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Cue, Routine, And Reward
In a way, habits are everything in your life — and Charles Duhigg is getting a bunch of attention recently for his book The Power of Habit, which talks about basic issues like “How are habits formed?” and “How can we change them?” There is a requisite amount of Malcolm Gladwell-esque “pop psychology” in there, because that type of stuff ultimately ties an average reader back to a more complicated work. Example:
While working as reporter in Iraq, he closely observed how one army major studied the habits of crowds in an effort to reduce rioting. After recognizing that food vendors placed within a busy plaza increased public gatherings (and potential problems) near dusk, the major met with the town’s mayor to suggest removing these vendors. Within weeks the crowds would gather, but quickly break apart as they discovered there was nowhere to eat.
Here’s the whole idea behind how habits work in his own words, including this crucial note at the beginning:
The difficult thing about studying the science of habits is that most people, when they hear about this field of research, want to know the secret formula for quickly changing any habit. If scientists have discovered how these patterns work, then it stands to reason that they must have also found a recipe for rapid change, right?
