19. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Are you fascinated by how the human brain works?  I'm obsessed with books about the brain - specifically how do I hack my brain to live the life I want to live instead of wasting it on social media?  One of my goals this year is live life with intention, and this book is perfect for evaluating the habits that hold me back (or propel me).

Duhigg examines both anecdotes and scientific studies to highlight the effects of habits.   Habits are like the autopilot feature for our lives.   Habits will make or break a person, but most of us don't even pause to think about them.  It is FASCINATING.    Habits occur in the "Habit Loop:" there's a cue, routine, and reward.   Identifying each component of a habit gives you the power to alter the loop.  What is the craving? What is the habit?  What is the reward? 

What is one habit that would dramatically change your life for the better?  Duhigg refers to these habits as keystone habits.  1 habit that has an effect on the whole.  For example, when Paul O'Neill became CEO of Alcoa, he announced they would be focusing on the habit of safety.  Shareholders freaked out because it wasn't what they were expecting.  How is safety going to make them more money?  However, safety was a keystone habit that transformed the company by increasing employee safety (and satisfaction) thus increasing profitability by decreasing workman's comp claims.  As old, dangerous equipment was replaced, quality sky-rocketed.  As employees learned to communicate on-site dangers and problems, communication flourished and, in turn, increased efficiency. 

Duhigg also examines will power and the habits associated with it.  As it turns out, willpower is a finite commodity.  If we use it all up early in the day, we are vulnerable to poor decisions later.   This is of particular interest as a veterinarian.  I used to feel all my decision making power was consumed by work and frequently made poor eating decisions because I just couldn't  find the willpower to eat healthy.  This where habits come in to play.  If you develop the right healthy habits, you don't have to use will power.  You just follow the habit. 

This book is chalked full of meaty, science on the formation and power of habits...but devotes less time to the practical tips of changing your habits.  The appendix is devoted to how to do you own mini-study of your habits.  What's the cue routine, and reward of your habit?   I printed it off to start examining my own bad habits (particularly my stress eating and my "Add to Cart" habits). 

Overall, I give this one a 4/5.  I have the Audible version and it was fun to listen to this one while working out or cleaning.    If you like reading about habits, but want a more practical book Atomic Habits is another great book to read. 

14. Boundaries for Leaders

I love all the Boundaries books, and this one was no exception.  I will eventually have them all in both my Kindle and my Audible because I'm sure I'll revisit these often.   Dr. Henry Cloud is clinical pathologist and leadership expert.  These are the most empowering books I've ever read.    If I had to summarize this book in 1 sentence it is...

Leaders get what they create and what they allow.

If you are a leader at your work, you are ridiculously in charge.   A good leader provides and protects a workplace environment that enables brains to do their best work.  "In other words, our brains need to be able to:  (a) focus on something specific, (b)not get off track by focusing on or being assaulted by other data inputs or toxicity, and (c) continuously be aware of relevant information at all times."   Attention, inhibition, and working memory define a high productivity brain and leader's primary goal should be nurturing function brains.    "In the same way that the brain cannot work without the executive functions in place, it also cannot work if it is drowning in stress hormones."   From my research on the effects of conflict in the workplace, I read that the average unresolved conflict costs the company 8 hours of labor.   As leaders, we cannot allow toxicity to drown the brains of our workplace.  We need a positive emotional climate!

Every chapter is full of useful tips and advice for leaders.  I can't recommend this book enough!

13. Checklist Manifesto

In the Checklist Manifesto, Dr. Gawande highlight the benefits of a simple checklist.   He quotes studies performed in hospitals around the world that found checklists save lives in the medical setting.   I'm all over this concept.   There are checklists all over my house.     The human mind is fallible and as such needs as much help as it can get.  

When hospitals implemented a simple 6 item presurgical checklist:

“On average hospitals missed one of them in a starling two-thirds of patients, whether rich or poor.”  Results indicated:

• Major complications fell by 36

• Deaths fell by 47 percent

• Infections fell by almost half

• Of the study group of 4000 patients, 150 spared from harm expected based on previous results and 27 from death

• “There was also a notable correlation between teamwork scores and results for patients - the greater the improvement in teamwork, the greater the drop in complications”

• 78% actually observed the checklist to have prevented an error in the operating room

This book is a 4/5 on my scale.  I have the paper version and will be adding to "Dr. Darr's Wellness Library" for my veterinary students.  I highly recommend it for anyone who loves a good checklist and wants evidence to back it up!  I also recommend it for anyone in the medical field.  

10. How to Not Hate Your Husband After Kids -

I listened to this book through Libby and my local library.  It is fun, quick listen.   Jancee Dunn quotes a lot of my favorite researchers including Brene Brown and the Gottman Institute.  If those types of people are you jam, you'll enjoy this book.  It's chalked full of helpful tips and research on relationships.  My favorite take-away:  lower your expectations.  It's better to present and enjoy your family and husband than to obsess over a perfect house.   Dunn is witty and open as she shares anecdotes of her own journey through motherhood and marriage.  I recommend it to friends.

I give it a 3 on my rating scale.  I enjoyed the library book quite a bit, but I don't need to add it to my collection!

9. Creativity, Inc. - Ed Catmull

This book was great!   I thought a book about the formation of a company, Pixar, would be boring.    However, Pixar's work culture of creativity is so inspiring.    There are many principles that I am going to carry forward into my own work and creative endeavors. 

Fear of Failure.   I'm challenging myself to change my thinking about failure.   When I create a painting, I'm haunted by the question "Is this going to turn out?" but instead I want to focus on learning from mistakes.   Failure is necessary to art and creativity.  It isn't just a necessary evil...it is valuable.  Art is an iterative process. 

Candor.   When we have the freedom to tell the truth - even uncomfortable truths, creativity flourishes.    Conflict is a necessary and expected component of growth and creativity.  I am trying to be honest with myself and my own work, encourage my family (ie, my art critics) to be brutally honest with my paintings, and encourage candor at my work.

I think this one is a strong 4.  I think I want this one in my collection, but maybe I don't need it in both audio and visual formats.   I highly recommend this book for anyone who does art...and who is a leader at their work!

8. Atomic Habits - James Clear

I really enjoyed this book.  The main take away is we can change our lives by making tiny changes to our daily habits.  He shares tangible steps on changing your habits.  What is the secret of highly productive people?  Why do some people not have to think about productivity as much as others?  It all boils down to habits!   I do a lot of his tips intuitively.  I'm obsessed with my pursuing my goals, and I've started forming daily habits to pursue them.   One technique/concept in the book I found particularly thought provoking was habit stacking.    This starts with a base habit then slowly builds habits on top of the base habit.  For example:  habit 1 is putting work out clothes on when you first get out of bed.  Then building up habits to actually work out.    This is basically carving out a new neural pathway.  Once you start on the pathway, you naturally follow it to the desired result.

This one is a 4.  I might read it again so it's worth having in my collection, but I'm not obsessive about it...so I don't need it both on Audible and Kindle :)

7. Make your Bed - William H. McRaven

This little book is an adaptation of Admiral Raven's commencement speech at University of Texas at Austin.  It's a short read and to the point.   It would make a great gift for graduation.     I enjoyed it, but it's not one I'm going to go back to often.   However, I may gift it to less avid-readers who need inspiration to take control of their lives.   It's full of anecdotal wisdom on making the most out of life, facing challenges squarely, and focusing on what what you can control (ie, making your bed) when life feels out of control. 

I give this one a 3 - a good read, but not one I need in my personal collection.   I will probably pass mine on to someone I feel will benefit from it.

Book 15 of 2020: Mindsight by Daniel Siegel

I've been terrible at blogging the books I've read this year, but here we go...   Book 15 was a phenomenal read and combined some of my favorite subjects:  personal growth, how trauma affects the brain, and therapy techniques.   Dr. Siegel walks the reader through basic brain anatomy and function in a manner that helps the reader understand how memories, emotions, and modes of thinking emerge.   He discusses in depth a technique called "mindsight" for integrating the brain.    I highly recommend it.   Some of the information is repeated from his other books, but let's just face it...I have to have new information pounded into my brain. 

I use the "name it to tame it" technique with my children, clients, and myself.  This strategy takes the overwhelming emotions and recruits the higher functions of the cortex to apply a name to the feeling.  This helps someone who has "flipped their lid" (ie, in fight, flight, or freeze mode) to turn the higher circuits of thinking back online.


Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book.
"Well-being emerges when we create connections in our lives - when we learn to use mindsight to help the brain achieve and maintain integration, a process by which separate elements are linked together into a working whole."

"Finding a way to soothe excessively reactive limbic firing is crucial to rebalancing emotions and diminishing the harmful effects of chronic stress.  As we'll see, mindsight can help us recruit the higher areas of the brain to create a 'cortical override' of these limbic reactivities."

"In sum, experience creates the repeated neural firing that can lead to gene expression, protein production, and changes in both the genetic regulation of neurons and the structural connections in the brain.  By harnessing the power of awareness to strategically stimulate the brain's firing, mindsight enables us to voluntarily change a firing pattern that was laid down involuntarily."  (Ie, if you have a trauma past, there is hope!)

A Loving Life - Paul E. Miller

A Praying Life by Paul Miller is one of those books that actually changed the way I thought about prayer.  I found it so touching that I was excited to see A Loving Life was also published.   A Loving Life is a short read examining the book of Ruth in the bible and more specifically her hesed (loving-kindness) toward Naomi.

What is love? A passionate, fleeting feeling?  What is our biblical, God-given calling when the person you love is difficult?  This book outlined Ruth's response to such a query.   When Naomi's husband and 2 sons passed away, 3 women were left unprotected in a patriarchal society.  Naomi decided to travel back from Moab to Bethlehem, her home town.  Orpah, upon Naomi's urging, quickly abandoned the journey to stay in Moab with her family.  Ruth cannot be persuaded to leave Naomi even though it means the loss of her family, culture, and home for an unknown and unstable future.  Her sacrificial love for Naomi exemplifies hesed and models Christ's love for his people.  I enjoyed reading insight into the culture of the day and learned many things I had never known about the familiar story of Ruth and Naomi. 

Miller's anecdotal style made this book easy to read with many applications to real life.   If you are struggling to love someone who is ...not very lovable, this book will be an encouragement to you! 

David and Goliath - Malcom Gladwell

Hello my friends!  Reading moved to a back burner as I learned over the last year how to be a mother to both a teenager and a toddler.  Although I'm still working on that, I've found time and energy to read again.  This year, I want to read about 1 non-fiction book a month.  David and Goliath by Malcom Gladwell was the first.

In his book, Gladwell outlines tales of the underdog and challenges the reader to view being the underdog...as not always undesirable!  There are advantages to being the underdog.   He discusses examples of people rising from the loss of parents, dyslexia, mediocre colleges, persecution, and political oppression.  He uses a series of stories to outline his points.  While not a scientific work, the stories are challenging to a typical worldview.  Small is not always weak.  Large is not always strong.

My favorite part of the book was the portion that described stories from famous and less famous black civil rights activists.  We played this portion out loud to my teenage son, and it struck his interest as well.   "Are these people real?"  Wyatt Walker was described in the book the Brer Rabbit of civil rights.  He staged protests and riots with hopes of tricking authorities into arresting and causing a national scene to draw attention to racism and inequality.   His strategies were very carefully thought out and enacted. In all ways he was an underdog, but he used that to his advantage. 

Overall this was a fun read - full of anecdotes of unlikely successes.  It will change how you view "the underdog."