Book · Habits and discipline · 2012
The Power of Habit
Charles Duhigg · 11 chapters
The Useful verdict: Read chapters 1 to 5 and the appendix. The rest is about companies and social movements: good stories, less to use.
The book in 60 seconds
Charles Duhigg explains habits as a loop: a cue, a routine and a reward. You rarely kill a habit, so keep the cue and the reward and swap the routine. Some keystone habits, like exercise or a family dinner, pull other good habits along with them. The appendix turns this into 4 steps you can run tonight.
Your time
About 6 hours to read the parts that matter, instead of about 9.5 hours for the whole book.
Based on about 371 pages at 40 pages an hour, with skimmed parts counted at a third.
Raja's take
This book explains my piano breaks. The cue was a break. The reward was a rest from work. I kept both and swapped the phone for the piano. The appendix shows you how to do the same tonight.
Read only these chapters
Tap any chapter. Read: ch. 1, ch. 2, ch. 3, ch. 4, ch. 5 and the appendix.
1. The Habit Loop: How Habits Work
Cue, routine, reward. The model the whole book rests on.
4 ideas from this book
The habit loop
Every habit is a cue, a routine and a reward. Name all 3 before you try to change it.
Keep the cue, swap the routine
Keep the trigger and the reward. Change only what you do in between.
Plan the hard moment
Write down ahead of time what you will do when the hardest point comes.
Find the cue
Most cues are a place, a time, a feeling, other people or the thing you just did. Note all 5 when the urge hits.
Read it if
You want to understand why a habit runs before you try to change it.
Skip it if
You want a short daily system. Tiny Habits or Atomic Habits gets there faster.
Quick answers
Is The Power of Habit worth reading?
Yes, but not all of it. Read 6 of its 11 chapters: ch. 1, ch. 2, ch. 3, ch. 4, ch. 5 and the appendix. The rest is about companies and social movements: good stories, less to use.
Which parts of The Power of Habit should I read?
Read ch. 1, ch. 2, ch. 3, ch. 4, ch. 5 and the appendix. Skim the parts marked skim for their 1 idea, and skip the rest on a first read.
Who is The Power of Habit for?
You want to understand why a habit runs before you try to change it. Skip it if: You want a short daily system. Tiny Habits or Atomic Habits gets there faster.
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