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The Power of Habit
- Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
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Publisher's Summary
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • This instant classic explores how we can change our lives by changing our habits.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Wall Street Journal • Financial Times
In The Power of Habit, award-winning business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. Distilling vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives that take us from the boardrooms of Procter & Gamble to the sidelines of the NFL to the front lines of the civil rights movement, Duhigg presents a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential. At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, being more productive, and achieving success is understanding how habits work. As Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.
With a new Afterword by the author
“Sharp, provocative, and useful.”—Jim Collins
“Few [books] become essential manuals for business and living. The Power of Habit is an exception. Charles Duhigg not only explains how habits are formed but how to kick bad ones and hang on to the good.”—Financial Times
“A flat-out great read.”—David Allen, bestselling author of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
“You’ll never look at yourself, your organization, or your world quite the same way.”—Daniel H. Pink, bestselling author of Drive and A Whole New Mind
“Entertaining . . . enjoyable . . . fascinating . . . a serious look at the science of habit formation and change.”—The New York Times Book Review
Editorial Review
They may not seem like much, but good habits can change one’s life for the best, and bad habits, well… for the worst. The Power of Habit aims to unlock the science of habit formation in order to leverage good habits and break bad ones. Though the premise of the audiobook is seemingly obvious, author Charles Duhigg sets out to change lives by providing a framework for change to its audience. He addresses specific points in each chapter and supports his views with a number of case studies featuring anecdotes and analogies. It’s as simple as this: identify bad habits and replace them with good ones for a healthy body and a healthy mind. Easier said than done, but Duhigg’s take on self-development is bound to push the listener in the right direction. The Power of Habit was acclaimed by critics of The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times for its life-changing content and ability to provide advice and entertainment simultaneously. The book is particularly praised for the changes it can bring forward from a business point of view. Veteran narrator Mike Chamberlain’s voice is easy to listen to, yet commands the attention of listeners.
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What listeners say about The Power of Habit
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Natasha
- 2017-11-09
A bit disappointing to be honest (until Ch.11)
The most enjoyable chapter was 11, the last chapter. I thought the book would have been geared more towards how to change habits which is covered in the last chapter only. The rest of the book talks about past stories of people that struggled with habit, bad or good. Just not what I expected but happy that it ended with the information I was hoping to take from the listening to the audio book.
55 people found this helpful
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- Sean
- 2018-01-08
Started strong, dragged on
I really enjoyed the first half of this audiobook. The second half however I did not enjoy nearly as much; it just dragged on and on. Literally there was over an hour of excessive description on Target’s data analytic strategy for marketing. This made me not want to listen and turn off the audiobook.
26 people found this helpful
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- Dan Dunahee
- 2017-09-22
Very good information.
The information in this was great, very useful. The format of listening on my smartphone was great because I have about an hour bus ride to take every Saturday, one hour to my destination, and one for home. I found learning this information to be a great use of my time. I look forward to repeating this habit in the future.
10 people found this helpful
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- shalot
- 2018-01-04
Less Self Help, More Case Studies
I never really fell into 'self help' books, but this book gave me a lot to think about. The writing & narration really drew me in. Each chapter had a specific point and case studies to outline how their point worked in real life. I enjoy having the knowledge of what happens when habits are formed or broken. Loved the science background to this book. #Audible1
9 people found this helpful
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- Ashley
- 2018-01-15
Super Interesting and Helpful
This was the most interesting non-fiction book I think I've ever read. It was well laid out and had concrete steps you can follow to help change your own habits, as well as how to understand how habits form in groups of people. I've been reccomending it to all my friends.
7 people found this helpful
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- RC
- 2018-01-20
Really great read. Doesn’t tell you how to change any one particular habit. Gives you a framework for changing them.
Before I listened to this book I had no idea that the simplest of habits had the biggest of implications.
Now I do.
6 people found this helpful
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- Alex
- 2018-03-29
Good but be Patient
Good read but can be dry at times. If you can get through it all you'll learn a lot but be Patient with the chapters they use stories to build a big picture that is well put together and summarized in the last chapter.
4 people found this helpful
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- Mike Borelli
- 2018-05-04
Good, informative listen.
The good: Does a great job explaining how your brain isn't always your friend. Your brain wants to automate tasks and save energy. This book really helped me identify habits and patterns in my life that I didn't notice were there. I've been able to adjust multiple aspects of my day to day life after understanding these concepts.
The bad: About halfway thru the book really begins to drag on. Some of the stories are not very interesting and kind of boring. 3 of the last 4 chapters or so were hard to get thru. Found myself tuning them out at times. By the time you get 70% of the way thru the book you understand the concepts already.
Verdict: Solid 4/5. Can help you identify bad habits in your life and begin to correct them or create new healthy good habits. Does drag on at times. Narration 5/5.
3 people found this helpful
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- Gillian Liu
- 2018-03-05
A new way to think about bettering yourself.
A fantastic book that provides extremely practical advice. My only complaint is that the narrator is slow, but I listen to it at 1.5x speed so it's fine!
2 people found this helpful
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- Darren
- 2018-05-16
The fist half was good
but the social habbits section was pretty weak. I liked learning about the civil rights movement, but the theory was definitely being stretched here compared to the rest of the book. It felt like story time more than anything else.
1 person found this helpful
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- Mehra
- 2012-04-22
Nice! A guide on how to change
At first I was hesitant to buy this book as I have read several self help books like Today Matters, Awaken the Giant Within, etc. And I just didnt want to buy another one as after a couple of books the information in them starts getting repetitive and the truth is if you actually do what is in one book it will be more than enough. The only problem is that we read a lot and do not persist in doing what we learned form the book...or at least thats the case for me.
But I bough this book anyway as it seemed different and the reviews on it were good. It was worth it.
In the book, the author talks about habits and how to create new ones and stick to them. He doesn't tell you do this and that to be more productive, rather he tells you how to craete habits and then start doing them naturally without effort or thinking...whatever that habit is. He provides scientific evidence that when an act becomes a habit, your brain does less work to do it!
He says for a certain action to become a habit, there are three things:
1. A cue that triggers the action
2. Repetition: You have to repeat the action everytime the cue happens
3. Reward: A reward at the end
And so to change the bad habits that you have, you will not ignore the cue that drove you to that old habit but rather you will act diffrently. In other words, you will satisfy your craving in another way as ignoring it will only solve the problem temporarily and after a while you will go back to your old habits again.
And so you will keep the cue and the reward but change the routine in the middle....but first you need to see what you were really craving. Was it really that chocolate bar you were craving or were you bored at work and wanted a distraction? If it was boredom, then go and socialize instead. Like this you didn't ignore the cue (boredom) or the reward (getting out of boredom) but you simple replaced the bad habit(chocolate) with a good one (socializing).
But he then states that usually people create habits and stick to them until a crisis or pressure comes. At that moment, people usually go back to their old habits mainly because they do not believe in the new system or the new habit. And that adds the fourth element of creating a habit which is belief - belief in the habit and in something bigger - like God. Believing that there is a God or that there is a higher power that will take you through this hard times is essential to keep you going on and not falling back. This will be specially usefull in bad habits like drinking.
He then states that people usually try to change everything at once and thus do that for a little while and then get overwhelmed and return back to all their old habits.
And so to stick to a habit and change your life, you need to select a key stone habit. A key stone habit is a habit that when you change it, all other habits will automatically change. For example, if you write a daily food journal - just writing what you eat, you have not decided to eat less or anything else - just writing what you eat down will eventually make you watch what you eat and change it. Consequently, by just focusing on this one habit you encourged other habits. However, you will not be overwhelmed by a sudden lot of change.
He then talks about grit - which is to keep walking towards your goal for years inspite of challenges and obstacles, and regardless of how long it takes you to achieve it. He says that will power and self discipline are the most important factors for success - not IQ or anything else. That will power is a habit too. That it is a muscle that can be excercised, that when you have will power you start to change how you think. That you have to practice focusing on goals, writing plans and identifying simple cues and obvious rewards. For example, you should write a plan on how one would act in a specific situation. Specifically what you would do when things go wrong or get tough.
He also talks about crisis and how people are more open to change during crisis and that this will be a good opportunity to change social habits.
As for the ingredients for social habits:
1. Protest
2. Peer pressure
3. Must be self prepelling. People have to be participants and not followers
He talks a lot more about social habits but that is just a summary
To sum up he says that to create new habits and to change you have to:
1. Decide to work hard. As it a lot of hard work and will not come easily.
2. Identify cue and reward
3. One has to have self control and be self conscious
That habits are what you choose them to be. That they are the unthinking choices that we make everyday. By making them visible we can change them.
Also, he backs up all this by providing examples and scientific evidence.
2,905 people found this helpful
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- Kimmi
- 2012-03-03
Good, but....
Some aspects of this book are great. It is a real discussion of habit, and techniques to change it. The anecdotes get extremely annoying. The author jumps from one story, to another, and then back again. It lacks a summary of the main point of each chapter, which would really help drive things home.
In one chapter I listened to a discussion of brain surgery and a a blow by blow detail of a big surgical error. This story was then displayed as an example of negative habits.
That sounds OK in theory, but it took the author twenty minutes to get to the point. I felt like most of the meaning of the book got buried in the examples, and there was no clarification on the meat of the information.
It's narrated well.
709 people found this helpful
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- Louis
- 2012-05-14
Not Unabridged: "Using These Ideas" is Missing
Why one star? This is not unabridged. The eleven page Appendix, "A Reader's Guide to Using These Ideas" is missing. The Appendix *is* the conclusion, and without it, the book's lessons do not coalesce.
The performance is strong, if a bit chipper for a morning commute, and Mike Chamberlin is a good companion after a cup of coffee.
The story is strong. A clear, simple structure, but it may trick readers into skipping parts, especially the last section, in which a pivotal moment in American history is linked to the founding of the MegaChurch (and in the hands of lesser man than Rick Warren, it is a How To for founding a cult). The last chapter stumbles into lumpy epiphanies. One paragraph (p 271) begins, "That, in some ways, the point of the book."
(And I would have appreciated the Acknowledgements being included. Some can be tedious, like listening to the Best Man after too many drinks, but Duhigg's are genuine and insightful. Further, the endnotes are smart, thorough and enlightening. His expertise as an investigative journalist shines.)
532 people found this helpful
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- Gabriel Afana
- 2016-03-24
1 hour of useful info, 9 hours of stories
After the first hour or so, everything useful had been said. After that it was literally 9 hours of stories that are examples of the principles. Thia book could have been cut in half and still had been too long.
288 people found this helpful
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- Larizalda
- 2012-12-04
You will learn something about yourself
What a marvelous book! My husband and I listened to it over about 7 days and each night we would discuss what we had heard the night before at length. We learned to observe our own habits and think about which ones we wanted to change. The story is engaging; at times funny and other times tragic but the effect keeps the listener interested.
The author builds each chapter and the listener is satisfied at the end. I recommend this book to anyone who is curious about why we do the things that we do. Also, if you are a reader of Drs. Dan Arielly and Daniel Gilbert you will appreciate this book.
I always judge the value of something by what I have learned from it and I have learned a lot about my own habits after listening to and thinking critically about the points made in this book.
255 people found this helpful
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- Susan Mather
- 2013-04-11
Alchemy, finally . . .
I got this book because, after years of having unusually high levels of self-discipline, I seemed to lose it (the discipline) after three major surgeries that resulted in a years' long recovery period. What happened, I thought? It wasn't that I didn't want to accomplish more goals; in fact, I have alot I wanted, needed, to do. So I began to read about HABITs. This book, The Power of Habits, is worth the read. And yes, there is a solution.
Researchers used to believe that the ability to be 'self-regulating' , e.g., not eating that tempting cookie, was merely a skill. Then after a decade or so more of studies, researchers found that habits are not only triggered by something in our lives, but that once we become aware of our personal 'triggers' that we can 'swap' the bad habit with a healthy one. Trigger-Response-Result. Of course, the goal is to create healthier, more productive habits. So how do we do that. And that's what you'll learn from this book. Everything from seeing how the brain works, how that understanding helps our process of changing habits, how to use this info if we're a parent, coach, CEO, there are case studies for Everyone. And they're really quite fascinating. About the obstacles Michael Phelps had to overcome, the positive habits his coach had him focus on to help him to relax, since all Olympian athletes have perfectly formed bodied (for their sport, at that level, so it was all about calming the mind, pretty much). And that case study was compelling to read. Also one about a well-known CEO of Alcoa, who used this info to change the entire process involved at Alcoa, in a most clever way (while getting everyone to hop on his bandwagon, which we know is virtually impossible at the corporate, heck, the family level!) Those are just two of the many references to specific situations that could be applied to your own personal/professional lives.
The point being, creating a new habit, or swapping a unhealthy habit with a healthy one (i.e., people who start exercising may reduce smoking); or people who start keeping a food journal one day per week, lost twice as much weight as the people who didn't (keep the journal); these are just of few of the studies which are fascinating. The beginning of the book spends maybe a bit too long on the guy who lost his memory and what they did to help him (it's related to the brain and referring to past habits), yet once you slog through that, you'll see how important it was and the rest of the book goes much faster.
Change one habit in your life and, as this book shows, it'll have a ripple effect, a positive affect on creating more and more positive habits throughout your life.
Support, by the way, is also important factor for anyone wanting to create new habits; so make your life easier by finding just one person who's interested & committed to meeting for a half-hour a week, 15 minutes for each to discuss solutions, what are your challenges and how to surmount them. It'd also make an interesting blog, for anyone who wants to change something in their life while discussing the ideas in this book and how you're applying them (to your situation). Help others while helping yourself. Or as the saying goes, "When you help another to get her canoe across the river, you also end up being across the river too." Or something like that, ha.
Back to The Power of Habit. Yes, we all have triggers in our life because the feelings that cause 'triggers' to overeat or smoke or drink, etc., are universal. We all feel these feelings. It's when we isolate, which many do, that our triggers may result in these unhealthy Responses and Results. (The book called Toughness talks about building up 'toughness', as if that's a muscle too. It's not as good a book as this, is mostly sports oriented, but well worth it for anyone realizing how important 'mental toughness' is.) The book, The Power of Habit, is also about building up a form of 'mental toughness', teaching us that, yes, we can use this information to respond to the difficult things/feelings in life IF we learn the skill and practice so as to strengthen the muscle.
Feelings that are hard to feel, such as loneliness, anxiety, stress, etc., that, in large part, is what this book is dancing around, without focusing directly on 'feelings'. Learning how to respond to our life in a way that's healthy, instead of destructive.This book explains how the brain works, illustrates with well-known people and case studies, and offers practical solutions for a wide variety of situations. Yes, it's definitely worth getting, and learning, again and again, until we 'get it'. As long as that takes.
The material is arranged in an easy-to-follow order and the narrator is pitch perfect, as well.
Want to change your life? It's about taking self-responsibility. And this book shows that it's not only possible, but feasible. Support is good, maybe necessary. And the more you/we all bring our best Self to the table, the more we'll all be able to contribute. It's about living life with meaning, not at the mercy of our parents' bad habits or our own. Yes, we can have more control over our lives. And isn't that alot of what happiness is. To make a difference, to be the person we're most capable of being? To connect with others and have something like this to share, because we were able to achieve it ourselves?!
If you're drawn to this subject, it's definitely worth your time.
204 people found this helpful
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- Loren
- 2012-03-16
Interesting stories, but not all linked to Habits
What did you like best about The Power of Habit? What did you like least?
Good reader, and many interesting stories about persons whose injuries allow a closer examination of those parts of the brain that control habits and other behaviors. And some of the other stories well researched (London Subway Fire, Rosa Parks boycott, etc,) and were interesting.
Would you be willing to try another book from Charles Duhigg? Why or why not?
No. This is a collection of stories looking for a theme. In fact, it seems like he had to work hard to find a theme to fit his stories. The longer I read, the thinner the connection.
Do you think The Power of Habit needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?
No.
Any additional comments?
In the final section, the author sets up a comparison between two individuals (a sleep walker who killed his wife and a gambler who spent all her family's money) and set up a red herring suggesting that habits out of their control forced their actions and they should have been treated equally. The weakness in the argument was so apparent that it was just irritating when he finally came around to make the obvious case that the gambler had many opportunities for intervention and the sleepwalker who acted once. So while I learned some things about habits early in the book and then listened to some interesting stories in the middle, the longer the book went, the more it became obvious that anything in this author's world could be easily explained--and included in--a book about habits.
137 people found this helpful
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- Pamela Harvey
- 2012-06-20
This Book Became a Habit
I originally bypassed this book, pre-judging it as more of the same from various mental health professionals and experts in neuroscience. Then I heard it referenced in an unrelated podcast about the game of Blackjack and my interest was piqued.
Some of the examples and case studies have frequently appeared in non-fiction and fiction alike, but this book makes use of plenty of other newer and more unusual (at least to me) examples, stories and experiences, and is quite salient on how habit works. I wasn't as interested in the dynamics of habit in groups and I almost put the book down and gave it a rest at the beginning of that section. I kept with it, though and was "hooked by habit" once again.
Can't add more to what others have said, though agreed, it would have been helpful to have had access to the user guide mentioned by another reviewer. I was not expecting a "how to" book on the methods of change in personal and professional life, so I was not disappointed, and actually I prefer a macro lens in books of this genre, and appreciated the aerial view of the dynamics of change, preferring it to a book on how habits develop and affect the individual in general and me personally. But the latter does get covered anyway and it's a bonus.
The narration is perfect and I am glad the author was not selected for this reading. That statement is not necessarily applicable to this book and this author as I have never heard his speaking voice but generally, self-narration frequently doesn't work all that well - just personal taste here - and I prefer a neutral voice, a reading by someone who is not necessarily a stakeholder in the book and whose interpretation can be more objective.
I'm sure I'll give this one another read at some point.
91 people found this helpful
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- Yoonmi
- 2012-08-27
A Little Reductive and Repetitive
The studies, themselves, were pretty good and interesting. However, the writing itself got a little repetitive, going over the points over and over again. I also disliked the spreading out of the lead story of each chapter, structurally.
The facts presented were a bit reductive. Both Habit and Culture are a bit more complex than presented. I guess for a layman, the book is good, but for someone looking to delve into the subject of habit as a psychological function then it falls short.
What the book actually does is explain habit to a layman and a bit about what makes them form, and so on. It's not self-help. It is not highly academic. In trying to make it simpler it does make a few minor factual errors. Culture is not a series of habits. And Habit is more complex than just culture. Separate things.
For that, I removed two stars. I liked the reading a lot though. It was very well done and pleasant to listen to.
77 people found this helpful
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- Doug
- 2012-05-12
Great, real world stories that drive the point
What did you love best about The Power of Habit?
Really interesting biographies of actual professionals and athletes that have used habit to excel in their fields
What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?
You realize how effective habits and shaping,creating habits can be
What insight do you think you’ll apply from The Power of Habit?
I have begun creating routines and sticking to them. It's work at first, but the book provides inspiration and insight so that you keep at it.
Any additional comments?
Really enjoyed this book. Very different from the usual self-help books.
61 people found this helpful
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- Amina
- 2022-12-01
Excellent book
It was my first book in this field and I enjoyed every explanation. Awareness is truly the first step into the change mechanism.
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- VADIER Marc
- 2021-09-20
Amazing
I absolutely loved this book everything is well written, very interesting and gives you a lot of examples to show how the mechanisms take place.
The narateur has a very good voice as well.
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- Oddy Roversi
- 2019-03-25
Excellent ! Will read again!
I loved the whole experience of listening to this book. it was my first try at audiobook and it was absolutely fascinating. I highly recommend it.
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- Judith
- 2018-08-13
Yes!!
Life changing. Highly recommend it, everyone could benefit from this knowledge. Thank you Charles Duhigg!
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- Jigumix
- 2018-07-07
Waste of time
All the ideas can be summarised in 5 minutes by a few bullets points. The majority of this book is made of uninteresting and unnecessary filling...
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- M. Casanova
- 2017-09-27
Really not interesting
I thought this book would be about helping people forming new habits, how habits work. 90% of the book is filled with anecdotes and I don’t even feel like some of them are even related to the notion of habits...
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- David
- 2017-09-26
Super
Très bon livre avec des idées pratiques pour changer nos mauvaises habitudes.
je recommande vivement.
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- Christel Pollock
- 2017-08-17
Great book to study
Easy to read, entertaining, great examples. The only thing left is to practise again and again and again.
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- Etienne P.
- 2017-07-11
This book can help you change your life ...
This book can help you change your life ... if you really want to !
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- Gwén B.
- 2017-02-16
Toutes les bases pour changer
Dans ce livre se trouvent des clés pour comprendre et pour changer les habitudes qui vous rongent, vous font prendre du poids ou vous éloignent de l'efficacité.
À voir au moins une fois dans sa vie.