Remember way back when I used to do
monthly book posts? I liked that, but
then finals and AP tests happened, so I literally did not read for a month and
a half. I recently pulled out some books at home that I had never gotten around to reading. One of
them was The Power of Habit, by Charles
Duhigg.
I have to say, I’m not a big
self-help book reader, but I’m a huge science nerd, especially when it comes to
things I can apply in my daily life, like habits, so I was pretty excited to
read this book and understand how habits are formed. Overall, I would say the
book was written in a fun and easy to follow way, with periodical anecdotes.
Something that was really helpful for me was having Duhigg explain how a habit
loop works in the first chapter, and then go back to the familiar structure in
every chapter thereafter. Personally, I do wish this book included a little
more hard science, but I can understand how that would be a turnoff for people
not so interested in the neuroscience aspect of it.
Part of what made this book so good
was how applicable the things I learned were. Once I started identifying the
cues that prompted certain habits for me, It was easier to change them. The
general principle behind changing bad habits, like sitting down for an episode
of Orange in the New Black (not a fan by the way, hate on me all you want),
after work instead of going to the gym, is identifying the cue and reward, and
keeping both of those the same, while changing the behavior. If you watch TV
after work, you might feel relaxed and enjoy unwinding, and you do it because
you’re stressed out. So the solution to getting to the gym is identifying the
feeling of getting stressed out and lacing up your running shoes (or shoving
your foot in and adjusting if you’re lazy like me). In terms of reward, your
brain will produce endorphins that will both relax and energize you.
Another concept I found really
interesting was the idea of willpower as a muscle. If you overwork a muscle, it gets tired and torn
up, and doesn’t work as well as it could. In the same way, if you stay away
from junk food all day and plan to go to the gym at night, your willpowers
muscle might be overused and you might bings watch TV with junk food instead of
going to the gym. For me, I tend to put off going to the gym unless I do It
first thing in the morning, so I’ve been waking up early with my friend Monica
and going around 6 AM. Of course, this habit is still in the making since we’ve
only done it for a week. Of course, like any muscle, willpower can get
stronger, which is why with practice, weaning off of junk food or soda becomes
easier.
Pretty cool stuff, huh? And super
applicable. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone even slightly
interested in the science of habit (so basically everyone because humans are
creatures of habit), and rate a solid 4.5 stars
What’s on your reading list? I’m
definitely looking for new books to read. Leave a comment below and friend me
on Goodreads so we can check each others’ books out!
P.S. Please help me! Blogger is not letting me align the top photo + this text and I don't know why. It's really bothering me- what do I do?
xo, Hima
P.S. Please help me! Blogger is not letting me align the top photo + this text and I don't know why. It's really bothering me- what do I do?
xo, Hima
