“A man who can’t bear to share his habits is a man who needs to quit them.” – Stephen King
I recently finished reading the book “The Power Of Habit” by Charles Duhigg and it changed the way that I look at my life and the habits that I have created. It breaks habits down into digestible content. The book covered habits all across a spectrum from personal, to a business and everything in between.
Basics
It breaks down your habit into a cue, habit, and a reward. Habits create neurological cravings, they emerge gradually and we often are not aware that they exist. Aristotle believes that habits reign supreme, they are behaviors that occur unthinkingly and are the evidence of our truest selves.
Hundreds of habits influence our days, each with their own cue and reward. They are invisible decisions that surround us each day. Habits play a central role in creating happiness and success whether it be personal or professional.
Keystone Habits
These are habits that help other habits flourish by creating new structures that establish cultures where change becomes contagious. They do not depend on getting everything right but focus instead on identifying the key priorities and fashioning them into powerful levers.
Small Wins
These are the powerhouse behind keystone habits. Their influence is disproportionate to the accomplishments of the victories themselves. Small wins are scattered like miniature experiments that test implicit theories about resistance and opportunity to uncover both resources and barriers that were invisibly before the situation was stirred up.
Willpower
The most important keystone habit to possess for individual success is willpower. Willpower is a learnable skill, it is something can be taught. Starbucks has done a really good job of teaching their employees how to handle difficult moments by giving them willpower habit loops.
Changing
All habits can be changed if you know how they function. They’re not as simple as we think they are, in the end, we choose our habits and we must choose to change them. To counter that it is necessary to note that no matter how complex it still remains malleable. You have to figure out how your habit operates to gain power over it.
Those are the top five things that I found insightful and thought-provoking while I read the book. I highly suggest this book to everyone, whether you want it to benefit you personally or professionally you will learn a lot.