The Power of Habit PDF Summary

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1-Sentence-Summary: The Power Of Habit helps you understand why habits

are at the core of everything you do, how you can change them, and what
impact that will have on your life, your business and society.
Read in: 4 minutes
Favorite quote from the author:
You can’t possibly call yourself a habit junkie and not know this book. It’s
THE book about habits. Published in 2012 by Pulitzer-prize winning author
Charles Duhigg, this gem has spent over 120 weeks on the various New
York Times bestseller lists.
The book was sparked by Duhigg’s fascination with the wit of a U.S. army
major in Kufa in Iraq, who nipped riots in the bud by persuading the small
town’s mayor to keep food vendors out of large and growing gatherings –
when people couldn’t fuel their anger and energy with kebabs, as they
usually did, they just left. Tons of research and 8 years later, Duhigg
published the go-to book about habits.
Here are your 3 must-takeaways:
1. Habits work in 3-step loops: cue, routine, reward.

2. You can change your habits by substituting just one part of the loop,
the routine.
3. Willpower is the most important habit, and you can strengthen it over
time with 3 things.
Ready to science the heck out of your habits? Let’s go!
1/4
Lesson 1: Habits work in 3-step loops: cue, routine,
reward.
Roughly 40% of what you do happens on autopilot.
Habits are your brain’s way of saving energy, so given you spend around 6
of your 16 waking hours doing things you’re not aware of, it might be worth
understanding what happens here.
Duhigg discovered that at the root of all habits, like drinking your coffee
every morning, lies a simple 3-part loop.
The cue is what triggers you to do the habit, for example sitting down at
your kitchen table to have breakfast every morning at 7 AM.
The routine is the behavior you then automatically engage in, which, for
drinking coffee, might be to go over to your coffeemaker, turn it on, and
press the “large cup” button.
Lastly, you’ll receive a reward for completing the routine, such as the rich
smell of your coffee, it’s hearty taste and getting to watch the steam rise
from the cup as it sits on your kitchen table in the sunlight (I really love
coffee, can you tell?).
Note: My friend Sam Thomas Davies created an excellent blog post with a
beautiful visualization of the loop.
Your brain’s activity only spikes twice during this loop. At the beginning, to
figure out which habit to engage in, and at the end, when the link between
cue and routine is reinforced (here’s a graphic from the book).
Wait, reinforced?
Aha!
That’s how habits are built and the stronger this link gets, the harder it
becomes to change them. But you can still do it.
Lesson 2: You can change your habits by substituting

just one part of the loop, the routine.
Naturally, the more often you reinforce a habit, the more embedded in
your brain it gets.
In case of the coffee, you might crave it the second you sit down at your
kitchen table, and when you can’t have it that day, because the machine
broke, you’ll probably get very grumpy and buy one later at work.
The trick to changing a habit then, is to switch the routine, and leave
everything else in tact.
2/4
Duhigg calls this the golden rule.
If you’re trying to get off caffeine, the tweak is incredibly simple: switch to
decaf (like my “friend” Replacing Rick).
You’ll still have the entire experience from A to Z, but instead of pressing a
button you’re now pouring hot water over decaf coffee powder, and voilà,
you won’t miss caffeine for even a single day.
Lesson 3: Your most important habit is willpower, and

you can strengthen it over time in 3 ways.
Not all habits are created equal and Duhigg says willpower is by far one of
the most important ones, as it helps us do better in all aspects of life.
Having been to the moon and back in terms of willpower research, I don’t
want to tell you to eat right, sleep enough and exercise regularly. My friend
Colin is much better at that.
Instead, here are 3 uncommon ways in which you can grow your total
willpower capacity over time:
1. Do something that requires a lot of discipline. For example a

tough wake-up regimen or strict diet will make you constantly
practice delaying gratification and thus give you more willpower to
exert throughout your day.
2. Plan ahead for worst-case scenarios. Even just thinking about your
boss yelling at you before it ever happens will help you not loose
your cool when it does.
3. Preserve your autonomy. Yesterday I learned that autonomy was a
major part of living a passionate life. Today I learned that if you take it
away, your willpower also goes down the drain. When you’re
assigned tasks by someone else, which you must do, your willpower
muscle tires much quicker.
Focus on improving these important, big aspects of your life over minor
hacks, and you’ll develop great self-discipline in the long run!
The Power of Habit Review

Duhigg has managed to combine the scientific research with his own ideas
and personal experiences in such a way that the book tells many extremely
compelling stories, while teaching you everything you need to know about
habits. If I could have you read only one book this year, this would be it –
although Duhigg has published a new book in 2016, Smarter Faster Better,
hmmm. Nah, go with The Power Of Habit!
What else can you learn from the blinks?

3/4
Why habits stick and how that changed the toothpaste industry
How Alcoholics Anonymous has helped 10 million people kick the
booze
What a keystone habit is and how Paul O’Neill 5x-ed the value of an
entire company with it
Why no one cared to put out a fire in the London tube in 1987
How Target helped a Dad find out his teenage daughter was pregnant
The 3 factors from which big movements develop
Why a gambling problem is always your own fault, but murdering
your wife in your sleep might not be
Who would I recommend The Power Of Habit

summary to?
The 9 year old, who always has a cookie after lunch, and might want to
know why, the 28 year old, who struggles with sticking to her new diet, and
anyone who has less willpower than they’d like to have. You can learn more
about the author here.
4/4

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1-Sentence-Summary: The Power Of Habit helps you understand why habits

Read in: 4 minutes

Favorite quote from the author:

Here are your 3 must-takeaways:

1. Habits work in 3-step loops: cue, routine, reward.

Ready to science the heck out of your habits? Let’s go!

Lesson 2: You can change your habits by substituting

Lesson 3: Your most important habit is willpower, and

1. Do something that requires a lot of discipline. For example a

The Power of Habit Review

What else can you learn from the blinks?

Who would I recommend The Power Of Habit

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