New Habits
Your brain is wired to crave the tingly feeling in your mouth after brushing your teeth. And that tingly feeling is the secret behind why millions of people brush their teeth every day without fail. Weird, right. Well, that’s habits for you!First things first, let's talk about the habit loop again. We said it's a simple three-step process. But there's a hidden fourth step that makes all the difference: cravings. Take Pepsodent, for example. Why did Pepsodent take off like a rocket? It turns out, Pepsodent contained ingredients that created a cool, tingling sensation. People started to crave that feeling, associating it with cleanliness. No tingle? No clean feeling. And just like that, a habit was born.Or look at Febreze. The folks at Procter & Gamble were scratching their heads, trying to figure out why people weren't using their amazing odor-eliminating spray. They had a great product, but it just wasn't clicking with consumers. The breakthrough came when they realized people don't want to admit their homes stink. Heh! So instead of focusing on eliminating bad smells, they repositioned Febreze as the finishing touch to cleaning. Spray a little Febreze, and voila! Your freshly cleaned room smells as good as it looks. People started craving that fresh scent at the end of their cleaning routine.The same principles apply to personal habits too. It’s all about craving. Case in point: Julio the monkey. Julio was part of an experiment conducted by neuroscientist Wolfram Schultz. Here's what happened:Julio was placed in front of a computer screen. When certain shapes appeared on the screen, Julio had to touch a lever. If he did this correctly, he got a reward - a drop of blackberry juice. At first, Julio was just mildly interested. But as he learned that the shapes meant "touch the lever and get juice," he became very focused. Meanwhile, Schultz was monitoring Julio's brain activity. He noticed that at first, Julio's brain showed pleasure when he got the juice. But over time, something changed. Julio's brain started showing pleasure as soon as he saw the shapes on the screen - before he even got the juice!What does this mean? Julio had developed a craving. He wasn't just responding to the reward anymore; he was anticipating it. This craving drove Julio to perform the habit loop over and over. Not insulting you, but we’re all like Julio. If we focus on creating...
The Golden Rule of Habit Change
Tony Dungy woke up one day to find out his son has died by suicide. A few days later, he returned to lead a professional football team to their first Super Bowl victory. What happened? How are the two related? We’ll reveal it all pretty soon, but right now we're getting ahead of ourselves. We promised you the Golden Rule, so let’s start with that. The rule says: keep the cue, keep the reward, but change the routine. Duhigg explains it through Mandy, a chronic nail-biter. Her cue was a slight tension in her fingers. Her reward? A brief sense of physical stimulation. The problem? Bleeding fingertips and social embarrassment. So, what did Mandy do? She didn't try to ignore the tension in her fingers (the cue) or deny herself the satisfaction (the reward). Instead, she changed her routine. When she felt that familiar tension, she'd put her hands in her pockets or grip a pencil. Then, she'd find another way to get that physical stimulation, like rubbing her arm. Voila! New habit, same old brain.But The Golden Rule is incomplete without this one thing. Believe!Take Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) for example. They use this habit-changing technique, but they add a secret ingredient: belief. They don't just tell alcoholics to avoid bars. They create a community where people believe they can change. And that belief? That becomes the fuel for habit change.Now back to Tony Dungy! He used the Golden Rule with his football team. And when tragedy struck and Dungy lost his son, something unexpected happened. His players wanted to support Dungy and "give him everything they could" to help alleviate his pain. They felt like they had truly become a team after this event, believing in each other in a way they hadn't before. This belief was the catalyst that finally allowed The Golden Rule to hold firm, leading to their Super Bowl victory. So! Find your cue (Bored at work? Stressed?), keep the reward (A break? A mood boost?), but change the routine. Instead of reaching for chips, try a quick walk or a chat with a coworker. For peskier habits, join a support group, maybe. Create a community. Whatever it takes to make you feel like you're not alone in this. That was the end of individual habits. On to organizational habits. And the first thing you need to learn there is that some habits are more...
The Keystone Habits
So, keystone habits. Like Lisa’s smoking. If you're building a house, you wouldn't start with the roof, right? Unless you’re playing legos! So, you'd begin with the foundation. Keystone habits are the foundation - they're the habits that make all the other good habits possible. A habit that sets off a chain of other positive habits.
Take Paul O'Neill, for example. When he became CEO of Alcoa, the aluminum giant, he didn't burst in, yelling, "Let's make more money!" Instead, he focused on one thing: worker safety. O'Neill's safety obsession didn't just reduce accidents; it transformed the entire company. How, you ask? Well, to improve safety, they had to communicate better. To communicate better, they needed better technology. And wouldn't you know it, all these changes led to higher quality products and bigger profits.
Keystone habits work for individuals too. Heard of Michael Phelps? He is THE swimming sensation. His keystone habit? Visualization. Before every race, he'd play a mental "videotape" of the perfect swim. This routine helped him stay calm and focused, even when his goggles filled with water during an Olympic final.
Or take someone ordinary; your sibling trying to lose weight. How would keystone habits work there, you ask? Well, researchers found that keeping a food journal - just writing down what you eat - can lead to twice as much weight loss – it sets off a chain of other positive habits to reduce weight. Cool, right?
Understand one thing, though: keystone habits create a ripple effect, transforming our entire way of life. Whether you're running a Fortune 500 company or just trying to run a 5K, focusing on one key habit can unlock a world of positive change. With persistence and the right focus, you might just find yourself achieving things you never thought possible!
Now! There’s one awesome keystone habit that will guarantee success in your personal and professional life. It’s called willpower!
Where There Is A Will!
Willpower is that strength which makes drug addicts' children become millionaires, or high school dropouts manage multimillion-dollar businesses! It is THE hidden force behind all incredible turnarounds.Take Travis Leach, for instance. At nine years old, he watched his father overdose on heroin. By sixteen, he was a high school dropout who couldn't hold down a job at McDonald's. Fast forward a few years, and Travis is managing two Starbucks stores, overseeing 40 employees and $2 million in annual revenue. How's that for a plot twist? That right there is willpower. And Travis wasn’t born with it, y’know. Willpower is a skill you can learn, like riding a bike or mastering the art of not burning toast.An amazing thing you may not know is that the awesomeness of willpower is scientifically proven! In 2005, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania studied 164 eighth-grade students. They found that students with high levels of self-discipline outperformed their peers on every academic measure, from grades to school attendance. The point being, willpower is the Swiss Army knife of life skills!Now, why do some people have more of it, and others can’t resist a marshmallow? Well, that's because willpower is like a muscle. And it needs regular exercise to grow stronger. In 2006, Australian researchers Megan Oaten and Ken Cheng put this idea to the test. They enrolled people in a two-month physical exercise program and found that as participants' physical strength improved, which only happened due to them utilizing their willpower to persist through the program, so did their self-control in other areas of life. They smoked fewer cigarettes, drank less alcohol, and even did their dishes more often. Flexing your willpower in one area of life, exercise here, can lead to a willpower boost in all aspects of life. Conversely, just following orders all the time will weaken your willpower.Know who has utilized willpower the best, though? Starbucks! They've turned willpower training into an art form. Their LATTE method, for example. It stands for Listen, Acknowledge, Take action, Thank, and Explain. It's a ready-made willpower training routine for dealing with grumpy customers. But what actually makes them stand out is how they strengthen willpower by giving people control. When Starbucks let their employees make decisions about store layouts and customer greetings, something magical happened. Employees got to exercise more willpower in decision-making and taking responsibility, leading to increased self-discipline. Productivity shot up, mistakes...
Leverage The Crises!
Surgeries are scary. A billion things can go wrong. It is a nightmare for most people. And unfortunately for an 86-year-old patient at Rhode Island Hospital, his surgery did actually become a nightmare!In 2007, a neurosurgeon at Rhode Island Hospital opened up the right side of an elderly patient's skull when the bleeding was actually on the left side. Oops doesn't even cover it, does it? This wasn't just a simple mix-up; it was a catastrophic failure of the hospital's entire system. And this wasn't an isolated incident. Over the next few years, Rhode Island Hospital saw a string of similar errors. Wrong-site surgeries, forgotten drill bits in patients' heads; everything that could go wrong, did go wrong! You'd think after the first major mistake, everyone would be on high alert. But nope, the errors kept coming. So, what was going on? Why couldn't this prestigious hospital get its act together? The answer lies in something called organizational habits and truces.Organizational habits are the unwritten rules that keep a place running. They're like the office equivalent of knowing not to heat up fish in the communal microwave. At Rhode Island Hospital, these habits had created a toxic environment where nurses were afraid to speak up and doctors ruled supreme. How did this come to be? Truces! In organizations, truces are the delicate balances of power that keep different departments from constantly fighting. They're like a peace treaty between warring factions. But at Rhode Island Hospital, these truces were seriously lopsided. Nurses were expected to keep their mouths shut, even if they saw something wrong. It was a recipe for disaster, and boy, did it deliver.The truth is, many people knew there were issues, but changing ingrained habits and upsetting truces is incredibly difficult. And that's where crises come in. Crises are organizational alarm clocks - they wake everyone up and force them to pay attention. After the string of surgical errors, Rhode Island Hospital found itself in the media spotlight, and not in a good way. TV crews were ambushing doctors in the parking lot, and patients were scared their arms might be accidentally amputated. It was, to put it mildly, a public relations nightmare.But here's where we have our lesson. Instead of circling the wagons and getting defensive, the hospital's new chief quality officer, Dr. Mary Reich Cooper, saw an opportunity. She realized that all this bad publicity could...
Organizations Manipulate Habits
Why can't we resist buying that pack of Oreos every time we shop, huh? What’s the deal with that? We went in to get milk, and came out with a cart full of junk. HOWW?Let's understand this with a tale that's equal parts impressive and unsettling. Andrew Pole was a statistician at Target, tasked with a peculiar mission: predict which customers are pregnant, preferably before they've announced it to the world. Why? Because pregnancy is the Holy Grail of high profits and of habit formation in retail. You see, major life events like having a baby are when our habits change most. As the study by Alan Andreasen, a visiting professor at UCLA, showed, people are more likely to change their purchasing habits during significant life changes. Retailers, being the opportunists they are, want to swoop in and establish themselves in these new routines.Pole and his team dived into the data, analyzing the purchasing patterns of women on baby registries. They discovered that pregnant women had some distinct shopping habits. Suddenly, these women were into unscented lotion and calcium supplements. And for Pole, these weren't just random purchases – they were glowing neon signs screaming "Baby on Board!" But how do you use this information without coming across as creepy? Target learned this lesson the hard way when an angry father stormed into a store, furious about pregnancy-related coupons sent to his high-school-aged daughter. Plot twist: She was actually pregnant. Oops.So, Target got clever. Camouflage. Target started mixing baby-related coupons with random items. Need diapers? How about a lawnmower to go with that? This strategy worked wonders. Pregnant women used the coupons without feeling singled out, and Target's Mom and Baby sales skyrocketed. It turns out that the key to successful predictive marketing is making the predictable seem unpredictable. It's like a magician saying, "Pick a card, any card," when they already know exactly which card you're going to choose.But Target isn't the only player in this game. The YMCA, for instance, used similar data analysis to boost gym membership retention. They discovered that people were more likely to keep coming back if employees remembered their names. Who knew that the secret to fitness was just a friendly "Hello, Amanda!" at the front desk?All of these examples highlight a crucial point: our habits are powerful, often operating below our conscious awareness. And companies are getting better at predicting and shaping...
Habits And Society
"I'm going to jail tonight!" That’s what Rosa Parks must have thought as she refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 1, 1955. Little did she know that her simple act of defiance would ignite a social revolution that would change America forever. But how did one woman's arrest turn into a massive movement? And what does that have to do with the power of habits?Till now, we’ve been showing you how habits shape our lives. And, as you’ll now learn, they can shape entire societies! And Parks will show us just how.First off, Rosa Parks wasn't just any random bus rider. She was like the Kevin Bacon (the famous Hollywood actor) of Montgomery's black community - connected to everyone through her various social circles. When she got arrested, her friends didn't just shrug and say, "That's a shame." No ma’am! They sprang into action!! Their social habits kicked in and these friends told their friends, who told their friends, and suddenly, everyone and their grandmother knew about the bus incident. The result? A widespread bus boycott. As Martin Luther King Jr. took leadership of the boycott, he understood that sustaining the movement required more than just motivation - it needed new habits. King introduced habits of nonviolent protest and civil disobedience. He encouraged people to respond to violence with love and forgiveness, creating a new pattern of behavior that defined the civil rights movement. King's genius was in recognizing that for the movement to endure, people needed to adopt these new behaviors as automatic responses - as habits. By framing the struggle in terms of love and forgiveness, he gave participants a new identity, complete with new habits to match. Protesters didn't just boycott buses; they habitually turned the other cheek in the face of aggression.Now, let's fast forward a few decades and zip across the country to California where we have Rick Warren, a pastor with a dream! Warren wanted to build a mega-church, but he knew he couldn't do it by simply preaching louder. So what did he do? He tapped into the power of habits. Warren didn't just preach; he created systems that fostered new habits among his congregation. His small group model encouraged regular Bible study and prayer. He asked members to sign "maturity covenant cards," committing to habits. By making faith practices habitual, he ensured that religious participation became...
Do our habitual actions happen involuntarily or does free-will have a role?
For this last lesson, we're about to dive into a crime thriller. Sorta. This is the tragic, and unfortunate, story of this guy called Brian: Brian strangled his wife while asleep, believing he was fighting off an intruder. Impossible? It wasn't. This actually happened. Eventually, he was acquitted because he did what he did under the influence of night terrors. Crazy story, to say the least! Now, let's unpack this a bit.Our brains are fascinating organs, capable of running on autopilot even when we're not fully conscious. In Brian's case, his brain acted on a deeply ingrained habit: protect loved ones from danger. Unfortunately, his sleeping brain misread the situation catastrophically.Now, let's shift gears to someone who was very much awake for her actions: Angie Bachmann. Angie didn't kill anyone, but she did murder her bank account. A bored housewife turned gambling addict, Angie managed to lose nearly a million dollars. You might be thinking, "Well, that's on her. She should've known better." But we did say brains can act on autopilot. Isn’t Angie’s gambling a habit, as well? Her brain had formed a powerful habit loop around gambling. Every casino visit, every bet, was strengthening this loop.Side note: Scientists have actually peeked into the brains of gamblers like Angie. Turns out, their gray matter lights up like a Christmas tree when they're betting, EVEN when they're losing! Now the question is this: are Brian and Angie just victims of their habits? Should we let them off the hook? Not a simple yes or no question! Society said Brian wasn't responsible for his actions, but Angie was. It seems a bit unfair, doesn't it? After all, they were both acting on autopilot. But there’s a difference: Angie knew about her habit. She was aware of her addiction, even if she felt powerless against it. She was responsible for changing her habit. Brian, on the other hand, had no clue he was capable of sleep-strangling. This is where the concept of free will comes into play. William James, an American philosopher and psychologist, had some thoughts on this. He believed that once we know a habit exists, we have the power - and the responsibility - to change it. James even conducted a personal experiment. Feeling down in the dumps, he decided to believe he had free will for a year. Spoiler alert: it worked! He turned his life around, proving...
Chapter 12
Details coming soon.
Summary
You now have the tools to reshape your life, one habit at a time. Remember, change isn't always easy, but it's certainly possible. Whether you're aiming to boost productivity, improve health, or achieve personal goals, the power to change lies within you. Start small, be patient with yourself, and keep experimenting. The journey of self-improvement is ongoing, but now you have a roadmap to guide you. So take that first step today - your future self will thank you.
