A Deep Dive on Habits

Habits are a curious and fascinating subject. We rarely pay much attention to them unless we want to form new ones or want to improve bad ones. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business outlines exactly what’s at stake and the best approaches to formulating studied and proven paths to change them. Here are some takeaways:

Cue, routine, reward
- Belief powers changes in habits. Having a support group is important.
- Replacing the routine and maintaining the cue and reward creates new habits from old habits faster
Big changes can stem from the diversity and different affiliation groups you have
Weak ties (acquaintances) are more capable of ripple effects than strong ties (close friends and families you have relation to)
- For example, news spreads faster with weak ties
Willpower is a muscle that tires out, but strengthening this muscle is possible
A crisis can be the pivotal moment to change the underlying structure of societal habits
An overarching habit can have trickle-down positive effects on other aspects of life
- Alcoa the aluminum company had a new CEO come in and focus on improving safety. New safety measures helped to reduce injuries along with improving the workflow of machinery and current practices.
Envisioning hypothetical situations and how to react to them by optimizing the best imaginary response, can lead to the formation of reflex responses and knowing how to handle situations without being overwhelmed