The Only Book You Will Ever Need To Read

People don’t ask me for book recommendations often. Let’s be honest, no one reads anymore! Who has time for that? We can barely watch a GIF without getting distracted. So, here’s a bare-bones breakdown of The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, the reasons I believe it is the most powerful book ever written, and the only book that every person in the world should read.

We all know what habits are, and we all know that we have them. Bad ones like smoking or drinking; good ones like brushing teeth and working out. We are all a summation of habits. That is all that we are.

To conserve energy, our brains like to streamline certain actions, so we don't have to think about everything all the time. Think about driving. Remember the first time you got behind the wheel? How nervous you were and how new it all felt? You constantly had to remind yourself to use the turn signals or to check your rearview mirrors. You had to be on high alert the whole time.

Compare that to the last time you were in a car. Same situation, but you probably did everything without a second thought. That is the beauty of our brains. That’s how powerful habits can be.

The truth is, we have far less control over our habits than we think we do, at least without reading this book. The Power of Habit levels the playing field. Because we are so prone to habits, most of them develop without us even being aware that they are there.

All habits are preceded by a cue. An itch that needs to be scratched. A cue can be anything. You feel stressed, so you smoke. You feel anxious, so you eat. You feel lonely, so you watch TV. You feel dirty, so you shower.

The cue leads to an action, and that action is the habit. And after the action, there is a reward. After you smoke, you feel relaxed. After you eat, you feel happy. After you watch TV, you feel fulfilled. After you shower, you feel clean.

That reward is what keeps us coming back to the same habits over and over. The itch gets scratched. Cue, action, reward. This is what is referred to as the habit loop.

Not all habits are bad ones, but the things we want to change in ourselves often are. Well, how do we do that? Long story short, we replace a bad habit with a good one. We change the middle of the habit loop.

Instead of smoking every time you feel stressed, you can have a conversation with a colleague. Instead of a drink every time you feel anxious, you go to the gym. The cue remains the same, the reward hopefully remains the same, but the action changes.

This trick isn’t in the book, but since reading it I’ve had success replacing habits by adding an extra reward every time you swap a bad action with a good one. Whenever we drink, smoke, or eat too much, we often feel better because of the ingrained effects of the things we are consuming. When we replace those things with healthier alternatives, the after-effects don't come naturally.

So, give yourself that extra incentive. Every time you want a cigarette and opt for a conversation, treat yourself to a cup of coffee or some frozen yogurt. If you want to start going to the gym, reward yourself with a delicious protein-filled smoothie afterward. That way the habit will stick.

All this may seem small and mundane but, trust me, this is a life-changing concept. This book teaches you how to take the bad in your life and turn it into good. It will give you the power to stop smoking, stop gambling, stop overeating, stop drinking, stop gossiping, and to start doing all those things that you know you should be doing instead.

But not all habits are created equal. The other big takeaway from the book is Duhigg’s concept of keystone habits. These are the ones that make or break your entire existence. Flossing twice a day keeps your teeth pristine; taking meth twice a day makes them fall out. Most of our cases aren’t so extreme, but almost everyone has a keystone habit worth replacing. And when we do, everything else falls into place.

The old saying goes “Give a man a fish and he’s fed for a day; teach a man to fish and he’s fed for life.” The Power of Habit doesn’t fix your bad habits for you, but it teaches you how to do it yourself. The book instills the ability to change your life in any way that you see fit. It provides a systematic protocol for sustainable change for every single one of us.

This, of course, is just a summary. If you want to learn more, you must…dare I say it...read the book! But let me make one more point before you do.

You’re already replacing a bad habit with a good one. You could be scrolling through Insta, TikTok, or Snapchat. Even a podcast or audiobook would be more passively entertaining than what you’re doing right now.

Reading! A full article! From start to finish! What a great habit that is to have!

Now go give yourself a reward.