By Reading The Power Of Habits Book Summary Know how and why our habits are formed.
The Power of Habits tells us how we get used to doing something and why it is difficult to get rid of it. Apart from this, it tells how we can leave our bad habits and adopt good habits. With the help of the scientific methods given in this book, you can adopt or leave any habit.
Our habits are formed in 3 steps.
Before we see how our habits are formed, let us see why our habits are formed.
The simple answer is that our brains are a bit lazy. He always wants to save his energy and time. That’s why we get used to doing some work again and again and we are able to do that work easily in less time. In a research, it was revealed that we have a habit of doing 40% of the work we do in a day.
This saves us a lot of time and energy, which gives our mind a rest. Now let’s see how habits are formed. Habits are formed in three steps: Cue, Routine and Reward.
Q: Why are those external things that compel us to do some work. As you see your belly protruding that forces you to do something to get it inside.(The Power of Habits Book Summary And 6 important lessons)
Routines: Routines are the things we do. For example, when you saw your bulging stomach, you reduced your food or went to exercise. Reward: Every action has its own consequences. Like when you started eating less, your stomach started going inside little by little. The biggest part of habit forming is the reward. (The Power of Habits Book Summary And 6 important lessons)
Whenever you get the desired reward for some work, then you start doing that work again and again. For example, when your restlessness decreases after smoking a cigarette and you start feeling better, then you start smoking cigarettes again and again and in this way it becomes your habit. (The Power of Habits Book Summary And 6 important lessons)
Now let’s see why it is so difficult to give up habits. This is because a special part of our brain does the work of forming habits. The name of this part is Basal ganglia. The basal ganglia are independent of the influence of other parts of the brain. (The Power of Habits Book Summary And 6 important lessons)
This means that even if your entire brain is damaged except for the basal ganglia, it can still function smoothly. You can’t get over it quickly because it’s completely free. However, it is possible to overcome it in other ways.
(The Power of Habits Book Summary And 6 important lessons)
When we do not get the reward, we start getting the call for that reward.
We feel happy when we get rewarded after a routine. But when we give up our habits, we do not get the reward and our brain starts craving for that reward, due to which we feel like repeating that habit again.
If you have a habit of smoking cigarettes and you decide one day that you will stop smoking, then you will feel that you start craving for it if you do not smoke. This is because smoking a cigarette reduces your discomfort or makes you feel better. Now because you are not getting that reward, so your brain wants you to do that work.
In a research done on animals, it was revealed that even before getting the reward, our brain starts thinking about the reward. And when we do not get the reward, our restlessness increases or we start getting angry. (The Power of Habits Book Summary And 6 important lessons)
This applies to both good and bad habits. Suppose you have a habit of flossing after eating food. If you don’t floss once, you will often feel that something is stuck in your tooth and you will feel like flossing. (The Power of Habits Book Summary And 6 important lessons)
Big companies take advantage of your habits. They make some products from which you get reward and then you make that product your habit. Like you get happy when you get more likes on Facebook. Slowly you get used to Facebook.
(The Power of Habits Book Summary And 6 important lessons)
you can change your habits.
As already mentioned that it is so difficult to give up any habit because our brain starts craving for the reward received in that habit. Therefore, the easy way to get rid of a bad habit is to calm your craving in some other way.
For example, if you have a habit of drinking alcohol, then ask yourself the question why you drink alcohol. (The Power of Habits Book Summary And 6 important lessons)
Do you feel anxious?
Do you drink alcohol to reduce your stress?
Have you broken up?
Is something bothering you?
Whatever the reason you feel the need for alcohol, just find another way to calm that reason. For example, if something is bothering you, then talk to a good friend of yours. This will reduce your confusion and you will not crave for alcohol. (The Power of Habits Book Summary And 6 important lessons)
Slowly you will see that you are getting rid of that habit. But sometimes it also happens that even after leaving those habits, we feel like doing that work after a few days. For example, if your special friend with whom you used to talk is no longer in touch with you or you have a fight with him, then you may get into the habit of drinking again.
Often this happens because in such situations you start feeling that there is no one to support you. So you make alcohol your partner and start drinking again.
So what do we do to get rid of it? In such situations, you have to trust that you are not alone. God is with you and will always be with you. If you become religious, meditate and trust in God, then you will get the strength to fight against any situation.
(The Power of Habits Book Summary And 6 important lessons)
Change your habits gradually.
You cannot change your habits immediately. Even if you try, if you do not change the habit, you will feel defeated and will soon be defeated. That’s why it is important that you change your habits little by little.
When Paul O’Neil became the CEO of Alcoa Aluminum Company, he asked his employees to focus on cleaning the industry first and creating a safe environment for all. (The Power of Habits Book Summary And 6 important lessons)
Alcoa Company was already incurring losses. In such a situation, when Paul became the new CEO, everyone felt that he would think about taking the company towards profit. But he put everything aside and focused on the safe environment first. This angered the investors a bit. Everyone felt that now Alka’s company would be completely submerged.
but that did not happen. Alcoa made five times more profit the very next year. This happened because due to the improvement of habits, the thinking of the people there also improved. Now the managers and employees there started thinking of some such way so that they can make aluminum things in a safe way. The advantage of this was that the company slowly started moving towards profit.
Similarly, if you pay attention to your small habits, then one day you will definitely get big benefits. If you are obese and you want to lose weight, then do not think of going on a complete diet and starting exercising. Gradually improve your eating habits. You will feel the difference one day.
(The Power of Habits Book Summary And 6 important lessons)
If you have the will power then you can adopt or leave any habit.
If you really want to make a good habit, then make it a habit to strengthen your will power. With a strong will power, you can fight any problem and win over it. (The Power of Habits Book Summary And 6 important lessons)
Has it ever happened to you that sometimes you do your work very well, while sometimes the same work seems burdensome to you? This happens because your will power becomes weak on that day. Your will power sometimes gets tired like you. (The Power of Habits Book Summary And 6 important lessons)
You can train yourself to strengthen the will power. For example, if you have ever traveled in an airplane, then you must have seen that the behavior of air hostess is very good. She talks to all the passengers calmly and calmly handles them even if any passenger starts getting angry or fighting.
Air hostess is prepared for such an environment. They are given training on what to do if such situations arise. Similarly, you can strengthen your will power by preparing yourself for every environment. (The Power of Habits Book Summary And 6 important lessons)
In another research, it was revealed that if you do any work of your own free will, then you are able to do that work well. Like when you read stories, you like it and you can also read them well. But if you read an article for any assignment of your job then you get bored. So don’t do any work under pressure. This can weaken your will power.
(The Power of Habits Book Summary And 6 important lessons)
Sometimes bad situations teach us a lot.
It is said that whatever happens happens for good. If something does not go well with you, then understand that somewhere it is your benefit. We can understand this thing with the help of an example. (The Power of Habits Book Summary And 6 important lessons)
In 1987, a ticket collector noticed a small fire at King Cross Underground station. But he did nothing because it was not his business. Slowly the fire started increasing but no one knew how to use the fire extinguisher, nor was anyone allowed to use it.
The fire spread slowly. 31 people died badly in this accident. Desmond Fennel was the officer who investigated this entire incident. When he came to know about the cause of the fire, he took many necessary steps and made good arrangements for the safety of the people. As a result of this, there is a safety manager posted at every station today, whose job is to protect the people.
So from this lesson we get this lesson that we also get some benefits from the loss caused by some accidents. Sometimes a jerk is needed to wake up sleeping people.
(The Power of Habits Book Summary And 6 important lessons)
So this is the summary of the power of habit book , i hope you liked it. If you find this informative then also check out some more book summaries like The 5 second rule , The magic of big thinking , Finish book by john acuff, Hooked book summary in my blog section.