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. 

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 :)

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!)