Summary of The Power of Habit

You won’t realize the reward at first, not until you finalize the cue and the routine. After performing the routine for a while, your mind will then crave the reward that the habit provides. Once the craving has kicked in, that’s when a new habit is born.

For example, you wish to begin a habit of working out each morning. You need a cue to remind you that this is what you should be doing once you get out of bed. What you can do is to prepare your gym clothes next to your bed. Once you get up, you’ll see them, and you’ll feel excited to begin your workout sessions. After you’re done, the reward you get can be a sense of accomplishment, or it can be a special meal or snack that you get to enjoy without guilt.

Due to your inability to recognize habit loops, however, you’re unable to control them. Once you’ve realized the cues and rewards, then you can change the routine.

A habit can be changed by even the smallest shift in the routine.

The brain can perform unconscious choices without having to remember what it has learned. Habits play a huge role in how you behave – you may not recall experiences that contributed to your habits, but once your brain has grasped them, they influence how you act without you knowing.

Habits can be pretty delicate; if the cues change even in the slightest way, the habit can fall apart. If something gets disrupted, the habit will be affected.

There are three components of a habit loop:
The cue that serves as a trigger for the habit
The routine or the action you perform to fulfill the habit
The reward or the result you expect after performing the routine