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

Charles Duhigg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 28, 2012

A young woman walks into a laboratory. Over the past two years, she has transformed almost every aspect of her life. She has quit smoking, run a marathon, and been promoted at work. The patterns inside her brain, neurologists discover, have fundamentally changed.
 
Marketers at Procter & Gamble study videos of people making their beds. They are desperately trying to figure out how to sell a new product called Febreze, on track to be one of the biggest flops in company history. Suddenly, one of them detects a nearly imperceptible pattern—and with a slight shift in advertising, Febreze goes on to earn a billion dollars a year.
 
An untested CEO takes over one of the largest companies in America. His first order of business is attacking a single pattern among his employees—how they approach worker safety—and soon the firm, Alcoa, becomes the top performer in the Dow Jones.
 
What do all these people have in common? They achieved success by focusing on the patterns that shape every aspect of our lives.
 
They succeeded by transforming habits.
 
In The Power of Habit, award-winning New York Times business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. With penetrating intelligence and an ability to distill vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives, Duhigg brings to life a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential for transformation.
 
Along the way we learn why some people and companies struggle to change, despite years of trying, while others seem to remake themselves overnight. We visit laboratories where neuroscientists explore how habits work and where, exactly, they reside in our brains. We discover how the right habits were crucial to the success of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and civil-rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr. We go inside Procter & Gamble, Target superstores, Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, NFL locker rooms, and the nation’s largest hospitals and see how implementing so-called keystone habits can earn billions and mean the difference between failure and success, life and death.
 
At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, raising exceptional children, becoming more productive, building revolutionary companies and social movements, and achieving success is understanding how habits work.
 
Habits aren’t destiny. As Charles Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for The Power of Habit

“Charles Duhigg’s thesis is powerful in its elegant simplicity: confront the root drivers of our behavior, accept them as intractable, and then channel those same cravings into productive patterns. His core insight is sharp, provocative, and useful.”
—Jim Collins, #1 bestselling author of Good to Great and Built to Last
 
“The Power of Habit is not a magic pill but a thoroughly intriguing exploration of how habits function. Charles Duhigg expertly weaves fascinating new research and rich case studies into an intelligent model that is understandable, useful in a wide variety of contexts, and a flat-out great read. His chapter on ‘keystone habits’ alone would justify the book.”
—David Allen, bestselling author of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
 
“Charles Duhigg masterfully combines cutting-edge research and captivating stories to reveal how habits shape our lives and how we can shape our habits. Once you read this book, you’ll never look at yourself, your organization, or your world quite the same way.”
—Daniel H. Pink, author of #1 New York Times bestselling Drive and A Whole New Mind
 
“William James once observed that ninety-nine percent of human activity is done out of mere habit. In this fascinating book, Charles Duhigg reveals why James was right, documenting the myriad ways in which our habits shape our lives. Do you want to know why Febreze became a bestselling product? Or how Tony Dungy gets the most out of his football players? Or how the science of habits can be used to improve willpower? Read this book.”
—Jonah Lehrer, bestselling author of Proust Was a Neuroscientist and How We Decide

About the Author

Charles Duhigg is an investigative reporter for The New York Times. He is a winner of the National Academies of Sciences, National Journalism, and George Polk awards, and was part of a team of finalists for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize. He is a frequent contributor to This American Life, NPR, PBS NewsHour, and Frontline. A graduate of Harvard Business School and Yale College, he lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two kids.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Random House (February 28, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400069289
• ISBN-13: 978-1400069286
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.2 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > Business & Investing > Organizational Behavior > Workplace
  • #5 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Spirituality > Personal Transformation
  • #11 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Psychology & Counseling

More About the Author

My name is Charles Duhigg, and I'm a reporter for The New York Times. I'm also the author of a forthcoming book from Random House, The Power of Habit, about the science of habit formation in our lives, companies and societies.

I've worked at the Times since 2006. I'm currently working on a series about Apple named "The iEconomy," and before that, I contributed to other series, including "Golden Opportunities" (which received the George Polk Award, the Sidney Hillman Award and a Deadline Award), "The Reckoning," (which won the Loeb and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), and "Toxic Waters," (which received The Scripps Howard National Journalism Award, the Investigative Reporters and Editors' Medal, the National Academies' reporting award and others.)

But let's be honest, you aren't visiting this author page so I can brag about awards. (Unless you're my mom. Hi mom!)

More likely, you're visiting this page because you heard that I was a mass murderer, and wanted to see if it's true.

I'm sorry to disappoint. 'Mass' implies three, and my tally is well below that threshold.

That said, here are some things that might cause you to believe otherwise: I'm a native of New Mexico. I studied history at Yale and received an MBA from Harvard Business School. I have appeared on This American Life, N.P.R., The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, and Frontline. Before becoming a journalist, I worked in private equity and - for one terrifying day - was a bike messenger in San Francisco. And, I have three small teardrops tattooed on my face.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Change Your Habits, Change Your Life, January 28, 2012

By 

Bradley Bevers "the lucid blog" (Brenham, TX) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

This is a great book about the power of habit and what we can do to change our habits in business, life, and society. The book is divided into three sections, first focusing on the individual, then companies, and finally societies.

The first three chapters are my favorite, and really make up the heart of the book.

Chapter 1, "The Habit Loop" explains exactly what a habit is. Some estimate, according to the author, that habits make up 40% of our daily routine. Favorite quote from this chapter: "This process within our brains is a three-step loop. First, there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which behavior to use. The there is the routine, which can be physical or mental or emotional. Finally, there is the reward . . ." (19)

Chapter 2, "The Craving Brain" includes the story of Pepsodent and lays out a simple formula for creating new habits in others. "First, find a simple and obvious cue. Second, clearly define the reward." (37) The rest of the chapter will fill you in on the missing part of this formula and you will learn how Febreze went from near bust to a product bringing in over a billion dollars a year.

Chapter 3, "The Golden Rule of Habit Change" is my favorite chapter. In this chapter you will learn what part of the habit loop to modify and how you should go about doing it. You will also learn how Tony Dungee reinvented the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Indianapolis Colts by instilling habits into his teams. Very good information, if you read one chapter in this book, make sure it is this one. Of interest to everyone, from smokers to businessmen to nail-biters to football coaches.

The remaining two sections of the book were not quite as strong as the first. They consist mainly of anecdotes and examples of how companies and societies (and a church) changed habits in others successfully. They are worth reading, but not as good as the first third of the book. The Starbucks story of instilling willpower in their employees and the story of Rosa Parks and Saddleback church were the most interesting.

All in all, this book is definitely worth picking up. I was a little disappointed by the last couple of sections of the book and thought that one of the anecdotes the author used in the first chapter was overused (same story, same person covered thoroughly in Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything if you have read it). The core of the book that explains what habits are and how to change them make this book a valuable read. Recommended.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW!, February 16, 2012

By 

reg (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

The Power of Habit was an amazing book. I have been reading several books that try to explain why we do what we do and this book explains all of them. It also explains why books like Sink Reflections are set up to help you form new habits and, when they do, are successful. I didn't find a step-by-step process to go through to change habits I would like to change, but it did increase my awareness of how habits drive my life and awareness is the first step to change.

Even if I hadn't picked up this book to get ideas on how to facilitate change, I would have still enjoyed reading this book. Duhigg grabbed my attention from the beginning with the stories of the brain injured people who were able to form habits without remembering them. I have a friend who has had 5 brain surgeries and radiation and it has had an effect on his memory. It has made me think about how habits could benefit him. Moving on to making different products, such as Pepsodent and febreze, a necessary product in our lives was quite interesting. I'm not a football fan, but still learned a lot from Tony Dungy's coaching strategies.

Who would have thought focusing on safety could change so much for a company and how business is done in general? Target's decision to draw in new parents is brilliant. It's also kind of disturbing to think we can be profiled so easily. With every page, I wondered what I would learn on the next. There was so much information in this book. I knew about the experiment with young children and the marshmallow to test will power. I had not thought about teaching a child to resist temptation. I had also not considered sports and music lessons would help to teach self-regulatory strength. I am also passing on to my kids to use with their kids the idea of asking how they are going to know when they are prepared for a test rather than just asking if they have studied.

I enjoyed reading about the CEO of Starbucks, even though I have never been to one (I don't drink coffee). How they train their employees should be a model for other companies. The examples of Rosa Parks and the Saddleback Church were entertaining. To have insight into addictions like gambling was quite interesting. As you can see, I found The Power of Habit to be a fascinating read. I have a feeling I will be buying additional copies to share with others. I don't want to loan mine because I will be rereading sections I have flagged.

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars very interesting reading, February 11, 2012

By 

monkuboy (Temple City, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business (Hardcover)

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I had no trouble staying awake reading this book - I found the subject matter fascinating. It is written in an easy to read, understandable style and the author stays true to the theme of the book: illustrating just how powerful habits are in our lives. Of course since they are habits, we go about them without really giving them much thought; the key is to indeed recognize and give them thought, and work on how to improve ourselves by changing or modifying those habits.

The author provides interesting and relevant examples of major behavior changes brought about by recognizing habits, and also provides us with the key to how to change them. I found this book useful not only for examining my own behavior, and providing the motivation (and the means) for changing my own bad habits, but also found it useful to think about how others are trying to do the same thing to me - in other words, how others (such as advertisers) are attempting to manipulate my behavior.

Like I said, fascinating reading. This book was definitely worth my time. Another reviewer said it was dull reading, and to each his or her own but there was never a dull moment as far as my own reading was concerned.