Did you brush your teeth today? Did you put on your left shoe first? Did you toss the wallet into the drawer after reaching home?
Even if you are still thinking about the first question here’s another one.
Was there any specific moment of the day you took a deliberate decision to do any of these things? Now that’s a tricky one, isn’t it?
Most of us will fail to recollect, because just like any other day we performed some routines today as well. Those internalised routines are called Habits.
Charles Duhigg defines habits “as choice that we deliberately made at some point (how to eat, how often to drink, when to go for a jog, etc), and then stopped thinking about it, but continues to do — often every day.” Approximately 40% of the daily activities that we perform are habits not decisions, now that’s a significant share. So, habits are not about tossing your wallet in to the drawer, it is part of something way bigger and hence the book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change is worth reading.
Keystone (borrowing authors own usage) principle of the book is the breaking down of habits into three steps. A Cue which triggers an Action which eventually culminates in a Reward.
Anecdotal experiences, business researches and scientific studies are narrated with perfect mix creating an interesting storyline to back the technical nuances of the subject. The book landed in to the concepts of Craving and Keystone Habits later in the explanation and it was nothing short of saving some of the most impactful insights for the latter part.
There is plenty of writing and research conducted on habits at a personal level, but The Power of Habit does a commendable job in zooming out and exploring habits within social, societal and corporate domains. For anyone who doubts the role habits plays in shaping a person or a society, the book provides generous examples for a critical reconsideration.
The book’s detailed explanations before reaching the key message may not be the preferred approach for some readers.
And of course, no discussion on a book about habits would be complete without referencing Atomic Habits by James Clear. While Atomic Habit is much more focused and action-oriented approach towards personal habit formation, The Power of Habit provides a broader perspective. It does discuss about implementation of the key concepts at an individual level; however, discussions are at a surface level and definitely not enough to guide towards any immediate implementation.
If you’re looking for a practical, hands-on guide on making or breaking a habit, then I would say Atomic Habits is the one to start with, and The Power of Habit would be a natural extension if you get find yourself deeply interested in the topic.