Review The Power Of Habit Chapter 1&2

Assalamualaikum wr.wb ^_^

Hello,Friend!!

Hope you guys who read this blog have amazing day!!

In this post, I would like to review chapter 1&2 from an amazing book entitled The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. Check this bellow!!

Part one – The habits of individuals

Chapter 1: The habit loop – how habits work

Habits emerge because the brain is constantly looking for ways to save effort.

The Basal Ganglia stores habits for us, and once stored we don’t need to use our rational part of the brain to execute. We just access our habits in “automated mode”, and it all goes very quickly.

The process of making a routine into a habit is called “chunking”. The brain activity spikes at the beginning of a habit, when it’s looking for a cue. And spikes again at the end, when a reward is usually present. In between spikes, the brain relinquishes control to the habit.The habit then consists of three steps:

1. Cue : a trigger telling the brain to go into automatic mode. Depending on the trigger the brain selects a specific routine
2. Routine : physical, mental or emotional behavior that follows automatically
3. Reward : positive result telling our brain if this loop is worth memorizing

Cue –routine – reward

Over time, this loop becomes more and more automatic. The cue and reward become intertwined until a powerful sense of anticipation and craving emerges. Eventually, a habit is born.

When a habit emerges, the brain stops fully participating in decision making. It stops working so hard, or diverts focus to other tasks. So unless you deliberately fight a habit – unless you find new routines – the pattern will unfold automatically.

Habits never really disappear. They are encoded into the structures of our brain.

If we learn to create new neurological routines that overpower those behaviors – if we take control of the habit loop – we can force those bad tendencies into the background. And once someone creates a new pattern, studies have demonstrated, going for a jog or ignoring the doughnuts becomes as automatic as any other habit.

Habits, as much as memory and reason, are at the root of how we behave. We might not remember the experiences that create our habits, but once they are lodged within our brains the influence how we act – often without our realization.

Chapter 2: The craving brain – how to create new habits

Craving is what makes cues and rewards work. The craving is what powers the habit loop.

1. Find a simple and obvious cue

2. Clearly define the rewards

Habits create neurological cravings. As we associate cues with certain rewards, a subconscious craving emerges in our brain that starts the habit loop spinning.

How to create a new habit: put together a cue, a routine and a reward, and then cultivate a craving that drives the loop.

A cue and a reward on their own aren’t enough for a new habit to last. Only when your brain starts expecting the reward – craving the endorphins or sense of accomplishment – will it become automatic to lace up your jogging shoes each morning. The cue, in addition to triggering a routine, must also trigger a craving for the reward to come.