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Charles Duhigg

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“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 habit to use. Then there is the routine, which can be physical or mental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future: THE HABIT LOOP”

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Book:The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
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“If you can link something hard to a choice you care about, it makes the task easier, Quintanilla's drill instructors had told him. That's why they asked each other questions starting with "why." Make a chore into a meaningful decision, and self-motivation will emerge.”

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Book:Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business
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“Typically, people who exercise start eating better and becoming more productive at work. They smoke less and show more patience with colleagues and family. They use their credit cards less frequently and say they feel less stressed. It's not completely clear why. But for many people, exercise is a keystone habit that triggers widespread change.”

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Author:Charles Duhigg
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“Shampoo doesn’t have to foam, but we add foaming chemicals because people expect it each time they wash their hair. Same thing with laundry detergent. And toothpaste—now every company adds sodium laureth sulfate to make toothpaste foam more. There’s no cleaning benefit, but people feel better when there’s a bunch of suds around their mouth. Once the customer starts expecting that foam, the habit starts growing.”

PeopleFeelsCompanyGrowingHairHabitBenefitsMouthsAddCustomersBunchChemicalsExpectingFeel BetterCleaningLaundryFoamToothpasteShampooSodiumLaundry Detergent
Author:Charles Duhigg
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“Companies aren’t families. They’re battlefields in a civil war. Yet despite this capacity for internecine warfare, most companies roll along relatively peacefully, year after year, because they have routines—habits—that create truces that allow everyone to set aside their rivalries long enough to get a day’s work done.”

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Book:The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change
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“Then one day, we’ll put the reward in the old place, and put in the rat, and, by golloy, the old habit will rememerge right away. habits never really disappear. They’re encoded into the sturctures of our brain, and that’s a huge advantage for us, because it would be awful if we had to relearn how to drive after every vacation. The problem is that your brain can’t tell the difference between bad and good habits, and so if you have a bad one, it’s always lurking there, waiting for the right cues and rewards.”

IfsProblemWould BeWaitingDifferencesBrainHugeHabitOne DayAdvantageRewardsDisappearAwfulVacationRatsLurkingGood HabitsOld HabitsOld Places
Author:Charles Duhigg
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“When a habit emerges, the brain stops fully participating in decision making. It stops working so hard, or diverts focus to other tasks. So unless you deliberately fight a habit -- unless you find new routines -- the pattern will unfold automatically.”

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Book:The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change
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“There’s something really powerful about groups and shared experiences. People might be skeptical about their ability to change if they’re by themselves, but a group will convince them to suspend disbelief. A community creates belief.”

PeopleIfsMightBeliefCommunityAbilityPowerfulGroupsConvinceSkepticalDisbeliefReally PowerfulShared ExperiencesAbility To Change
Book:The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change
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“But countless studies have shown that a cue and a reward, on their own, aren't enough for a new habit to last. Only when your brain starts expecting the reward--craving the endorphins or sense of accomplishment--will it become automatic to lace up your jogging shoes each morning. The cue, in addition to triggering a routine, must also trigger a craving for the reward to come.”

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Author:Charles Duhigg
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“However, to modify a habit, you must decide to change it. You must consiously accept the hard work of identifying the cues and rewards that drive the habits' routines, and find alternatives. You must know you have control and be self-conscious enough to use it -- and every chapter in this book is devoted to illustrating a different aspect of why that control is real.”

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Author:Charles Duhigg
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