The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

 The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg


 

This is an interesting book. As we can gather from my goodreads and blog postings of late, I have been keen on psychology lately. I can only wish I had known about these books earlier- much earlier.

Read at the age of 20 or 25, some of my bad habits might have been gone by now…who knows.

 

On the other hand, I have read Proust when I was very young and the greatest of all writers speaks about habits- the difficulty he has in sleeping in another room than his own, the fact that changing a habit we can even get over a failed love affair and more…much more on the subject.

 

I have just seen that The Power of Habit was named one of the best books of year by The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times.

It covers a very large spectrum: from the habit we have when brushing teeth to gambling, from sleep walking to sports and the Civil Rights movement.

People get used with many things, including smells. That’s why we find how difficult it was to market sprays to annihilate bad smells, in the early stages, right after substances have been invented to cope with unpleasant odors. In the book we meet a sports couch who has created good habits by using cues, cravings and changing a behavior, creating a new routine.

Good players have excellent habits. The same goes for smoking and drinking. The author writes about the founder of AA, the most successful organization in changing habits.

Habits change using rewards, cues, creating new habits, to satisfy the cravings. Alcoholics want companionship, emotional relief, they drink to forget, escape.

One good new habit can create a few more: studies show that when they start exercising, people tend to eat better, smoke less.

Keeping a food journal will help you eat better and loose twice as much weight in tests.

If you write down goals you are much likelier to attain them, than if you set no goals.

We learn about the tactics of habits at Starbucks and Alcoa. At Starbucks there is a routine to deal with complaints: LATTE= Listen, Acknowledge the problem, Thank the client, and Take action.

 

Even the language we are used with: what we hear, listen to, has a tremendous impact: if the language is football, those in that medium get stupid.

 

We should change the channel, or switch off all together.

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