An insightful book into the unknown psychology of our everyday actions. Duhiggs’ book empowers the reader with knowledge about how habits work through detailed descriptions of the cues, cravings, and sensations that motivate us to do what we do.

What I personally learnt from this book is that, to change/create a habit it is important to isolate the cue (the initial instigator), habit (what you want to change/ trying to do), and reward (why you are having that habit, what you are craving/ what is the purpose).

This reward may be a sensation, the cooling effect of minty toothpaste, that you eventually start to crave. In the case of exercise, this may be the dopamine rush afterwards. To create a habit clearly identify the reward that you want to be if it from. You can also practice the habit at a particular time or sandwich the new habit between two habits so that the time/previous habit becomes your cue. E.g. homework at 6pm everyday or homework after shower and before bed

To change a habit, keep the cue and reward and change the habit itself only. Then practice it numerous times until it becomes automatic. You can keep visual cues to remind you that you are changing the habit and not just following your previous one. If this doesn’t work perhaps you haven’t correctly identified the reward and should dig deeper to find the true base problem.

Overall, I highly recommend a read as my summary does not suffice to explain the great wealth of information hidden in the book.