I've been meaning to read this book by Charles Duhigg for quite some time - often getting sidetracked by works of fiction. I've also been meaning to share my thoughts on his work. (Perhaps it is the habit of procrastination that is getting the better of me). Alas, here it is! Currently reading (or have read): The Power of Habit
"The Power of Habit" is a work that discusses psychological studies on habits through anecdotes. It is NOT a self-help book, i.e. do not read if you're searching for an answer to break your bad habits. It is focused on discovery and unlocking the little quirks of how the human mind works on "cruise control". Charles Duhigg breaks down the book into 3 parts - how habits work for individuals, organizations and societies. Each part building upon the previous in an effort to understand automatic behaviors that have either led to outstanding successes or catastrophic destruction.
Without going into the entirety of the book, I'd like to share a few takeaways from each part to give you a taste of the dialogue:
- Part 1: Here we begin by breaking down what a habit is made of. The cue-routine-reward breakdown is used throughout the book to explain how these are formed and changed (NOTE: not broken. Habits are not broken but replaced). The author uses this single concept to explain how people have changed their lives by tinkering with existing routines or how advertisers successfully implement campaigns through creating new habits.
- Part 2: Building upon individual habits, we explore how these translate in a larger context through organizational habits. One one side, we have habits that have been constructed to build organizational culture and improve employee engagement, and the other how organizations use individual habits to drive revenue by understanding their customer base.
- Part 3: Finally, building upon organizational habits, we look at how habits start movements and whether we can truly be held accountable for some of our habits.
Since I am completing this blog post about a year after I have finished the book, I have taken the time to examine the effects of habits, my own and those of the communities I belong to. Applying the lessons learned, I have been able to coach some teams on building productive habits and removing those that didn't serve. Below are some of the consistent findings I have experienced across the board:
- People feel that something is missing when a habit is disrupted: Building a morning routine consisting of a quick disconnect, consistent "getting ready" routine and consistent breakfast (toast with something or a smoothie with a shot of espresso) has turned into a habit for me. Lately, it's ingrained enough for me to space out and complete the habit well before I realize I'm ready to leave the door. A conscious or unconscious shift in the habit (i.e. tea vs coffee, not getting ready right away) has the power to make me feel something was missing. I've noticed the same for "team built" habits but I'm still curious about what kind of impact the small disruptions have on productivity in general.
- Building habits minimizes the use of people's decision making quota. I'm inclined to say this is a double edged sword. For habits that raise levels of productivity or have a general positive contribution to my well-being, this is a good thing. Although, there are habits (like constant mobile phone checking) that minimize my decision-making quota, but leave me less better off than making conscious decisions.
- On identifying organizational bad habits and breaking them: There are a few examples in this piece that speak about the tactics used to break organizational bad habits. These can be broken down into the cue-routine-reward pattern. Because the nature of these habits are formed by groups over time, identifying and breaking them becomes harder for larger, more complex organizations (versus for example, individuals). I wonder if anyone has derived some sort of quantitative measure on identification/addressing bad habits vs organization complexity. I gather it would be an interesting read even if the measures would be imprecise.
I'd be curious to hear what other readers think - not only about the piece but about how this has impacted their view on habit formation and disruption.