bad habits summary essay

Essays About Bad Habits: 5 Essays Examples and Writing Prompts

Writing about bad habits poses an interesting topic; to help with your essays about bad habits, read our top essay examples and writing prompts below.

Many people tend to discount their bad habits as small. They get blinded to their life-shattering and long-term effects because they don’t think of it as a “big deal,” they get blinded to their life-shattering and long-term effects. 

Whether smoking or procrastination, these habits are detrimental to our quality of life. Many people don’t realize how detrimental these habits can be until they create more significant problems in their lives.

Writing about bad habits and how to kick them will create an engaging, compelling, and thought-provoking essay. Read on to see the best examples of essays about bad habits and 8 intriguing writing prompts.

1. Weekly Reflections – The Ordeal of Breaking Bad Habits by Steven Lawson

2. how to break a bad habit and replace it with a good one by james clear, 3. how bad habits form (and why they’re so difficult to break) by ian kan, 4. break your bad habits by amy novotney, 5. 5 bad business habits you need to stop immediately by dylan ogline, 8 prompts on writing essays about bad habits, 1. causes of bad habits, 2. how bad habits take a toll on the health, 3. getting past the challenge of changing bad habits, 4. how to know if a habit is bad or good, 5. does stress drive us to form bad habits, 6. are bad habits contagious learn how to avoid adopting them, 7. american habits that are considered weird or bad habits in other cultures, 8. understanding the time it takes to break a bad habit.

“Our external realities are always tied to and flow out of our interior/spiritual core. Change occurs first at one’s core and then manifests itself on the surface, not the other way around.”  

Lawson uses a spiritual approach to understand bad habits, including how they’re formed and how to get rid of them. He delved into his difficulties with transforming his bad habits and wrote about how he perceived his bad habits as a behavioral reaction to a problem.

“You can teach yourself new and healthy ways to deal with stress and boredom, which you can then substitute in place of your bad habits.”

Clear’s take on bad habits is that they are methods of dealing with stress and boredom. After explaining the formation of habits from stress and boredom, he provides methods and tips for replacing them with good habits. Clear also included examples that his readers can easily relate to.

“Of course, you might feel guilty, but the goal is to be aware of those bad habits and how often they happen. Then from there, you can hatch a plan to break those habits.”

Ian Kan’s essay on bad habits dives into the psychology behind habit formation, including the various stages. After this in-depth look, he offers various methods of transforming bad habits into good ones.

“Self-motivation is best sustained by having a clear, long-range goal that can be broken down into a series of specific, attainable smaller goals to guide one’s efforts along the way.”

Novotney’s essay focuses on the top ten habits that grad students have that prevent them from gaining further academic success. She emphasizes how these habits keep students from making it through graduate school. On top of listing a good number of commonly practiced bad habits among students, she also included solutions for fixing and correcting them.

“But with each habit I shed, my prospects got brighter. When I shed all five, my agency was on track to becoming the seven-figure business it is today.”

Ogline takes bits and pieces from his experience as a business owner to write his essay on bad habits. He also provides business smarts and wisdom for readers of his essay, whether they’re simply interested in the essay or fellow entrepreneurs.

Consider the essay ideas and topics we’ve listed below if you’re more interested in writing your essays about bad habits.

Understand why bad habits exist or how they form by reading and writing about them. Use this essay writing opportunity to talk about how certain actions, situations, or emotions may lead to the formation of some bad habits.

Like stress, bad habits can worsen a person’s health. This essay focuses on the harm bad habits may cause to a person’s physical or mental health. You can even include how bad habits caused by stress can stress a person even more.

This idea will drive you to consider how difficult it is to get out of a habit cycle. When you choose to write about this topic, ensure you research the different methods of effectively dropping bad habits for different kinds of people. It gives immense help if you’ve already experienced how hard it is to break a bad habit. 

Figure out how to write a narrative essay to better share your story.

Sometimes, a habit lies in the gray area. It can be good in certain situations and bad at other times. Thus, it’s helpful to figure out how detrimental or beneficial a habit is. Consider including a habit’s effects in the short and long term.

Bad habits can form from many things, including stress. This essay prompt encourages you to read about how stress can create bad habits in a person. For example, drinking alcohol can become a way for someone to cope with stress from work or family pressure. Then, consider other forms of bad habits and how stress might have a hand in encouraging their formation.

Like diseases, bad habits can spread from person to person. In extreme cases, bad habits can even affect entire nations. Think about the bad habits you’ve gotten from being around or observing other people. You can also apply this essay to fictional works wherein the characters start adopting each other’s bad habits. It provides a good study on how bad habits can

What you may see as a bad habit can be good in a different culture. A famous example is slurping noodles loudly in East Asian countries. Loud slurping is unpleasant and rude in the West, but it’s a sign of appreciation for the food in East Asia. Research other habits that create cultural divides and discuss the different ways people view them, whether negatively or positively.

Let’s say you’re ready to break a bad habit. The challenge is to endure until you’ve gotten rid of it or changed it into a good one. This essay idea is a perfect topic for people who have tried breaking several bad habits and want to write about the experience. Use this essay topic to explore why some bad habits took longer to stop and how difficult it has been to break them.  

Get more writing ideas from our informative essay topics list for students.   

Essay on Bad Habits

Students are often asked to write an essay on Bad Habits in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Bad Habits

Understanding bad habits.

Bad habits are actions we repeat that harm us. They can be physical, like biting nails, or mental, like procrastination.

Why Bad Habits Form

Bad habits often form because they give us temporary pleasure. However, they harm us in the long run.

The Impact of Bad Habits

Bad habits can harm our health, relationships, and productivity. They prevent us from reaching our full potential.

Overcoming Bad Habits

To overcome bad habits, we must understand why we do them. Then, we can replace them with good habits that benefit us.

250 Words Essay on Bad Habits

Introduction to bad habits.

Bad habits are often the result of patterns of behavior that have become ingrained in our daily routines. They are actions that we engage in repeatedly, usually without giving much thought to their consequences. These habits can range from the seemingly innocuous, such as nail-biting, to the more harmful, such as smoking or excessive drinking.

The Psychology Behind Bad Habits

Understanding the psychology behind bad habits is crucial. They often serve as coping mechanisms for stress or discomfort, providing a temporary sense of relief or distraction. The brain’s reward system plays a significant role in their formation and persistence. When a behavior triggers the release of ‘feel-good’ chemicals like dopamine, it reinforces the habit loop, making it harder to break.

Bad habits can have far-reaching impacts on our lives. They can negatively affect our physical health, mental wellbeing, productivity, and relationships. For instance, procrastination can lead to stress and poor performance, while excessive screen time can lead to sleep disturbances and social disconnection.

Breaking the Cycle

Breaking bad habits requires conscious effort, patience, and persistence. It involves understanding the triggers, replacing the habit with a healthier alternative, and rewarding oneself for progress. Cognitive-behavioral techniques, mindfulness, and self-compassion can also be beneficial in this process.

In conclusion, while bad habits can be challenging to overcome, understanding their psychological underpinnings and impacts can provide us with the tools to break the cycle. With effort and determination, we can replace these harmful patterns with healthier behaviors, leading to improved wellbeing and quality of life.

500 Words Essay on Bad Habits

Introduction.

Bad habits are behaviors we engage in repetitively, often unconsciously, that are detrimental to our physical, mental, or emotional well-being. They range from minor annoyances such as nail-biting to life-threatening addictions like smoking and drug use. The complexity of bad habits lies in their deeply ingrained nature, making them difficult to break. However, understanding their psychological underpinnings can provide us with the tools to combat them effectively.

The Psychology of Bad Habits

Bad habits are often rooted in our brain’s reward system. The brain releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter responsible for feelings of pleasure and satisfaction, whenever we engage in activities it perceives as beneficial. Unfortunately, this system can be hijacked by harmful behaviors that provide immediate gratification, such as overeating or excessive use of social media.

Another psychological aspect of bad habits is their association with stress and negative emotions. Many people resort to unhealthy coping mechanisms, such as alcohol consumption or compulsive shopping, to deal with feelings of anxiety, sadness, or boredom. These habits serve as temporary distractions but can lead to long-term harm.

Bad habits can have far-reaching consequences. Physically, they can lead to health problems such as obesity, heart disease, and lung cancer. Mentally, they can contribute to conditions like depression and anxiety. Socially, they can strain relationships and hinder productivity. Moreover, the financial cost of maintaining certain bad habits, such as smoking or gambling, can be substantial.

Breaking Bad Habits

Next, it’s important to replace the bad habit with a healthier alternative. For instance, if stress triggers cigarette smoking, one could try stress management techniques such as meditation or exercise instead. It’s also beneficial to set realistic goals and celebrate small victories along the way to maintain motivation.

In conclusion, bad habits are deeply ingrained behaviors that can have significant impacts on our well-being. They are often rooted in our brain’s reward system and can serve as unhealthy coping mechanisms for stress and negative emotions. However, with self-awareness, determination, and a strategic approach, we can break these habits and replace them with healthier alternatives. Understanding the psychology of bad habits is a crucial step towards achieving this goal.

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Home — Essay Samples — Psychology — Resilience — Significance of Negative Habits

Significance of Negative Habits

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Published: Mar 25, 2024

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Habit Formation

Why bad habits are easy and good habits are hard, understanding one principle about habit formation can make all the difference..

Posted August 24, 2021 | Reviewed by Abigail Fagan

• Many people mistakenly attribute their bad habits to character flaws such as laziness or lack of self-discipline.
• The real reason that bad habits thrive is because they produce immediate reinforcement.
• Most good habits don't naturally provide immediate reinforcement. However, people can learn to create their own sources of reinforcement.

If you ever needed proof that God has a sense of humor , you need only look at how we’re wired to form habits. Humans are astonishing in their ability to habitualize almost any behavior. With sufficient practice, we can learn to perform tasks of mind-boggling complexity with little or no conscious effort: driving, dancing, playing musical instruments, and speaking multiple languages, among many others.

With our large brains and near-limitless habit formation capacities, we possess the ability to master almost any craft and succeed at virtually any endeavor. Yet instead of elevating us to lives of superhuman quality, habits keep most people struggling just to get by. Why? Because the habits that come most naturally to us tend to be bad for our long-term health and happiness .

Although we can turn almost any behavior into a habit, all behaviors do not become habits equally. Because of the underlying biology of habit formation, some behaviors are converted into habits quickly and easily, whereas others behaviors become habits only with substantial time and repetition. Anytime you read information about how long it takes to form habits, take the response with a grain of salt. Remind yourself that it depends on the habit. For example, a child can master the habit of avoiding hot stoves after a single painful experience but may require months of parental assistance to brush their teeth or take their vitamins.

Adults show the same disparities. Consider the ease of forming convenience food habits versus the difficulty of forming nutritious eating habits. Compare the minimal effort required to fall into bad sleep habits versus the challenge of creating good sleeping habits. Procrastinating versus becoming proactive. Spending money versus the habit of saving and investing. In each of these cases, the first habit comes swiftly and naturally to us; the second takes prolonged practice and is fragile even once formed.

If these bad habit-good habit inequities seem unfair, keep in mind that they are not new. Reflect, for instance, on the “seven deadly sins” from the Bible and you may notice a pattern: All represent instinctive human behaviors that easily become enduring habits despite their vices. And each “sin” requires considerable learning and labor to replace with more virtuous habits.

Although some may prefer the interpretation that our affinity for bad habits is the product of a divine sense of humor, neuroscience offers a more useful interpretation. Specifically, bad habits are formed easily primarily because they are rapidly reinforced. Good habits, in contrast, generally are reinforced only much later.

Using the above examples, junk food provides immediate gustatory pleasure and stress release; staying up late and sleeping in offer rapid entertainment and comfort rewards; procrastinating instantly spares us effort and risk; and spending gives us a momentary rush of positive emotions, especially if we found a good deal. In comparison, their good habit counterparts may require days, weeks, or even longer to enjoy benefits—even though these benefits are usually much larger than the smaller, immediate rewards of bad habits. To the human brain, the immediacy of the reinforcer is more important than the type or magnitude of the reinforcer.

We struggle to form good habits, therefore, not because of a lack of self-discipline or education but because we are biologically predisposed to repeat behaviors based on their immediate physical, social, and emotional consequences. This principle is true across the animal kingdom and likely predates humans by millions of years. However, only humans have the capacity to turn this principle to their advantage. Let’s look at how.

Using the Immediate Reinforcement Principle to Create Healthy Habits

In the modern world, behaving based on immediate consequences puts us on the road to mental illness, addiction , and metabolic diseases. Yet rather than being constrained by our native habit-forming tendencies, the human mind is uniquely able to create immediate positive consequences for behaviors that ordinarily take time to feel rewarding.

The typical person, for instance, may train for weeks to months to see pronounced exercise benefits. By then, most have given up due to the combination of the lack of visible progress and the immediate rewards offered by alternative behaviors such as social events or entertainment. Without changes to the reinforcement dynamics, this is a difficult cycle to break. To form lasting exercise or other healthy habits, we must introduce our own immediate reinforcers into the behavior. The reinforcement options are many, thankfully, including both external and internal rewards.

For example:

• Choosing a type or format of exercise we find most enjoyable
• Socializing the experience (e.g., workout partners, trainers, exercise groups, dogs)
• Building in competition , cooperation , novelty, or adventure
• Using a physical or online workout log to help visualize progress
• Reward ourselves for achieving daily milestones (e.g. getting to the gym, completing the workout, making a small improvement in performance, etc.)

The above are all examples of external reinforcers we can combine in real-time with our desired behaviors to provide sources of immediate positive feedback. As useful as these external systems are, however, immediate internal reinforcers may be even more important for long-term success. Internal reinforcers for behaviors such as exercise, sleep, nutrition , and finances usually come in the form of constructive self-talk and visualization . A single workout may not produce any visible changes in your physique, for example, but this didn’t stop Arnold Schwarzenegger from visualizing changes in his muscles as he was training as a source of internal reinforcement.

High performers in almost every field, similarly, employ positive self-talk during their activities as a real-time strategy to inspire consistency, resilience , and achievement. Importantly, these high performers use many combinations of internal and external reinforcers to create rapid positive feedback; in contrast, most people not only lack these strategies for creating immediate positive feedback for themselves, but they do the opposite. They unintentionally create immediate negative feedback for themselves through self-criticism and other negative self-talk when they are trying to form a new habit. This makes healthy habit formation nearly impossible.

Good news! God probably isn't punishing you. Instead, bad habits are easy and good habits are hard simply because of how they are reinforced. We can use the rules of reinforcement for us instead of against us, however. With practice, anyone can learn to incorporate sources of immediate reinforcement to form the habits of success and improve their health, wealth, and quality of life.

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Thomas Rutledge, Ph.D. , is a Professor-in-Residence in the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego and a staff psychologist at the VA San Diego Healthcare System.

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Good Habits, Bad Habits: A Conversation with Wendy Wood

Image: Patrick Fore/Unsplash

Early in her academic career, psychologist Wendy Wood noticed a trend: many of her fellow graduate students and professors struggled to get things done in the highly demanding but unstructured academic environment. Intelligence, talent, and motivation didn’t seem to matter—some of those who were struggling to stick to project plans or meet deadlines were among the brightest of the group. Why, she wondered, was it so easy to make the initial decision to change but so hard to persist in the long term? Willpower didn’t seem to be the issue—her colleagues wanted to and were trying to change—so what was? Over the past three decades, Wood has sought the answers to these questions. She recently wrote a book, Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes that Stick , which details the most important, practical insights from her research. We had the chance to talk about how better understanding how habits form and drive our behavior can help us change—and enjoy—our lives.

Michaela Barnett: Habits are ubiquitous, and we all probably think we know what a habit is, but as a researcher who has studied habits for years, how do you define a habit? And why do you think it’s important that we understand them?

Wendy Wood: You’re absolutely right that most people think they know what habits are.In fact, when I’ve conducted surveys, over 80 percent of people say they understand habits. But then I ask: So, how successful are you when you change behavior? Are you able to make changes and get them to stick? Those same people say, “Hmm, no, not very often.” So whatever people are understanding is not helping them.

Habits are a learning mechanism. All we have to do is repeat something and get rewarded for it, and we’re learning a habit. In research that I’ve done, we find that about 43 percent of what people do every day is repeated in the same context, usually while they are thinking about something else. They’re automatically responding without really making decisions. And that’s what a habit is. A habit is a sort of a mental shortcut to repeat what we did in the past that worked for us and got us some reward.

Most of us think of self-control as being able to force yourself to do things you don’t want to do. We have this idea that some people have super willpower and others don’t. You write a lot about why this is the wrong way to think about self-control. Why is that?

Many people actually confuse habit and self-control. The majority of people in my surveys say that in order to start a new habit you have to exert self-control, and that’s just not true. The issue with self-control is that we all know people who are just more successful at almost every domain of their lives, and psychologists have developed scales to identify these people by measuring how much self-control they have.

The people who score high on these scales tend to weigh less than the rest of us. They are more likely to have saved enough money for retirement. They have happier relationships, they’re more productive at work, they get better grades at school. These are all things that are associated with what we think of as self-control. But recent research by Angela Duckworth and colleagues has shown a fascinating contradiction: people who score high on self-control don’t achieve successes in life by exerting control. They are not practicing self-denial by white-knuckling through life. Instead, they know how to form habits that meet their goals.

We find that about 43 percent of what people do every day is repeated in the same context, usually while they are thinking about something else.

So, people who we thought had high self-control to achieve great life outcomes instead are really good at forming the right habits. They seem to understand the influence of situations and choose ones in which it’s easier to repeat desired actions. They don’t have much “friction” in their lives and so are not tempted to act in counterproductive ways.

It feels like changing our perspective on self-control can really help us reclaim our sense of self-worth and be kinder to ourselves. We can tweak our environments rather than continuously berating ourselves for “Oh man, I did this thing again that I didn’t want to do.” It’s a liberating way to view it.

That’s the flip side of self-control. It’s great to say: “Yes, I have a lot of self-control, and I am good at resisting temptation.” But so often we fail and then we feel like failures. It does sort of liberate us from that very unhappy kind of experience in a way.

Can you tell me about the M&M and carrot study you did and what it tells us about how our thinking self can actually get in the way of some of our health goals?

This was a study that I did with Pei-Ying Lin and John Monterosso. We trained people to choose carrots in a computer game. People played the game when they were hungry and they actually got the carrots. They had to move a joystick in the direction of the carrots when they saw them on the screen, and then they won carrots and got to eat them. All of our participants liked carrots, but they also liked chocolate. And after we had trained people to choose carrots by moving a joystick toward the carrots whenever they saw them on the screen, we gave them the opportunity to choose M&M’s if they wanted to. Now, when the screen was set up in just the same way as it was during training, people continued to choose carrots. Over 60 percent of them chose the carrots. But when the screen changed and they had to actually move the joystick in a different direction, then they stopped to think. And many more of them chose M&M’s.

We have found that when people are distracted or feeling particularly tired or overwhelmed, they fall back on good habits as well as bad habits.

In a way, this turns the standard thinking about habits upside down. People think habits are the bad things that they fall back on when they’re not thinking about what they want. But in our study, we formed beneficial habits to choose healthy food that, when people thought about it, they disrupted.

We tend to think of that top-down executive control as being our “good self.” But can the pause to think be the thing that keeps us from taking sustainable transportation or going to the gym if we already have set up those habits in the first place?

We have found in other research that when people are distracted or feeling particularly tired or overwhelmed, they fall back on good habits as well as bad habits. Their executive control is sort of off-grid. They are worrying about things that are happening in their lives or they are too tired to really make decisions. We see a boost in good-habit performance as well as bad habits. It’s surprising to most of us, because as you say we like to think that our conscious, executive control self is well-intentioned and is going to help us meet our goals.

I have three older sisters and all of them have young kids. My nieces and nephews range in age from 2 months old to 7 years old. In the book you mentioned that having young kids can disrupt routine and result in fewer habitual behaviors for parents. Is there any advice that I can give my sisters who are trying to form good new habits despite having young children?

One of the interesting things that emerged early on in this research was that if you live with other people, particularly children, you have fewer habits overall than other people simply because of the disruption that other people cause in your life. The important thing I found when I was a mom with young kids is to find a time or a place where you have actually do have some control. For me, it was 6:00 in the morning, because my kids usually slept until 7:00. I used that as my exercise hour and I would get back home in time to make them breakfast and send them off to school. I tried setting up exercise habits at other times of the day, and it just didn’t work, because they always needed to go to the doctor or needed to go to a friend’s house to play or do sports. I just didn’t have control over the rest of my day in the same way as I did very early in the morning. Eke out, find whatever time of day that is most consistently, uninterruptedly yours, and focus on building your habits there.

My sisters have all started to call being trapped to their kids’ schedules “ nap jail .”

(Laughs.) But you can’t anticipate when nap jail is going to happen!

The unanticipated nature is what makes it so hard! Beyond children, you write a lot more about the role of others in habit formation. How can we harness our relationships in habit formation?

I think we do that automatically. We’re always forming habits. My husband and I have a lot of habits that are shared as part of our relationship. We eat breakfast together, and we eat dinner together. He makes the coffee in the morning; I will wash all the fruit and put it out. We have patterns that are interconnected and those patterns are just as influential as the patterns in the rest of our environment. The other people we’re with, we’re sort of negotiating the habits that we’re going to form with them. And if you’ve been in a close relationship and then it has ended, it’s surprising how much your behavior changes because that other person is not there cueing a particular response anymore. You’ve lost your habit cue. It is maybe not a very romantic way of thinking about relationships, but it is an accurate one.  

When I moved to a new city a year ago to start grad school, I picked up a habit that I had always wanted: biking as my primary form of transportation. Why is a move or another big life change, like a relationship ending, an opportune time to pick up good habits and break bad ones?

That’s a perfect example of being in a new situation with new cues and new context, and we then start trying out new behaviors. We have to make decisions. It’s like in the carrot and M&M study where the screen changed and you had to make new decisions. The habit is not the first thing that comes to mind anymore. You now have to think, and you can use it as an opportunity to try new behaviors and to develop new patterns.

We think of these life changes as very stressful, unwelcome, difficult—but they are also opportunities.

That thinking self can get in the way, but it also can be a chance for us to start aligning our habits with our values.

Exactly. I had just the same experience as you. I went to Paris for nine months and I came back to Southern California. And as much as I love Southern California, I cannot stand the car traffic. I sold my car, and I talked my husband into renting an apartment close by a train station, and I don’t ride in cars or drive them anymore. Even in Southern California, it’s possible to walk and to take your bike.

It takes some thought to begin with to structure your life a little differently, but when you don’t have those cues anymore from your old context, then you’re freed up. It’s like a window of opportunity to make new decisions.

A lot of us might have also had the opposite experience where we live in one place and we develop a habit, but then we move and lose that routine and habit that took months or years to build. How resilient are habits to change and does length of time practicing that habit matter?

Well, length of time contributes to habit strength, so the longer you’ve done something, the stronger your habits. I have actually done some research with students transferring to a new university. What we found is that for people who have strong habits, if the context at the new school is similar to their old one, then they maintained their habits. People kept exercising just like they did at their old university if, for example, they had a gym at their apartment in both places. They could just sort of pick up the habit and keep going. But if they move to a new apartment without a gym and there wasn’t one close by, or if there was just a running track but they usually lifted weights, then they lost the habit. Moves can be very disruptive to your habit if it changes the cues, but not all moves change those cues. You can maintain the important parts of your context to continue a habit.

We often think about habits from a really personal or individual perspective, but what might be the role of government or policymakers in creating habits among citizens?

This was actually one of the most important messages that I wanted to convey in the book. We are all dependent on the context in which we live. We form habits based on what’s easy and rewarding, what’s easy for us to do repeatedly and what’s rewarding in our context in the places where we live. Across the country, in different states people experience different types of environments. We see that people in the U.S. have different habits in different states. For example, people exercise more in Colorado, in D.C., and in Alaska than many other parts of the country and they also tend to be healthier. Part of that is that healthy people self-select to move to those places, but part of it is also that those places influence us once we get there to have a healthier, more active lifestyle. And that has implications for our health and well-being.

We are all dependent on the context in which we live. We form habits based on what’s easy and rewarding, what’s easy for us to do repeatedly and what’s rewarding in our context in the places where we live.

I think that policymakers have a real responsibility to understand what options they’re giving us in the environments we live in. Are there sidewalks? Are they building a pedestrian-friendly community where people will get exercise just by walking? Do they offer recycling?

In more rural areas, people have to really work hard if they want to recycle. Recycling rates are much lower, because they have to take everything to some central facility somewhere away from their house—there’s no automatic pick-up. These things make a difference in our lives.

We know how to change behavior at a policy level because we did it so well with the smoking cessation campaigns. We taxed cigarettes. We took the ads off the air. We made it so that you have to ask somebody in a store to give you a packet of cigarettes—you can’t just pick it up off the shelf. We banned smoking in public places. I’m predicting there will be similar sorts of policies put in place with e-cigarettes in part because they are being used so heavily among kids. The limits on e-cigarettes, the first ones that are going to come, I think, is to make them taste like tobacco—getting rid of those bubble-gum flavors so that they aren’t so rewarding to kids.

Let’s talk about rewards. To build habits, behaviors need to be rewarding and it’s best if the reward is intrinsic or built into the behavior itself. But if I found an activity rewarding, wouldn’t I already be doing that behavior? How do you start to recognize and feel rewards in behaviors that you don’t really like, but that you want to?

They don’t have to be intrinsic to the behavior—they can be extrinsic rewards too, so long as they are immediate. And it’s that immediacy that matters. There’s also a neural process that happens—when you are rewarded, your brain releases dopamine, which is a neurochemical, that actually binds together the context that you’re in and the response that you gave in order to get that reward. That’s one of the reasons why rewards are so important and so useful for forming habits.

The best evidence we have at this point is that it can take two to three months to form a simple habit—to make something so automated that you don’t have to think about it.

A reward that you get, say, in a month—some bonus for working hard that you get in your next paycheck isn’t going to help you form a habit today. That reward has to occur immediately because dopamine works for maybe up to a minute (we’re still learning about the time frame of dopamine effects), but it works for a short amount of time tying together that information in memory. That’s why the reward has to be immediate. Anything that’s later, your mind is on to other things and it’s no longer connecting context and responses.

Are there any other big misconceptions you want to correct about habits?

A question I often get is: how often do I have to repeat something in order to make it a habit and the conventional wisdom is 21 days, but that’s just not true. The best evidence we have at this point is that it can take two to three months to form a simple habit—to make something so automated that you don’t have to think about it, you just do it. Sort of like when you start tying your shoes. You put your shoes on and you tie them and you don’t even have to form an intention. Instead it just flows while you’re thinking about something else.

So be in it for the long game, be patient, and don’t give up.

And if you like what you’re doing, you’re not going to find it painful to keep repeating things.

Stop trying to force yourself to do things that you don’t really like and instead find the ones you do.

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Atomic Habits Summary: Chapters, Key Points, and More

About Atomic Habits by James Clear

Who is james clear, atomic habits chapter summaries, my key takeaways from atomic habits, final thoughts.

This “Atomic Habits” summary will provide you with some key summaries, insights, and some of my personal learnings from the book. If you haven’t read the book yet or you just want to get the key ideas, then read on.

Most of us have a love-hate relationship with our own habits. We seem to find it hard to break bad ones and form good ones. On one side, you want to form better habits so you can grow more, get ahead, live healthier, and become happier. But then comes the reality check— habits are hard to break.

That’s why Atomic Habits by bestselling author has become such a phenomenon in the self-help and productivity world. I’m going to share some key insights from the book that have helped me and will— hopefully— help you in some way too.

“ Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones ” is a book with one clear objecitve— to help readers achieve positive results through the power of small habits.

I’ve always been an entrepreneur. Five years ago, I co-founded a growth marketing agency while operating as the Chief Operations Officer of Chinkee Tan’s company, Team POsitive. Life became quite overwhelming. You always have dozens of client requests to manage, Zoom calls with prospects, fires to put out, administrative work, and so on.

Around the point when I was overwhelmed to the bone and struggling to fit work in the limited 24 hours in the day, I landed on a podcast interview with James Clear. I found his insights immensely valuable and actionable (important if you want to see results). I later picked up his book, which would shape both my personal habits and those within my organization.

Clear’s central premise in Atomic Habits revolves around the idea that tiny changes, compounded over time, lead to significant transformations. Instead of focusing solely on setting big goals, Clear emphasizes the importance of refining daily habits to achieve sustainable progress.

What stood out with Atomic Habits’ approach from other self-help books from the get-go is Clear’s pragmatic approach. He doesn’t just preach the importance of habits; he provides actionable strategies backed by scientific research to implement them effectively.

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” James Clear , “Atomic Habits”

Clear looks into the psychology behind habit formation and also explains why we do what we do and how we can make lasting changes. His framework of cue, craving, response, and reward offers a comprehensive understanding of habit loops, empowering readers to break bad habits and cultivate positive ones.

Throughout the book, Clear emphasizes the importance of environment in shaping behavior. This resonated deeply with me as a business owner. It highlighted the significance of fostering a culture that promotes positive habits among employees.

James Clear is a renowned author, speaker, and productivity expert known for his work on habit formation and behavior change. With a background in biology and business, Clear combines scientific research with practical insights to help individuals and organizations achieve their goals.

Clear’s journey into the world of habit formation began after a near-fatal accident in his teenage years, which led him to reevaluate his habits and lifestyle choices. Through years of experimentation and study, Clear developed a deep understanding of human behavior and the mechanisms underlying habit formation.

He shares his findings through his writing, speaking engagements, and online platform. As a business owner himself, James brings a unique perspective to his work, offering practical strategies for improving productivity. His insights have resonated with millions of readers worldwide, making him a trusted authority in the field of habit formation and behavior change.

As I always like to do (because readers seem to love them), I take the entirety of each chapter and give you a look at what each section communicates.

Chapter 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits

In the first chapter, James introduces the concept of atomic habits. This is what he calls the small changes that compound over time to produce significant results. He emphasizes the importance of focusing on systems rather than goals and explains how tiny improvements can lead to remarkable transformations.

Chapter 2: How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa)

Second, Clear explores the relationship between habits and identity, highlighting how our behaviors reinforce our self-image and vice versa. He discusses the concept of “identity-based habits” and explains how changing our beliefs about ourselves can lead to lasting habit change.

Chapter 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps

At this point, we get introduced to James’ popular framework for habit formation. There are four parts to the system— cue, craving, response, and reward . He explains each step in detail and provides practical strategies for implementing them in everyday life.

Chapter 4: The Man Who Didn’t Look Right

This chapter shares the story of Jerry Seinfeld and his commitment to daily writing. What I picked up from Chapter 4 the most is the power of consistency in habit formation. Clear discusses the importance of tracking progress and staying committed to small actions over time.

Chapter 5: The Best Way to Start a New Habit

This part gives you advice on how to make habit formation easier by starting small and gradually increasing the difficulty. James Clear uses this part to explain the concept of “ habit stacking ” and provides examples of how to incorporate new habits into existing routines.

“People get so caught up in the fact that they have limits that they rarely exert the effort required to get close to them.” James Clear

Chapter 6: Motivation is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More

In this chapter, you learn the big role your environment plays in shaping your behavior. Clear suggests making small changes to our surroundings to support our habits, something that honestly helped me a lot. I always thought that you just had to deal with the environment around you, no matter what— noisy kids, messy room, inbox with 5,000 unread emails. But Clear asserts the importance of designing an environment that promotes desired behaviors and minimizes friction.

Chapter 7: The Secret to Self-Control

Clear explores the concept of willpower and self-control. This chapter also debunked the biggest myth about motivation that I believed forever. He suggests reframing habits as choices and creating systems that automate good decisions are what will ultimately reduce the need for willpower.

Chapter 8: How to Make Good Habits Inevitable and Bad Habits Impossible

You’ll get strategies for making good habits more attractive and bad habits less appealing in this chapter. You also learn the concept of “temptation bundling,” pairing enjoyable activities with less desirable tasks to increase motivation.

Chapter 9: The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change

Making habits satisfying by linking them to immediate rewards. This chapter discusses the role of Dopamine in habit formation and suggests finding ways to make desired behaviors more enjoyable.

Chapter 10: How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day

Clear offers advice on how to stay consistent with habits over the long term. One thing I implemented from this chatper was creating a habit contract. Other things you can do is joining a community and focusing on the process rather than the outcome to maintain motivation.

Chapter 11: How an Accountability Partner Can Change Everything

Clear discusses the benefits of accountability in habit formation and suggests finding a partner to hold you to your commitments. This isn’t new, but it’s a good reminder. Habits are formed best when someone holds you to a standard.

Chapter 12: The Truth About Talent

Clear explores the role of genetics in talent and skill development. One emphasis here is the importance of deliberate practice and consistent effort. James suggests focusing on improving habits rather than relying solely on natural talent.

Chapter 13: The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work

The “Goldilocks Rule” suggests that humans are most motivated when tasks are neither too easy nor too difficult. He discusses the importance of finding the right level of challenge to stay engaged and motivated. I kind of liken this to the idea of Flow State, which Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi said happens when you have the perfect mix of challenge and enjoyment.

Chapter 14: The Downside of Creating Good Habits

There are potential downsides to habit formation. I appreciated this chapter because it just made the idea of habit-building more real. Two downsides I picked up were rigidity and complacency. That’s why periodically reassessing our habits helps us see if they continue to serve us effectively. If not, it’s time to make new habits.

Chapter 15: How to Break a Bad Habit (and Replace It with a Good One)

This chapter has many practical strategies for breaking bad habits and replacing them with healthier alternatives. Some ideas that stood out most for me were identifying triggers, disrupting the habit loop, and finding healthier ways to satisfy underlying cravings.

Chapter 16: The Best Way to Start a New Habit

Clear revisits the topic of habit formation and offers additional strategies for making new habits stick. He emphasizes the importance of repetition, consistency, and self-compassion in the habit-building process.

No doubt, there’s so much to learn from James’ Atomic Habits. Allow me to share the three most important points to me:

• Focus on Systems, Not Goals: Clear’s emphasis on building systems rather than solely focusing on goals was eye-opening. Since I started concentrating on small, consistent actions that form habits, I’ve learned how to create more sustainable progress over time. This perspective shift has helped me prioritize daily actions that contribute to long-term success rather than becoming fixated on distant objectives.
• The Power of Environment: Clear’s insights into the influence of environment on behavior really struck a chord with me. Since I started optimizing my surroundings to support desired habits and minimize friction, I now find it easier to stay on track with our goals. Also, as a leader in my organization, I’ve realized the importance of fostering a workplace culture and physical environment that encourages positive behaviors and reinforces our organizational values. I’ve shared concepts from James Clear countless times with the people under my leadership.
• Consistency is Key: Perhaps the most profound takeaway for me overall was the importance of consistency in habit formation. Again, nothing new. But it’s still gold. Specifically, it was Clear’s examples of how small, repeated actions compound over time reinforced the idea that sustainable change comes from daily practice. This reminder to prioritize consistency in both personal and professional habits has been invaluable in driving continuous improvement and growth within my organization.

Atomic Habits is a compelling read for anyone seeking to optimize their personal and professional lives. In many ways, I saw the book as an encyclopedia of productivity practices. There are so many practical insights, coupled with real-life examples and actionable strategies. I honestly don’t think I’ll be able to apply them all in the next decade. But that’s part of what makes Atomic Habits great.

At times though, the book does feel overwhelming. I don’t recommend going through it in a short span of time. Take the time to really go through each chapter and pick up things you can start implementing. Focus on maybe two or three action points per week then build up with time. Some will stick, some won’t. See what works for you.

But it’s that richness that makes Atomic Habits a valuable resource for business owners, employees, students, and practically anyone striving for continuous improvement.

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I’m an entrepreneur, consultant, speaker, passion-chaser, and writer. My mission is to help purpose-driven professionals and entrepreneurs fuel their passion and stay productive. At the end of my time here on earth, my goal is I would have helped over 10,000 leaders live a life filled with passion, purpose and productivity.

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Why is it so hard to break a bad habit?

• personal growth

How to Break a Bad Habit and Replace It With a Good One

Bad habits interrupt your life and prevent you from accomplishing your goals. They jeopardize your health — both mentally and physically. And they waste your time and energy.

So why do we still do them? And most importantly, is there anything you can do about it?

I’ve previously written about the science of how habits start , so now let’s focus on the practice of making changes in the real world. How can you delete your bad behaviors and stick to good ones instead?

I certainly don’t have all of the answers, but keep reading and I’ll share what I’ve learned about how to break a bad habit.

What causes bad habits?

Most of your bad habits are caused by two things…

Stress and boredom.

Most of the time, bad habits are simply a way of dealing with stress and boredom. Everything from biting your nails to overspending on a shopping spree to drinking every weekend to wasting time on the internet can be a simple response to stress and boredom. 1

But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can teach yourself new and healthy ways to deal with stress and boredom, which you can then substitute in place of your bad habits.

Of course, sometimes the stress or boredom that is on the surface is actually caused by deeper issues. These issues can be tough to think about, but if you’re serious about making changes then you have to be honest with yourself.

Are there certain beliefs or reasons that are behind the bad habits? Is there something deeper — a fear, an event, or a limiting belief — that is causing you to hold on to something that is bad for you?

Recognizing the causes of your bad habits is crucial to overcoming them.

You don’t eliminate a bad habit, you replace it.

All of the habits that you have right now — good or bad — are in your life for a reason. In some way, these behaviors provide a benefit to you, even if they are bad for you in other ways.

Sometimes the benefit is biological like it is with smoking or drugs. Sometimes it’s emotional like it is when you stay in a relationship that is bad for you. And in many cases, your bad habit is a simple way to cope with stress. For example, biting your nails, pulling your hair, tapping your foot, or clenching your jaw.

These “benefits” or reasons extend to smaller bad habits as well.

For example, opening your email inbox as soon as you turn on your computer might make you feel connected. At the same time looking at all of those emails destroys your productivity, divides your attention, and overwhelms you with stress. But, it prevents you from feeling like you’re “missing out” … and so you do it again.

Because bad habits provide some type of benefit in your life, it’s very difficult to simply eliminate them. (This is why simplistic advice like “just stop doing it” rarely works.)

Instead, you need to replace a bad habit with a new habit that provides a similar benefit.

For example, if you smoke when you get stressed, then it’s a bad plan to “just stop smoking” when that happens. Instead, you should come up with a different way to deal with stress and insert that new behavior instead of having a cigarette.

In other words, bad habits address certain needs in your life. And for that reason, it’s better to replace your bad habits with a healthier behavior that addresses that same need. If you expect yourself to simply cut out bad habits without replacing them, then you’ll have certain needs that will be unmet and it’s going to be hard to stick to a routine of “just don’t do it” for very long.

How to break a bad habit

Here are some additional ideas for breaking your bad habits and thinking about the process in a new way.

Choose a substitute for your bad habit. You need to have a plan ahead of time for how you will respond when you face the stress or boredom that prompts your bad habit. What are you going to do when you get the urge to smoke? (Example: breathing exercises instead.) What are you going to do when Facebook is calling to you to procrastinate? (Example: write one sentence for work.) Whatever it is and whatever you’re dealing with, you need to have a plan for what you will do instead of your bad habit.

Cut out as many triggers as possible. If you smoke when you drink, then don’t go to the bar. If you eat cookies when they are in the house, then throw them all away. If the first thing you do when you sit on the couch is pick up the TV remote, then hide the remote in a closet in a different room. Make it easier on yourself to break bad habits by avoiding the things that cause them.

Right now, your environment makes your bad habit easier and good habits harder. Change your environment and you can change the outcome.

Join forces with somebody. How often do you try to diet in private? Or maybe you “quit smoking” … but you kept it to yourself? (That way no one will see you fail, right?)

Instead, pair up with someone and quit together. The two of you can hold each other accountable and celebrate your victories together. Knowing that someone else expects you to be better is a powerful motivator.

Surround yourself with people who live the way you want to live. You don’t need to ditch your old friends, but don’t underestimate the power of finding some new ones.

Visualize yourself succeeding. See yourself throwing away the cigarettes or buying healthy food or waking up early. Whatever the bad habit is that you are looking to break, visualize yourself crushing it, smiling, and enjoying your success. See yourself building a new identity .

You don’t need to be someone else, you just need to return to the old you. So often we think that to break bad habits, we need to become an entirely new person. The truth is that you already have it in you to be someone without your bad habits. In fact, it’s very unlikely that you had these bad habits all of your life. You don’t need to quit smoking, you just need to return to being a non–smoker. You don’t need to transform into a healthy person, you just need to return to being healthy. Even if it was years ago, you have already lived without this bad habit, which means you can most definitely do it again.

Use the word “but” to overcome negative self–talk. One thing about battling bad habits is that it’s easy to judge yourself for not acting better. Every time you slip up or make a mistake, it’s easy to tell yourself how much you suck. 2

Whenever that happens, finish the sentence with “but”…

• “I’m fat and out of shape, but I could be in shape a few months from now.”
• “I’m stupid and nobody respects me, but I’m working to develop a valuable skill.”
• “I’m a failure, but everybody fails sometimes.”

Plan for failure. We all slip up every now and then.

As my main man Steve Kamb says, “When you screw up, skip a workout, eat bad foods, or sleep in, it doesn’t make you a bad person. It makes you human. Welcome to the club.”

So rather than beating yourself up over a mistake, plan for it. We all get off track, what separates top performers from everyone else is that they get back on track very quickly. For a handful of strategies that can help you bounce back when you make a mistake, read this article .

Where to go from here

If you’re looking for the first step to breaking bad habits, I’d suggest starting with awareness.

It’s easy to get caught up in how you feel about your bad habits. You can make yourself feel guilty or spend your time dreaming about how you wish things were … but these thoughts take you away from what’s actually happening.

Instead, it’s awareness that will show you how to actually make change.

• When does your bad habit actually happen?
• How many times do you do it each day?
• Where are you?
• Who are you with?
• What triggers the behavior and causes it to start?

Simply tracking these issues will make you more aware of the behavior and give you dozens of ideas for stopping it.

Here’s a simple way to start: just track how many times per day your bad habit happens. Put a piece of paper in your pocket and a pen. Each time your bad habit happens, mark it down on your paper. At the end of the day, count up all of the tally marks and see what your total is.

In the beginning your goal isn’t to judge yourself or feel guilty about doing something unhealthy or unproductive. The only goal is to be aware of when it happens and how often it happens. Wrap your head around the problem by being aware of it. Then, you can start to implement the ideas in this article and break your bad habit.

Breaking bad habits takes time and effort, but mostly it takes perseverance. Most people who end up breaking bad habits try and fail multiple times before they make it work. You might not have success right away, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have it at all.

P.S. If you want more practical ideas for how to build new habits (and break bad habits), check out my book  Atomic Habits , which will show you how small changes in habits can lead to remarkable results.

Hat tip to Leo Babauta for originally talking about stress and boredom driving bad habits.

Hat tip to Scott Young for sharing the great idea about using the word “but” to overcome negative self–talk.

Thanks for reading. You can get more actionable ideas in my popular email newsletter. Each week, I share 3 short ideas from me, 2 quotes from others, and 1 question to think about. Over 3,000,000 people subscribe . Enter your email now and join us.

James Clear writes about habits, decision making, and continuous improvement. He is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Atomic Habits . The book has sold over 20 million copies worldwide and has been translated into more than 60 languages.

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Process of Quitting a Bad Habit Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

The only way of quitting a bad habit that seems to be most effective one is to replace it with a good habit. Human nature cannot tolerate a hole or vacuum in life, if anybody wants to eliminate a bad habit from his or her personality, it is required to fill that gap with something influential and positive. Otherwise, that vacuum might follow a path of least resistance and get filled with the same bad habit again.

Undoubtedly, process of quitting or replacing bad habit is very difficult and emotional. It requires motivation and determination as well as an aim with a defined time limitation. In this paper, we will discuss the important steps that may help achieve the targeted goal.

People who realize that they need to bring change in their lives by quitting their particular bad habit can easily achieve their target as compared to those who fear facing problems during the process of quitting bad habit. They are more likely to deny the fact that quitting bad habit can alter their lifestyle in a better manner. As a beginner, it is vital to take a start by defining particular attitude aims (Brizer, 2011). It can be done by altering daily activities and gradual changing the behavioural characteristics.

Do not try to do it alone, as it is a crucial attempt. It needs motivation from such a partner who is also willing to quit the same bad habit. For example, if two persons try to quit smoking together then it becomes easier to get success. Otherwise, it has been noted that when a person sees another person with the same bad habit he or she loses motivation and turns back to the same old habit (Brizer, 2011). But, if one individual with the same goal keeps on motivating another partner during the critical process of kicking bad habit it surely brings a positive change.

Quitting or developing any habit is not that easy as it might seem to be. It needs time along with determination. A person needs to maintain a diary or calendar in which sub-goals should be mentioned with timeline. It means this process also needs proper planning before implementation. For example, if a person drinks 15 cups of tea daily, he or she needs to cut down the number of cups slowly and accordingly i.e. cutting down two tea cups per week. Also, hourly division can help in this situation (Lock & Grange, 2004).

Such as, if a person is addicted to puff two cigarettes in an hour then he or she should try to take one cigarette per hour. At this stage during the process of quitting bad habit, it is significant to replace bad habit with the positive ones. In such a situation, physical exercise, intake of healthy foods, and spending time with friends and family can help overcome a bad habit successfully (Febish, Febish, & Oxley, 2011). For example, if a person is habitual of drinking too many soft drinks, it will be very helpful for such a person to drink a chill glass of water to fulfil the urge of having soft drink.

During the process of overcoming the bad habit, slippage also gives motivation to the person. For example, if a person is aiming to quit habit of eating too many chocolates in order to put off some weight then after following a strict diet plan for two or three weeks that person can eat a piece of cake or a sweet – say once in a fifteen days (Febish, Febish, & Oxley, 2011).

It will give him or her motivation that he or she is not being completely deprived from what he loves to eat the most. It is a known fact that quitting bad habit can make a person frustrated or aggressive. It does not mean that the person starts giving headache to his family members or friends because that person is not getting, what he or she is addicted to (Brizer, 2011).

It is because this attitude can affect their behaviour and relations with others in an adverse manner. One should continue to realize the significant importance of bringing change in the life by quitting a bad habit. Self-motivation and rewarding are other important factors that play key role during the whole process. It is vital to keep on rewarding yourself for all the initial steps you may undertake daily. Also, other people may also reward you (Lock & Grange, 2004). Try to meet those people, who can appreciate you for the change and those who could get motivation from the positive changes in your personality or behaviour.

From the above process analysis of quitting bad habit, it has been observed that the will of a person is the foremost important without which no one can bring change in his or her life. Process of quitting bad habit requires inspiration and courage of face all difficult phases of the process and to attain the targeted aim successfully.

Brizer, D. (2011). Quitting Smoking For Dummies. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.

Febish, G., Febish, G., & Oxley, J. (2011). Food for Thought. New York: Xlibris Corporation.

Lock, J., & Grange, D. (2004). Help your teenager beat an eating disorder. New York: Guilford Press.

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1. IvyPanda . "Process of Quitting a Bad Habit." April 29, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/process-of-quitting-a-bad-habit/.

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How to Break Up with Your Bad Habits

Why is breaking a habit so difficult? Because habits are made up of three components: a trigger (for example, feeling stressed), a behavior (browsing the Internet), and a reward (feeling sated). Each time we reinforce the reward, we become more likely to repeat the behavior. This is why old habits are so hard to break — it takes more than self-control to change them. But after 20 years of studying the behavioral neuroscience of how habits form, and the best way to tackle them, researchers have found a surprisingly natural solution: using mindfulness training to make people more aware of the “reward” reinforcing their behavior. Doing so helps people tap into what is driving their habit in the first place. Once this happens, they are more easily able to change their association with the “reward” from a positive one to a more accurate (and often negative) one.

Breaking habits is hard. We all know this, whether we’ve failed our latest diet (again), or felt the pull to refresh our Instagram feed instead of making progress on a work project that is past due. This is largely because we are constantly barraged by stimuli engineered to make us crave and consume , stimuli that hijack the reward-based learning system  in our brains designed initially for survival.

• JB Jud Brewer MD PhD is an addiction psychiatrist and neuroscientist specializing in anxiety and habit change. He is an associate professor at Brown University’s School of Public Health and Medical School and the author of The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love — Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits .  Dr. Brewer has posted 20+ short videos on how to develop resilience and work with Coronavirus-related mental health issues on his YouTube Channel .    

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The Power of Habit

36 pages • 1 hour read

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

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Part 1, Chapter 2

Part 1, Chapter 3

Part 2, Chapter 4

Part 2, Chapter 5

Part 2, Chapter 6

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Part 3, Chapter 8

Part 3, Chapter 9

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Discussion Questions

Summary and Study Guide

Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business investigates the science behind habit formation in the human brain. Drawing on corporate case studies and pioneering scientific experiments, Duhigg analyzes how individuals, organizations, and societies can use the knowledge of habit formation to change their behaviors. Published in 2012 by Random House, the nonfiction book has reached a broad public readership and landed on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-seller lists.

The Prologue explains that habits are unconscious behaviors that can rule our daily routines. Scientists have shown that the human brain cannot discern between good or bad habits, allowing both types to replay in a loop. Despite their power, our habits are not set in stone.

Chapter 1 tells the story of Eugene Pauly, who lost his memory due to an illness. Researchers discovered that despite Eugene’s memory loss, he was still able to form new habits. Here Duhigg explains the habit loop, which includes a cue, a routine, and a reward, and which he references throughout the rest of the book.

In Chapter 2, Duhigg examines two corporate case studies. The first is the story of Pepsodent toothpaste, which marketing expert Harry Hopkins sold to an American public who had rarely brushed their teeth. Decades later, Proctor and Gamble adopted a similar strategy for selling their Febreze freshening spray. Both companies understood that manipulating consumers’ cravings would help to sell their products.

Chapter 3 explores the “golden rule” of habit change, which contends that we can never fully eliminate our habits, we can only change them. Using multiple case studies, including the story of Tony Dungy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Bob Wilson of Alcoholics Anonymous, Duhigg explores the process of changing only the routine portion of the habit loop (cue > routine > reward) while keeping the cue and reward the same.

Chapter 4 investigates keystone habits, which are the types of habits that play critical roles in our lives. Once altered, keystone habits begin to affect other, related habits. Leaders can learn to improve their organizations by targeting a single keystone habit first. Duhigg tells the story of Paul O’Neill, who took over as CEO of the aluminum company ALCORA. O’Neill targeted a keystone habit in the company—worker safety—a step that ultimately improved other organizational habits.

Chapter 5 details the role of willpower in the process of changing our habits. Companies can teach employees willpower, thereby improving both the individual and the organization. Duhigg draws on the case study of Starbucks, a company that dedicates time to training its employees in willpower. In Chapter 6, Duhigg points to two organizations that had historically weak organizational habits. The Rhode Island Hospital and the London Underground both experienced moments of crisis in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, providing their leadership an opportunity to reshape institutional routines.

Chapter 7 investigates how large corporations, such as Target, use consumers’ spending habits to better sell their products. Because humans prefer things that are familiar and are wary of unknown products, companies have learned to package new objects in recognizable surroundings. Duhigg calls this marketing strategy the familiarity loop .

Chapter 8 evaluates how habits function within larger communities. Using two case studies, the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and the expansive Saddleback Church in California, Duhigg shows how strong and weak community ties propel social movements forward. Without community ties, social movements fail.

In Chapter 9, the author questions whether individuals are culpable for their bad habits. Duhigg examines the stories of two people who both found themselves in trouble with the law. The courts found one person guilty of their actions and the other innocent, although both were acting out of instinct and habit. The key difference between the two, Duhigg explains, was one person’s awareness of her bad habit.

In the Appendix, Duhigg offers some short steps to addressing our habits. The author cautions that there is no single, quick fix for changing our routines.

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