Felix Jones

The power of habit by CHARLES DUHIGG

Executive Summary: (7 ~ 12 lines)

Goal of the author: (2 lines)

Key arguments:
- Habit loop: Most of our decisions each day we think they are well made
decisions from ourselves, but the matter of the fact that it is just habits. Most
of 40% of decisions each day are habits. The habit loop is made of 3 steps,
First of all the cue that tells your brain to go into automatic mode then the
second part of the loop is the routine, this could either be physical like eating a
steak or emotional like I always feel stressed before going to the doctors. The
last part of the loop is of course the reward that gives the human being a part
of satisfaction like energy from the steak etc.. But we learn that the cue and
the reward are not sufficient for the habit to last there must be a elicit craving
for the reward. It is when that your brain starts craving that it will become a
habit

- To change your habit you must change the routine: The main idea for
changing a habit is keeping the same cue and reward but you must insert a
new routine into the loop. It is much easier than said but it is how it works.
The book also says that people must believe it is possible otherwise habits
can’t be changed and changing habits with a group of people is more effective.

- The most important habits are Keystone habits: Keystone habits are the
most powerful habits and they have the power to change other little habits for
example going for a run in the morning will change how you eat, sleep etc.
Changing keystone habits in organizations helps them in three ways, keystone
habits create small wins, and secondly keystone habits encourage changes by
creating structures that help other people thrive. Lastly new habits can create
new company values.

- Willpower is important for individual success: The previous key point we

talked about key stone habits. Willpower is the most important keystone habit
for individual success. Keystone habits have the power to change other habits
so the best way to make willpower more effective is to make a habit. For
example making self-control into a keystone habit.

- Creating habits from crisis: Leaders have sometimes created some habits
through accidents and it has often brought some positive aspects to
organizations. Thus good leaders must learn how to capitalize on different
crises to remake habits to optimize their structure. Of course no organization
has the perfect habits and leaders must learn from crisis to optimize their
structure by changing their habits.

- Retail companies can capitalize on people’s habits: We all know that 40%
of decisions are habits. This means that when people shop for food they buy
generally the same stuff. Supermarkets thus have the information of what
customers buy but people generally change their habits during a major life
event like having a baby or moving into a new house thus supermarkets can
increase their profits by using this information and promoting products that
will increase their profits.
- Social movements are based on habits: Movements in the social world are
based on habits that people take. For example when Rosa Park refused to
move to the back of the bus she didn’t take her “habitual” place. Secondly a
social movement grows because of the habits of a community and the weak
ties that hold neighborhoods and groups of people together. Last but not least a
social movement will suffer if the movement’s leaders give participants new
habits that create a new sense of identity and a feeling of ownership.

Critiques/comments:

I found this book very interesting. It taught me a lot about my good and bad habits
but also I read this book thinking about all the habits I’ve had to change during my
exchange program. I’ve already lived in different countries to my native country
but for the first time I’ve changed completely cultures. I went from Europe to
Asia; I have thus had to leave a lot of habits back home and to get used to Korean
habits. As the book says it is much easier to change habits when you are in a
“group movement”. For example in the subway in Paris people normally talk and
shout all the time. But here in Korea you must respect a lot more others and thus
you don’t talk as loud as the others and after a while you gest used to it and it
becomes a habit. Another habit I got used to was of course the food, I had to
change all my nutritional habits that I had back in Europe. I couldn’t eat the same
things back in Europe, as I didn’t have the choice. So whilst I was reading this
book I generally thought of all the habits I had to change while coming to South
Korea.

It will of course help me when I go back to Europe because I’ve realized that I’ve
changed quite a lot of habits. But the one thing I find about habits that if you want
to change a bit but you always have the opportunity to do that habit it will be
extremely hard to stop that habit. For example in France they continue to raise
taxes on cigarettes but the amount of people that still smoke are the same even
though the price in really expensive. The point that what I’m trying to say that
most of the people don’t have the willpower to change their habits and that most
of the time you need a lot of help from other people to stop your habits.

What I also found interesting in this book is the amount of habits there actually
are in our lives and in company’s day-to-day decision. You have to try and
understand these habits to improve on them. Especially in companies there are a
lot of day-to-day habits to keep the daily life of the company much more
structured and less unmethodical but all companies can improve on their habits to
gain in profits. Also if we put this book in common with our course companies
when doing business with other businesses in their country use the same habits so
it is easier to do business. But companies must not hesitate to break the use of
habits and doing business abroad where habits are different.