Has Anyone Read "The Power of Habit"?

[Rachelocity]

I was in Chapters last night looking for a juicy romance novel (don't judge me! ) and came across a book I'd never seen before called The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. It seems to be very much in line with what we're talking about here, with the addition of lots of information about how habits are actually formed and how we can harness this power for our day-to-day life. I'll be checking it out, and if anyone wants to start a thread to discuss the book, count me in!

[reinhard]

I listened to the audiobook a few months ago -- very good stuff. It's not terribly practical, but excellent for firming up your conviction that habit is powerful, and that there's a growing body of scientific evidence to backing this up. Easy read/listen as well.

The part that impressed me most was right at the beginning, a story about a man who because of a tumor or something lost his ability to form conscious memories -- but could still form new unconscious habits. Habit is even deeper than conscious memory. It's rooted in an ancient part of the brain that we share with animals without any conscious to begin with (the basal ganglia or "reptilian brain"). No wonder it is so powerful.

The most practical part I though was his discussion of "chunking" related behaviors in order to more easilily habitualize them. It's a little like what I describe in my compound and atomic tasking podcast episode except I like the term "chunking" better, and his focus is even more on habit (and he's got actual data to refer to vs. my mere inspired hunches).

Reinhard