The Power of Habit
“The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business” by Charles Duhigg
My Summary
- our lives are guided by habits; they are a costs-savings feature of the brain that allow us to not be overwhelmed by everything happening around us
- habits occur in a loop: cue, routine, reward
- habits never really go away, but you can reprogram the habit loop
- keystone habits are habits so significant that they can have a ripple effect across life, business, etc (ex: going to bed at a consistent time, being gritty!)
- businesses can use habits to effect change, influence culture, and understand customer buying patterns
- habits are best formed in moments of large change or crisis (ex: having your first child or after a natural disaster)
My Notes
The Habit Loop
- most of our actions are compelled by habit, not by original thought
- habits can be reprogrammed
- by habit, we are capable of some amazingly complex interactions; interactions that happen subconsciously without us even thinking
- once we internalize something we’ve learned, our brains become nearly automatic in recall and processing for that thing; to keep learning requires us to keep “stretching ourselves” and our mental muscles farther and farther
- the habit loop: cue, routine, award
- our habits never really go away and our brains cannot dictate bad versus good habits; thus, from what I can tel, if a habit is strong enough it can overtake us, despite our conscious thought and convictions about whether we should do it or not
- habits can emerge without our permission, without us consciously thinking about them
- the precondition for the habit loop (the cues) are delicate, and when they don’t exist exactly as normal, it can throw off the habit; we can use this to our advantage to short circuit bad habits
The Craving Brain
- the craving/cue is what powers/triggers the habit loop, to get the reward
- Pepsodent became an everyday tooth cleaning product because Hopkins found a simple cue (tooth film) and clearly presented the reward (a beautiful smile, no more tooth film)
- in marketing and advertisement, you are looking for universal/simple/obvious cues to reach the largest audiences (“everyone has tooth film”)
- “a cue becomes a craving”: for a habit to truly form, the cue, which originally preceded the reward and was associated with something like tooth film (Pepsodent) or finishing cleaning (Febreeze), must become a neurological craving (a clean smile or a nice smell after cleaning) — you anticipate and crave the reward
- to make a habit loop stick, you must find the cue/routine/reward and the reward must be strong enough to create a craving
- the reason Pepsodent worked where others failed is the citric acid which caused a clean sensation in the mouth that people craved; the same is true of suds in soap — it’s doesn’t make the soap work any better, but people crave the bubbles!
The Golden Rule of Habit Change
- the rule: keep the cue, keep the reward, change the routine
- AA uses the golden rule to transform drinking habits: members identify why they drink, the cues, the rewards (release, calm down, forget, etc), and then they replace the routine with companionship and meetings where they can receive the same reward (and satisfy that old craving)
- the first step to applying the rule is identifying the cues and the rewards
- next step is learning new routines that have the same cue and deliver a comparable reward
- replacement routines require some BELIEF (in change) to stick; otherwise at critical, high-stress moments, they can fall apart
- BELIEF is easier to come by in groups who can encourage you and in whom you can see change in others; groups don’t even have to be large, it can be two people
Keystone Habits
- A keystone habit is a habit with the ability to change not just one routine but ripple out to changing/creating all kinds of other routines; for example going to bed early and waking up early, as a habit, can not only improve your focus at work, but you get into work earlier so you get to leave earlier and spend more time with family, etc, etc
- Organizational routines are the analog to personal habits
- Alcoa was transformed by focusing on worker safety, the one thing everyone in the company (not the investors) could agree upon — and because it was a keystone habit it ended up spilling over and creating better habits that increased productivity and profits
- Keystone habits create environment where other positive outcomes can flourish (food journaling fostered people planning meals and keeping healthy snacks without anyone promoting the people journaling)
- Keystone habits create culture
Starbucks and the Habit of Success
- Willpower/self-discipline (sounds like grit) is one of the most crucial indicators of individual success
- At Spur, we talk about measuring the quality of hourly employment and often look at Starbucks and Costco as top examples — it sounds like one of the reasons Starbucks is so high is its employee training program, mentors, and growth/learning opportunities
- Willpower isn’t just a skill, it’s a muscle, it can become tired to the point being unusable
- It is possible to strengthen your willpower — going to the gym or denying yourself treats (by distraction or a healthy habit) are examples of how
- Lack of self-discipline is one the greatest reasons hourly workplaces like Starbucks, McDonalds, etc lose people
- In order to teach self-discipline and willpower at Starbucks, they had to make it an organizational habit; they developed training programs for how to deal with inflection points (an angry customer, for example) that would challenge your willpower
- Starbucks practiced scenarios with employees using cues and rewards (willpower habit loops)
- Willpower is extinguished faster when people are just following orders versus when people have autonomy and freedom of choice; don’t treat people like cogs
The Power of a Crisis
- Within organizations there is the handbook, but then everyone else has their own internal handbook describing how to get things done, who to avoid, who you want to work with, etc — that allows them to get work done within the unspoken power structure of a company
- Often companies are ruled by this unspoken law, or a series of truces, in which power is balanced out; these can be fragile however, especially if the balance is uneven (ex: hospital doctors who rule, and the nurses are underlings)
- Like the earlier example of Alcoa, it seems like companies which embrace peace/sharing (versus tribalism) thrive; or if there are tribes, such as nurses/doctors, line-workers/managers, or station-workers/department-heads, then the peace they maintain better be one that does not sacrifice safety/quality/integrity or it could spell disaster
- Crisis creates opportunity to change organizational habits
How Target Knows What You Want Before You Do
- Major life change is a key component of habit (and buying pattern) change; examples of this would be getting married, moving, having a child, starting a new job
- Big data has been crucial to helping organizations identify habits/trends (ex: Target and buying patterns, radio and listening trends)
- “Dressing something new in old clothes” aka “know the cue, change the routine” aka “make the unfamiliar, familiar”
Saddleback Church and Montgomery Bus Boycott
- 3 part social movements: starts with friendship, grows through community, leaders empower followers with habits/ownership
- When Rosa Parks got arrested it meant something because of who she was in the Montgomery community
- Parks transcended the social stratification that most people are in (we hang with people like ourselves)
- The power of “weak ties” (friends of friends) is what allows small movements to grow huge; and it can increase the sense of obligatory peer pressure so that you don’t let down the expectations of those in your close and nearby networks
- To create change, or help to teach someone, bridge the known to the unknown; wrap the new thing in something that is relatable
- The final element of creating social change is that participants must be given new habits that can self-propel them; something that provides a guide for acting despite setback or difficulty; for the civil rights movement, these were the self-propelling habits of peaceful protest and Christian forgiveness of enemies that gave those within the movement a reason to keep going
The Neurology of Free Will
- Sleep terrors are utterly terrifying… people can be unconscious but follow their most primal habits of defense, flight/fight, etc — this has been the defense in several murder cases where the murder occurred without a person having conscious thought… just by following a habit; so sad
- Juxtapose the compulsive gambler and the sleep terror murderer and you can make the claim that the gambler knew their habits and had an opportunity to take control of them whereas the sleep terror murderer was unable of controlling primitive habits that occurred while unconscious
- Believe you can change and make it a habit
Figuring Out the Habit Loop
- Figure out the routine
- What are the cues
- Experiment with rewards by adjusting your routine; instead of doing what you normally do, try something else and see how you feel after the reward… write down the first things that come to mind after completing the new routine; try to find which craving is driving the routine
- You may have to isolate the cues by filtering out the noise
- Most cues fit into 1 of 5 categories: location, time, emotional state, other people, or immediately preceding action
- ^ when the urge comes, answer these 5 questions
- Make a plan for how you will try the new routine when the cues comes