The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
Exclusive ideas and concepts of the book
1. Keystone habit: small changes that people introduce into their routines that,
unintentionally, also changes other aspects of their lives.
2. Habit loop
○ Cue,
○ routine,
○ reward.
With this book, I can learn:
● how to control my habits better;
● how to develop or abandon a habit;
Top phrases of the book:
1. “Most of the choices we make each day may feel like the products of well-considered
decision making, but they’re not. They’re habits. 40% of the actions people perform
each day aren’t actual decisions, but habits.”
2. “When you learn to force yourself to go to the gym or start your homework or eat a
salad instead of a hamburger, part of what’s happening is that you’re changing how
you think”
How did this book change my way to think?
● The habit loop (how habits work)
Experiments with rats prove that: the brain converts a sequence of actions into an automatic
routine and work less to make decisions as we repeat the process.
The brain spends energy to determinate which habit to use based on clues from the
ambient. Once it’s decided, the energy spent goes downwards. That means that it’s not
enough to know all the possible techniques, you have to know when to use each one of
them.
1. Cue: a trigger that tells your brain which habit to use.
2. Routine: the process of doing itself.
3. Reward: it’s what you earn after triggering the habit and it also helps your brain to
figure out if it’s worth repeating the routine in the future.
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.
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The craving brain (How to Create New Habits)
A craving is what makes cues and rewards work.
A man that goes by “Hopkins” said that the right human psychology is grounded in two rules
that serve to persuade people:
1. Find a simple and obvious cue.
2. Define a clear reward.
When we have a habit firmly established, we tend to anticipate the reward as soon as we
see the cue. For instance, when a man has lunch in a restaurant every weekend, he
anticipates the pleasure of eating before receiving the food itself.
Having a habit strong enough to make you anticipate the reward makes you feel something
called “craving”. Unfortunately, if you don’t receive the reward after anticipating it, areas
associated with desire and frustration are activated in your brain, after a while you might also
feel sadness. Another example, when we see food on the table, our brain begins to
anticipate the food, even if we’re not hungry, but we don’t anticipate the guilt. Stay aware of
that.
● The golden rule of habit change: You Can’t Extinguish a Bad Habit, You Can Only
Change It.
Keystone habit (Which Habits Matter Most)
Keystone habits create “small wins”, which improves the development of other habits by
making progress contagious.
If you cover something new in old habits, it’s easier to accept it.
1. Identify the routine
○ If you have a bad habit you want to get rid of, the habit itself is the routine.
Now you just have to find out: What’s the cue and what’s the reward.
2. Experiment with rewards
○ Rewards satisfy cravings, but we’re normally unaware of the cravings that
drive our behaviors. The next time you feel the cue for a bad habit, ask
yourself: what do I want to win with this? Is it because I’m bored? Is it
because I want to take a break?
3. Isolate the cue
○ Identify your emotional state right before you practice a habit. What did
unleash the habit? What were you seeking? Can you substitute the cue with
something else that grants the same reward?
4. Have a plan
○ Use something to remember you your new routine that satisfies your craving.
Know what to do in those ours you see the cue.
