What did you get used to? What did you get in the habit of and why do you think that you don’t have a chance to change something? First thing you do right after waking up is…? Exercises? Nap mode in your mobile? Meditation? A journey across 10 quotes from Charles Duhigg’s ‘The power of habit’ is waiting for you right down below. The book which deserved to be a bestseller and don’t be scared of it. It really is a bestseller, and we prove it with careful selection of brilliant phrases and book review which you can find in the link below as well. Prepare for the wild ride. Ready? Go!

Impossible is nothing

Impossible is nothing, if you only work on proper habits. Joanna Kołaczkowska (great Polish actress) would say: ‘just get over it’, we will just add that this is strong and universal mantra which simultaneously is a main idea of this book. If you want to learn, whether habits are people’s destiny; how to get society to buy your product; how to make the first step to change all habits and at the same time your entire life – don’t hesitate and start reading this book immediately.

  1. ‘When you woke up this morning, what did you do first? Did you hop in the shower, check your email, or grab a doughnut from the kitchen counter? Did you brush your teeth before or after you toweled off? Tie the left or right shoe first? What did you say to your kids on your way out the door? Which route did you drive to work? When you got to your desk, did you deal with email, chat with a colleague, or jump into writing a memo? Salad or hamburger for lunch? When you got home, did you put on your sneakers and go for a run, or pour yourself a drink and eat dinner in front of the TV?’.
  2. ‘Most of the choices we make each day may feel like the products of well-considered decision making, but they’re not. They’re habits. And though each habit means relatively little on its own, over time, the meals we order, what we say to our kids each night, whether we save or spend, how often we exercise, and the way we organize our thoughts and work routines have enormous impacts on our health, productivity, financial security, and happiness’.
  3. ‘We now know why habits emerge, how they change, and the science behind their mechanics. We know how to break them into parts and rebuild them to our specifications. We understand how to make people eat less, exercise more, work more efficiently, and live healthier lives. Transforming a habit isn’t necessarily easy or quick. It isn’t always simple. But it is possible. And now we understand how’.
  4. ‘If you picture the human brain as an onion, composed of layer upon layer of cells, then the outside layers—those closest to the scalp— are generally the most recent additions from an evolutionary perspective. When you dream up a new invention or laugh at a friend’s joke, it’s the outside parts of your brain at work. That’s where the most complex thinking occurs’.
  5. This explains why habits are so powerful: they create neurological cravings. Most of the time, these cravings emerge so gradually that we’re not really aware they exist, so we’re often blind to their influence. But as we associate cues with certain rewards, a subconscious craving emerges in our brains that starts the habit loop spinning’.
  6. ‘The evidence is clear: If you want to change a habit, you must find an alternative routine, and your odds of success go up dramatically when you commit to changing as part of a group. Belief is essential, and it grows out of a communal experience, even if that community is only as large as two people. We know that change can happen. Alcoholics can stop drinking. Smokers can quit puffing. Perennial losers can become champions. You can stop biting your nails or snacking at work, yelling at your kids, staying up all night, or worrying over small concerns. And as scientists have discovered, it’s not just individual lives that can shift when habits are tended to. It’s also companies, organizations, and communities, as the next chapters explain’.
  7. ‘Creating successful organizations isn’t just a matter of balancing authority. For an organization to work, leaders must cultivate habits that both create a real and balanced peace and, paradoxically, make it absolutely clear who’s in charge’.
  8. ‘If you don’t give the caller looking for a job a helping hand, he might complain to his tennis partner, who might mention those grumblings to someone in the locker room who you were hoping to attract as a client, who is now less likely to return your call because you have a reputation for not being a team player. On a playground, peer pressure is dangerous. In adult life, it’s how business gets done and communities self-organize. Such peer pressure, on its own, isn’t enough to sustain a movement. But when the strong ties of friendship and the weak ties of peer pressure merge, they create incredible momentum. That’s when widespread social change can begin’.
  9. ‘Once you’ve figured out your habit loop—you’ve identified the reward driving your behavior, the cue triggering it, and the routine itself—you can begin to shift the behavior. You can change to a better routine by planning for the cue and choosing a behavior that delivers the reward you are craving. What you need is a plan’.
  10. If you believe you can change—if you make it a habit—the change becomes real. This is the real power of habit: the insight that your habits are what you choose them to be. Once that choice occurs—and becomes automatic—it’s not only real, it starts to seem inevitable, the thing, as James wrote, that bears “us irresistibly toward our destiny, whatever the latter may be.” The way we habitually think of our surroundings and ourselves create the worlds that each of us inhabit’.

A world that you need

What about you? What kind of world do you want to live in?

Authors: Patrycja Sikora and Dariusz Chrapek