Shownotes Transcript
Welcome to the deep dive. You know, where we really get to the heart of something. We take a big stack of information and we pull out the stuff you need to know. Quickly, clearly, so you come away knowing your stuff, not just feeling overwhelmed.
Well, it's something kind of hidden, but it's behind almost everything we do. Habits. Habits. Yeah. We've got a great guide for this. It's Charles Duhigg's book, The Power of Habit, subtitle, just so everyone knows, Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. It came out back in 2012. ISBN 9780679603856 for those keeping track. The book really cracked the code on why we act the way we do. Exactly. Yeah.
Yeah, we're not just talking about like biting your nails or hitting the snooze button. This goes way deeper. These habits are the foundation of, well, pretty much everything. Yeah. Health.
work, even how society works. Huge. Yeah. So what we want to do today is pull out those key insights from Duhigg. You know, those light bulb moments, the aha stuff that'll make you see habits in a whole new light. And most importantly, how you can use that knowledge both in your own life and to understand the world better. Okay. So best way to start is with a story, right? This one really shows the power we're talking about. It's about a woman named Lisa Allen.
Early 30s, life's not going so great. Smoking, drinking, money problems, weight issues, the whole nine yards. But then years later, researchers find her and it's like a total 180. Marathon runner, no smoking, finances sorted out, healthy weight, like, wow. It really is dramatic. And the thing is, it wasn't this huge overnight makeover. The book points to one tiny event happened on a trip to Cairo. Lisa goes to light up a cigarette, but she accidentally lights her pen instead.
And, get this, that tiny, almost silly moment sparks a decision.
She's quitting smoking for real this time. So here's where it gets interesting. Quitting smoking, it wasn't just an isolated thing. It set off this chain reaction of good stuff. She starts jogging, maybe to replace the cigarettes. And that leads to healthier eating, better sleep, even a new job and going back to school. It's like dominoes one after another. That's it. The keystone habit that Duhigg talks about. It's that one habit. And when you change it, it sets off all these other changes like a chain reaction. For Lisa, quitting smoking, that was her keystone.
And this isn't just personal. OK, look at companies. Starbucks, they put so much effort into teaching their baristas willpower, discipline, customer service skills. Yeah, yeah. And those skills, they were meant for work, but they spill over into the rest of their lives, too. Right. The book also talks about Target, how they've used this understanding of habits to change how people shop, even their own company culture. Like you focus on one area, but the effects are so much wider. And what's cool is these keystone habits, they build momentum.
You do one thing, you're like, hey, I can change. That confidence, it makes you want to do more. So think about this. What could be your keystone habit? What one small change could have this ripple effect in your life? All right. So let's get into the science of this. Duhigg lays out this framework, calls it the habit loop. What's going on in our brains? Okay. The habit loop. It's basically the brain cycle for any habit. Three parts. First, the cue.
Think of it as the trigger. Tells your brain, time for autopilot. It could be anything, the time of day, a place, a feeling, even another action you do. Okay. Then you have the routine, the behavior itself. Yeah. Could be physical, like walking. Could be mental, like thinking a certain way. Even emotional, like always getting anxious in certain situations. Gotcha. And lastly, the reward.
what your brain gets at the end. This is what makes your brain decide, "Hey, this loop's worth remembering. Let's do it again." So our brains are lazy. They want to automate things, take shortcuts, right? Exactly. It's about saving energy. You mentioned stress eating before, right? How does that fit into the loop? Yeah, let's break it down. All right. So the cue, the trigger is that feeling of stress, the routine, grabbing a snack, eating it, the whole thing, the reward,
that temporary relief, the comfort the snack gives you. Now, do that over and over. What happens? It gets hardwired. Your brain learns stress equals snack equals comfort, and boom, autopilot takes over. You feel stressed, you reach for a snack,
Almost about thinking. It's kind of crazy when you realize how much we do every day is just running on this autopilot. And, you know, the book also talks about how companies, they use this stuff to get us to buy things, right? Oh, absolutely. Think about it. Those logos you see everywhere, the way a store is laid out to make you walk past certain things, even the music and commercials, it's all cues.
They're designed to trigger the routine of buying their product and the reward. For the company, it's the sale. But for us, it could be the taste of the thing, the feeling of fitting in because you have that brand, whatever. There's this amazing story in the book about Eugene Pauly. He had really bad memory loss. What does he teach us about how strong these habit loops are? Oh, Eugene's case is wild.
He got this viral infection, and it basically wiped out his ability to form new memories. He couldn't remember what he'd just eaten or the names of his caregivers, nothing. But here's the kicker.
He could still do his daily routines, navigate his house, make simple meals, even take his usual walks. Why? Because the part of his brain that handles habits, the basal ganglia, was still working fine. So his habits were there, even though his memories were gone. Shows you, habits and memory, they're separate in the brain. Wow. So it's like these habits are in this deeper, more basic part of the brain, right?
Right. And the book says even little changes to the cues or rewards could mess up Eugene's habits. But then it talks about how places like McDonald's, their consistency actually plays into these loops. That's a great point. See, Eugene's habits, they were tied to very specific cues in his environment. Change something, even move a piece of furniture, he was lost. But McDonald's, they're all about consistency, the layout, the smells, how they do things. It's a strong set of cues and it triggers those automatic responses in customers.
It's almost scary to think these loops can form without us knowing. Like maybe you start craving soda just because you've seen so many ads and it's everywhere. Exactly.
We don't always choose our habits. Sometimes they just appear from doing things over and over, connecting those cues, routines, rewards. That's why it's so important to pay attention. Which loops are forming? The good ones? The bad ones? Gotta be mindful. But you know, even with his memory loss, Eugene's wife, Beverly, she was able to change some of his habits, especially his eating, by tweaking the cues and rewards. Beverly is amazing. What she did shows even really deep habits you can shift them.
By taking away tempting things, putting healthier choices in front of him, she nudged him towards better eating, even though he didn't consciously realize it.
Proof that we can change things once we understand how this system works. The book brings up another piece of the puzzle something called craving It's about what makes habits really stick they use this story about Claude Hopkins and Pepsodent toothpaste really interesting Pepsodent now that is a classic example. Okay, so Claude Hopkins this advertising guy He had to make tooth brushing a thing back when it wasn't instead of saying hey, it's good for you in the long run He went for tooth film, you know that kind of grimy feeling. Yeah, so he creates the queue and
being aware of that film. Then the promise, Pepsodent, it'll give you a beautiful smile. The reward. But here's the genius part. Pepsodent had citric acid and mint oil.
Made your mouth tingle. Ah, I see. People started craving that tingle. For them, it meant clean teeth. So it's not just about the result. It's the feeling, the sensation. Bingo. That tingling, it became the reward that wired the habit loop. It wasn't just wanting a nice smile anymore. They wanted that feeling. Shows how powerful even a little physical thing can be. The book compares this to Febreze, the odor eliminator. Made by Procter & Gamble, and it flopped at first.
Seems weird, right? Gets rid of bad smells. Should be a winner. What went wrong? They were focusing on the wrong thing. Removing the bad smell. Problem was, nobody was craving the absence of a smell. It's not very exciting. So they changed their tune. Febreze became the reward, the final touch after cleaning. They tapped into that craving for a nice, fresh scent. Like a signal that you've done a good job. So it went from fixing something bad to this nice sensory experience. Something people actually want.
And the book says for new habits to stick, like exercise, the reward's got to be craved. Like that runner's high, those endorphins. 100%. It's the anticipation of that good feeling that drives the loop. Whether it's that happy feeling after a workout or that clean smell in your house, craving, it's the engine that keeps the habit going, makes it automatic. So now we've got the whole picture. Cue routine reward energy.
And this craving is the key ingredient that makes it all work. Exactly. It ties it all together. Cue, routine, reward. It's that anticipation of something good that pulls you through the routine when the cue happens. No craving, the loop's broken, the habit probably won't last. All right. We get how it works. Now, how do we change the habits we don't want? The book has this thing called The Golden Rule of Habit Change, and they talk about football coach Tony Dungy. Okay. The Golden Rule. It's simple, but powerful.
To change a habit, keep the cue and the reward the same, but you've got to change the routine. Tony Dungy, he coached the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team that wasn't doing so hot. His strategy, make those basic football plays automatic.
So when his players saw a certain cue on the field, they'd react instantly, but with a new, better move. He didn't try to stop the trigger or change the desired outcome, just found a new way to get there. So instead of avoiding the trigger or the reward, you find a different path to the same destination. The book uses Alcoholics Anonymous as an example. How does that fit in? AA, they don't tell you to avoid the things that make you want to drink, like stress or social situations.
And they don't deny that alcohol gives you something like relaxation or escape. What they do is give you a new routine. Go to meetings, talk to your sponsor. So when those old triggers pop up, you've got this healthier way to deal with them. And there's a story in the book, a woman named Mandy, nail biting habit. How'd she use this golden rule? Her therapist. He helped her figure out her cue. It was this feeling of tension in her fingers. The reward. This sense of completion or satisfaction.
So they worked on a substitute. Instead of biting when she felt that tension, she'd rub her arm or tap her knuckles. Same cue, same reward, but a new, harmless routine. Makes sense. But the book also says sometimes changing the routine isn't enough. There's another piece about...
Belief. How does that play into this? Belief is huge. See, Dungy's teams, they'd master these new plays, but then the playoffs come, pressure's on, they'd choke and revert back to old habits. Why? Because when things got tough, they lost faith in the new system. Oh, I get it. It's the same with AA. People relapse when they're stressed, going through something tough. Their belief in staying sober weakens.
Belief, it makes the new routine stick, especially when things get hard. And a lot of times that belief comes from support from others who've been there. And then there's this idea that willpower itself can be a habit. They use the story about Travis Leitch at Starbucks. Really interesting. Travis, his story is amazing. Came from a tough background, struggled to control his temper, keep a job, all that. Then he starts working at Starbucks.
Now, their training program, it's pretty intense. You spend a lot of time on it, especially in the first year. And they're teaching you how to make coffee, sure. But unintentionally, they're teaching you life skills, how to manage your emotions, focus, basically willpower. This guy went from almost uncontrollable to managing multiple stores, leading tons of people.
He says Starbucks taught him how to do that. So it wasn't just barista stuff. It was training for life, building willpower. And the book says willpower. That's a big keystone habit. Exactly. Research shows willpower is a strong predictor of success, maybe even more than IQ. And Starbucks, they turned it into a routine.
They give you scripts, procedures for handling tough customers, like their Ulte method. Listen, acknowledge, take action, bank, explain. So instead of relying on just gutting it out, they have these set responses, willpower on autopilot. The book mentions Deloitte and the container store. They do similar things. Yep, they get it. They know if you give people routines for those key moments, it takes the mental strain off and you get consistent good results, even under pressure.
Sure, willpower is powerful, but you gotta practice, make it automatic. - Let's talk about bigger organizations like hospitals or companies. How do they change their habits, especially when there's a crisis? They use examples like Rhode Island Hospital and the London Underground after that fire at King's Cross. - Those are powerful examples. They show how a big crisis, it can make people rethink those deep-seated habits, the ones that might even be dangerous. Rhode Island Hospital, they had this history of medical errors.
partly because people were afraid to speak up. Right. But then a bunch of bad stuff happened, including a surgery on the wrong side of someone's brain. Yeah. And that forced the leadership to make changes. Checklists became mandatory. Nurses were empowered to speak up if they saw something risky. And guess what? Patient safety improved dramatically. The London Underground, after that terrible fire at King's Cross in '87, it exposed how dangerous their habits were. They had the siloed culture. Different departments didn't talk.
safety was nobody's clear responsibility. Exactly. The investigation after the fire, it's shown a light on those problems and it led to a whole new way of thinking.
Safety became the focus. Dedicated safety managers were brought in. Any employee could raise a concern no matter what department they were in. These cases, they show that when things are really bad, it creates the push needed to make change happen. The book even quotes Rahm Emanuel. He said, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste."
It's about using those tough times to create lasting change. He's got a point. When a crisis hits, everything's up in the air. People are more open to doing things differently. Smart leaders, they know this, and they use that energy to make those big changes that might have been impossible before. Okay, let's switch gears a bit. The book also goes into how companies predict our habits, even try to influence them. Like Target, they can figure out if a customer's pregnant just from their shopping data. How'd they do that? Target and pregnancy predictions.
This is where data gets really interesting, maybe a little creepy too. Andrew Pohl, he was working at Target, and he realized if you look at what people buy, even seemingly random stuff, you can learn a lot, like buying unscented lotion, certain vitamins, big bags of cotton balls, all these little hints. Okay.
And put them together and you can tell who's probably pregnant often even before their family knows. It is kind of wild how all these little details can reveal so much and they got even better. They could figure out what trimester the customer was in based on what they were buying. Exactly. As the pregnancy goes on, the things you need change. Track those changes and you get pretty accurate predictions. And that's when they send those targeted coupons and offers right to those customers. But Target realized if it's too obvious, people get creeped out.
Nobody wants to feel like they're being watched. So they came up with a clever way to avoid that. Right. They didn't want pregnant customers freaking out like they were under surveillance. So they started mixing those baby coupons with totally random ads in their mailers. Camouflage. Exactly. Make it look less intentional, more like any other batch of coupons. The book makes it clear Target's not alone in this. Lots of retailers are using this data to figure out our habits, get us to buy more.
And a lot of times we're not even aware of it. Those habits override our conscious choices. It's true. Most of our buying decisions, they're not carefully thought out. They're driven by habit. And retailers, they know that. They use the data to map those patterns. And then they arrange the store, send you coupons, do whatever it takes to keep you buying, often without you even realizing you've gone off script from your shopping list. There's this analogy in the book. They talk about the song Hey Ya by Outkast.
To become a hit, it had to be played on the radio between more familiar songs. Oh yeah, great example. Shows how familiarity shapes what we like. And it's not just products, right? Nope. Applies to music too. It's like a new kind of weird song like "Hey Ya." Between the hits, people get used to it. It's like, "Oh, I've heard this before. It's not so strange."
And then boom, it's popular. Make the unfamiliar familiar. That's how you build a new habit. And then there's the story about Andrew Pohl. The author of the book is talking to him, mentions his wife is pregnant, and Pohl just casually says something about sending targeted coupons. That sends chills down your spine, doesn't it? It shows how powerful this stuff has become. They can predict our needs and wants sometimes before we even know them ourselves. So with all this talk about how strong habits are, the book does say we can change them.
Which is good news, right? People want to know what they can actually do. Absolutely. The message is we're not stuck. Yeah, habits are ingrained.
But understanding how they work is the first step to taking control, making changes. The book shows through all these stories you can identify a habit, break it down, and reshape it. There's a story about someone who became more productive just by changing their morning routine, started meditating early. Small change, big impact. It's a perfect example. Imagine starting your day with meditation, calming your mind, getting focused.
That feeling it carries over into your work makes you more effective. And we talked about Starbucks, how their customer service training is basically habit based. Right. Starbucks is a prime example of how powerful this is for businesses. They've got these specific routines for how you interact with customers. So every experience is consistent, positive. That builds loyalty, reinforces good habits on both sides. So it all comes back to that habit loop. Cue loyalty.
Routine reward. That's how you figure out your habits and then how you change them.
The book suggests finding a new routine that gives you that same reward, but in a healthier way. That's the golden rule right there. You figure out the cue that triggers the bad habit. You know what reward it's giving you. Then you swap out the bad routine for a good one that gives you a similar feeling. Like if you always snack late at night because you're bored, that's the cue. And maybe you're looking for distraction or comfort. That's the reward. Instead, you could go for a walk or read a book, something different.
It all starts with being aware. Paying attention to what you're doing, why you're doing it. Then you can start making changes on purpose. Exactly. Awareness is key. What are your triggers?
What routines are you running? What rewards are you getting? Once you see that, you can start breaking those bad patterns and building good ones. The book also goes into social habits, how they play into movements, like Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott. It wasn't just her act of defiance, right? It was her connections, her community. Exactly. Rosa Parks was incredibly brave, but she was also deeply connected to her community in Montgomery. NAACP, church groups, all sorts of organizations. She had strong ties.
And that meant when she was arrested, word spread fast and the boycott took off. The book talks about weak ties to those more casual connections and how they contributed to the boycott's growth through social pressure. Yeah, those strong ties were vital to start things off. But it was the weak ties, the wider circle of acquaintances that really kept it going. That social pressure, it made people think twice about breaking the boycott. And of course, you can't forget Boycott.
strong leadership. Martin Luther King Jr. provided the vision, the strategy, instilled those new habits of nonviolent resistance, those mass meetings, and that kept the movement going. Absolutely. King was crucial. He gave them a moral compass and practical ways to fight. He helped them build those habits of collective action, peaceful protest,
That's what made it successful in the long run. The book compares this to Saddleback Church and how it grew. Rick Warren, he focused on both those strong ties in small groups and weak ties in the larger church.
And he also emphasized certain habits like prayer and tithing. Right. It was about building community, both deep connections in small groups and a welcoming atmosphere for everyone. Plus, those shared habits, they created a sense of belonging, a shared purpose, which helped the church grow so much. Towards the end of the book, they get into this thorny topic of habits and free will. They use the story of Angie Bachman, a gambling addict.
and Brian Thomas who killed someone while sleepwalking. Really makes you think about responsibility. Tough cases, for sure. Make you think about those automatic behaviors versus conscious choices. Angie Bachman, she was driven by this powerful habit loop and it led her to make choices that ruined her financially.
And she was held responsible. Yeah. Brian Thomas, he was sleepwalking, completely unconscious, and he was found not responsible. Where do you draw the line? When is it a habit and when is it a choice? It's tricky, legally and ethically.
But the book says the key is awareness. Even though habits are powerful, we're not powerless. We can intervene, understand the loop, know your triggers, and you can choose new routines. It's like rewiring your brain. They quote William James, who said something about the will to believe, and that's what it comes down to. We got to believe we can change. And in the appendix, the book lays out this practical guide, a kind of experimental approach to changing habits. Can you walk us through the four steps? Absolutely. It's a great framework and it's flexible.
No strict rules, more about figuring out what works for you. Step 1: Identify the routine. Be specific. What exactly are you doing? Step 2: Experiment with rewards. This is huge. When that urge hits, try different things. What are you really craving? Does doing something else give you the same feeling? Step 3:
Isolate the queue. What triggers the habit? Where are you? What time is it? How are you feeling? Who are you with? What were you doing right before? Look for the patterns. And finally, step four, have a plan.
Once you know the cue, the routine, the reward, you can decide what am I going to do instead when that urge hits. You even shared your own example trying to break a cookie habit in the afternoon. You went through the whole process, figured out it wasn't really about the cookie, but needing a break, some social interaction. So you made a plan to walk over and chat with a colleague instead. Exactly. It shows how this works in real life. Changing habits, it's about self-discovery, trying things out. It's not about being perfect. It's about progress. So to wrap up our deep dive into the power of habit.
We've seen how powerful these ingrained patterns can be. We learned about the habit loop: cue, routine, reward, and how craving is the secret ingredient.
We explored keystone habits, those changes that can have a ripple effect. We talked about strategies like the golden rule and that four-step framework. We looked at willpower, how crises can change organizations, even how companies try to predict and influence our behavior, and how social habits drive movements. The big takeaway for you, our listener, is this.
You now have a new way of looking at your own daily life, those automatic things you do and the things you see others doing. You have more control than you think. You can change the habits that shape your life and the world around you. It really does make you think. Look at your day. What small change could you try? What little tweak to a routine could have a bigger impact than you expect? It's a whole new way to think about personal growth, success at work, even the big trends in society.
Thanks for joining us. We hope this gave you some things to think about. Absolutely. Habits are everywhere. And now you have the power to change them. Go experiment. See what you discover. Until next time, happy habit hacking. Happy habit hacking.