Summary Of The Power Of Habit Duhigg
When people think of unconscious thought, they often dismiss its relevance. People like to think they are in control and that what they do on a daily basis is based entirely on rational thought and conscious decisions. However, this notion simply isn’t true. As older Freudian, Jung and Lacan psychologists and newer Cognitive Scientists emphasize, the unconscious mind governs the mind to a greater degree than most suspect. In Charles Duhigg’s intriguing book The Power of Habit Duhigg asserts that 40-45% of what we do on a daily basis is entirely based on unconscious habits. Through a novel understanding of human nature and several captivating real-world examples, Duhigg then goes on to explain how the power of these habits can be harnessed.
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It makes sense that habits are loops and that they can be changed by substituting the routine. This might just be hindsight bias speaking but it didn’t seem new to me. That was until Duhigg started to talk about willpower. Willpower is the king of all habits. It is the most significant keystone habit for personal success. The prefrontal cortex (sits right behind the forehead) helps control decision-making, behavior & judgment, attention, self-control, and willpower. Willpower is a muscle it can get overused, there is only a finite amount of it in the day. Since willpower plays such an important role in our life Duhigg mentions three habits we can make to strengthen our willpower overall. The first is to do something that requires strict discipline. For example a strict diet or a morning routine requires you to constantly practice delaying gratification. This, in turn, gives you more willpower to exert throughout the day. The second is to plan ahead for worst-case situations. Even just thinking about what you would do if your car doesn’t start one morning will help you keep your cool and deal with the situation when it does happen, preserving willpower. And third try to preserve your autonomy. When you are passionate about working on something it doesn’t feel like “work”. If assigned work that you're not interested in it will require extra work to focus on. Thereby tiring your willpower muscles
It makes sense that habits are loops and that they can be changed by substituting the routine. This might just be hindsight bias speaking but it didn’t seem new to me. That was until Duhigg started to talk about willpower. Willpower is the king of all habits. It is the most significant keystone habit for personal success. The prefrontal cortex (sits right behind the forehead) helps control decision-making, behavior & judgment, attention, self-control, and willpower. Willpower is a muscle it can get overused, there is only a finite amount of it in the day. Since willpower plays such an important role in our life Duhigg mentions three habits we can make to strengthen our willpower overall. The first is to do something that requires strict discipline. For example a strict diet or a morning routine requires you to constantly practice delaying gratification. This, in turn, gives you more willpower to exert throughout the day. The second is to plan ahead for worst-case situations. Even just thinking about what you would do if your car doesn’t start one morning will help you keep your cool and deal with the situation when it does happen, preserving willpower. And third try to preserve your autonomy. When you are passionate about working on something it doesn’t feel like “work”. If assigned work that you're not interested in it will require extra work to focus on. Thereby tiring your willpower muscles