Book by Charles Duhigg

(Published: 2012 By Random House Publishing Group, Inc., New York

Review by Dr. Naseer Tahir, Rochester, New York

We are all slaves of our habits.

Are you one of those trying to get rid of a bad habit? Have you been trying to wake up for Tuhajjad? But habit of laziness and over sleeping has so far prevented you from waking up early in the morning. Or you wish you were exercising daily, but habit of watching TV and procrastination has won over every times. Or you just don’t seem to have enough strength to stay away from those cookies and mid-morning snacks and don’t like direction of growth of your waist line?

If you were one of those, you would like to read this book.

This book will explain what habits are, how they are formed, and how they can be changed.

Charles Duhigg has done extensive research, and presented this in an easy to read and easy to understand wonderful book.

The author is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Yale University. He is an investigative reporter for The New York Times. For his work, Mr. Duhigg has received the National Academies of Science, National Journalism, George Polk, Gerald Loeb, and other awards.

This book draws on hundreds of academic studies, interviews with more than three hundred scientists and executives, and research conducted at dozens of companies. (For an index of resources, please see the book’s notes and http://www.thepowerofhabit.com.)

Throughout the book the author has taken the approach: Habits can be changed, only if we understand how they work.

Much of what we know about habits scientifically is the result of one man getting Viral Encephalitis, which resulted in destruction of part of his brain in 1993. His name was Eugene Pauly. The studies of the deficiencies of his memory as a result of his sickness, helped researchers conclude that the Part of the brain responsible for habits is called the basal ganglia. This is present deep inside our brain, about the size of the golf ball, and suspected cause of degenerative brain diseases such as Parkinson’s.

The most intriguing part of the book is the understanding the “Habit Loop.”

In 1990s, the MIT researchers had experimented on rats to study the “Habit Loop.” The skulls of the anesthetized rats were cut into and dozens of microscopic wires were implanted, giving researchers the ability to monitor brain activities of the rats. The animals were placed in a T-shaped maze with chocolate at one end. With a loud clicking sound the pathway to the maze opened, the rats would wander up and down, till they found opening to left or right at the top of the T. The chocolate being at the left end of the T was eventually discovered by most of the rats.

The experiment was repeated several times, and rats reached their rewards quicker with each repetition. They were learning new ways and forming a “Habit.”

The monitoring of the brain during this showed explosion of activity, most pronounced in the basal ganglia. As the rats “learned” their way around, the activity of the brained became less and less. Eventually, the whole process became effortless.

The brain monitoring during this experiment helped researchers understand formation of a new habit: the three components of the “Habit Loop.”

First is the CUE. The trigger, telling the brain to go into the automatic mode.

Second is the ROUTINE. Or the activity itself.

Third is the REWARD. Which helps the brain figure out if it is worth remembering for the future.

This is the “Habit Loop.” The Cue, the Routine, and the Reward.

Reward stimulates the same “pleasure” centers that the intoxicating drugs do for drug-addicts.

Once we form a habit, the activities become a routine and effortless. Without habits our brain would shut down, over-whelmed by routines of daily life.

We become addicted to fast food without active planning. All McDonald’s look alike, and employees greet you similarly in all McDonalds. Some of the foods are engineered to deliver immediate rewards. The Cue is the aroma and taste of the food and based upon previous experience, the routine and reward follows each time.

The story of the toothpaste “Pepsodent” illustrates how smartly we are tricked into formation of new habits. Claude C. Hopkins was a smart executive; he developed strategies to popularize products by using appropriate Cues. Those strategies are still used by many companies. The story of “Febreze” becoming a household name is similar phenomenon. The book explains scientific reasons for development of craving, something that make us a slave of habits.

The author explains the “The Golden Rules of Habit Change.” That is useful information for those trying to break old habits. Chapter three explains that in details. All we need to understand is the “Cue”, “Routine”, and “Reward” of a particular “Habit Loop.”

We can change the Routine, while Cue and Reward remain the same.

Part two of the book is about the “Habits” of successful organizations.

Researchers have found institutional habits that drive the companies or groups to success or failure.

Individuals have habits; groups have “routines.”

It is very interesting to read how smart leaders move the entire organization to success by planning actions with good results. Some habits cause a chain reaction, a ripple effect. The author calls those “keystone habits.”

Keystone habit is exemplified by the story of Paul O’Neil who brought ALCOA (Aluminum Company of America) from near disaster to hugely successful company by mandating a keystone habit. When he was made CEO of ALCOA in 1987, he demanded workers for the highest possible safety of workers with near zero percent rate of accident. In the process of doing this, workers had to change their routines, one thing leading to the other, and the performance of the company changed for the better, within a year, the profits hit a record high.

Another example of a keystone habit is doing exercise. When people exercising habitually, they begin to change other unrelated patterns of their lives. They eat better, smoke less, become more patient and feel less stressed.

Families who eat dinner together seem to raise children with better homework skills, higher grades, greater emotional control, and more confidence.

Making your bed every morning is correlated with better productivity, greater sense of well-being and stronger skills at sticking with a budget.

The changing of keystone habits have wide spread effects and results.

The readers would like the secret of Starbucks habit of success, detailed in chapter five. Chapter six is about how leaders create Habits through accidents. Chapter seven is about how companies (Target) predict and manipulate habits.

Part three of the book is about the Habits of Societies. The author describes the “Saddleback Church and the Montgomery Bus Boycott,” and the story of Rosa Parks. How an action by a small black woman resulted in the start of a big movement.

It is a very interesting and useful book for those looking for ways to acquire good and productive habits.