The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

“Each chapter revolves around a central argument: Habits can be changed, if we understand how they work.”

Every case study within the book grapples with the core tension that surrounds human and organizational habits: Habits are powerful and entrenched, but nevertheless malleable. To change our habits, we must first identify the loops on which they run, or what Duhigg calls the habit loop (cue > routine > reward).

“Habits aren’t destiny.”

Once the brain’s basal ganglia convert routines into automatic habits, we stop making active choices. The habit is now automatic. It’s possible, however, to break the habit loop and create a new set of practices. Every case study within Duhigg’s book features the stories of individuals and organizations that changed their habits and therefore their destinies.

“Habits are powerful, but delicate.”

We are not always conscious of the formation of new habits, even when they begin to dictate our daily lives. Habits are delicate, however, because neuroscience and other fields have provided a path to breaking down bad habits. By applying the Golden Rule of habit change—switch the routine and keep the cue and reward—we can trick our brains into adopting new habits.

“This explains why habits are so powerful: They create neurological cravings. Most of the time, these cravings emerge to gradually that we’re not really aware they exist, so we’re often blind to their influence.”

Cravings are the intense feelings that ignite the habit loop. For the unhealthy eater, that craving is the expectation of a sugar high. For the runner, that craving is the rush of adrenaline that exercise delivers.

“Cravings are what drive habits. And figuring out how to sparks a craving makes creating a new habit easier.”

Cravings are difficult to identify. On a daily basis, our brains must parse through thousands of messages, colors, interactions, and other cravings. To identify the craving that sparks the habit loop, Duhigg suggests keeping a detailed log of our location, activity, and emotions when the habit begins.

“The precise mechanisms of belief are still little understood.”

Believing that we can change our habits is a critical tool. Although scientists understand much about habits loops, it is less clear why certain individuals can wield a stronger sense of belief than others.

“We know that a habit cannot be eradicated—it must, instead, be replaced. And we know that habits are most malleable when the Golden Rule of habit change is applied: If we keep the same cue and same reward, a new cue can be inserted.”

Habits are such deeply engraved behaviors that it is easier for humans to alter their habits rather than eliminate them completely. The Golden Rule contends that we should only change the routine section of the habit loop (cue > routine > reward) and keep the cue and reward the same.

“The habits that matter most are the ones that, when they start to shift, dislodge and remake other patterns.”

The habits that matter the most are keystone habits, meaning once they begin to change, all other related habits will begin shift, too. For the individual wanting to overhaul their personal habits or to change those of an organization, start by identifying a single, keystone habit.

“Companies and organizations across America, in the meantime, have embraced the idea of using keystone habits to remake workplaces.”

Organizations that understand how human habits function can produce a strong workforce and even stronger profits. In the case of a larger organization, strong leaders implement changes to one keystone, such as worker safety, and watch as other habits begin to improve.

“Dozens of studies show that willpower is the single most important keystone habit for individual success.”

Once an individual has identified their habit loops and their keystone habit and applied the Golden Rule of habit change, the last remaining factor to changing their habits is willpower. With dedication, perseverance, and grit, habits will begin to shift.

“As research on willpower has become a hot topic in scientific journals and newspaper articles, it has started to trickle into corporate America.”

Corporations such as Starbucks have implemented training programs that teach employees willpower. Willpower provides employees with the skillsets to make smart choices in moments of difficulty or conflict, such as interactions with a rude customer.

“There are no organizations without institutional habits. There are only places where they are deliberately designed, and places where they are created without forethought, so they often grow from rivalries or fear.”

All organizations develop internal habits. It is up to the organization’s leaders to guide those habits. Duhigg argues that the most successful organizations have effective organizational habits.

“Good leaders seize crises to remake organizational habits.”

Organizations in crisis are those with bad institutional habits, including departmental rivalries, disrespect among colleagues, and poor working conditions. When an organization hits rock bottom, a smart leader will use that moment to implement new habits, starting with a keystone habit.

“What [Alan Andreasen] discovered has become a pillar of modern marketing theory: People’s buying habits are more likely to change when they go through a major life event.”

Corporations have used social science research on habits in the human brain to increase their profits. When individuals experience a change in their life, such as moving to a new house or having a baby, companies know to target consumers’ spending habits at that moment.

“Whether selling a new song, a new food, or a new crib, the lesson is the same: If you dress a new something in old habits, it’s easier for the public to accept it.”

By placing an unfamiliar product between two familiar products, a seller can make a consumer more likely to purchase the unfamiliar item. For decades, corporations have relied on this familiarity loop to sell products to consumers.

“Social habits are why some initiatives become world-changing movements, while others fail to ignite.”

Individuals at the center of a social movement who possess a large network of relationships within their community are far more successful at their goals than individuals who lack close relationships.

“A movement starts because of the social habits of friendship the strong ties between close acquaintances. It grows because of the habits of a community, and the weak ties that hold neighborhoods and clans together.”

Duhigg demonstrates that social movements rely on both strong ties—close relationships between families and friends—and weak ties—loose relationships among community members. Without a large, branching network of individuals who possess both strong ties and weak ties in their community, social revolutions fail.

“Ministers needed to convert groups of people, rather than individuals, so that a community’s social habits would encourage religious participation, rather than pulling people away.”

Humans are often more dedicated to their habits when they act in a group setting than when they act individually. Peer pressure, in particular, convinces individuals to continue with a habit that has not yet become an automatic routine. Baptist leaders, for example, have used the power of group Bible study to encourage worshippers to participate in church.

“Society, as embodied by our courts and juries, has agreed that some habits are so powerful that they overwhelm our capacity to make choices, and thus we’re not responsible for what we do.”

In some instances, individuals cannot be held culpable for automatic behavioral responses, such as the impulse to fight or flee. Duhigg concludes, however, that if we are aware of our bad habits, we have an ethical responsibility to change them. Awareness is key.

“Everything we know about habits, from neurologists studying amnesiacs and organizational experts remaking companies, is that any of them can be changed, if you understand how they function.”

While habits are powerful, Duhigg repeatedly argues that we are capable of changing them. In other words, we are not victims of our own habits.

“If you believe you can change—if you make it a habit—the change becomes real.”

In this quote, Duhigg is suggesting that it’s possible to create a new habit loop around belief systems. Believing is its own type of behavior. Alongside willpower, both factors are critical ingredients in habit change.

“The problem is that there isn’t one formula for changing habits. There are thousands.”

Duhigg shies away from providing a single approach to habit change. Because each habit comes with its own unique habit loop (cue > routine > reward), it is up to the individual to identify those habits and apply the Golden Rule of habit change.

“By experimenting with different rewards, you can isolate what you are actually craving, which is essential in redesigning the habit.”

When identifying habit loops, begin to isolate the cue, routine, and reward to determine what benefits we are receiving from the habit. Duhigg encourages the reader to consider whether the reward delivers friendship or energy, or whether it simply fills downtime.