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Reddit mentions of The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
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Reddit mentions: 35
We found 35 Reddit mentions of The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. Here are the top ones.
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Release date | February 2012 |
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.
PDF version here
Hey friend, first off - go easier on yourself. Part of the process of making progress comes when you believe you're worth the effort and start treating yourself as well you would someone you love. It sounds corny, but really it's huge because it shifts your priorities pretty drastically in the direction of making positive changes.
I've been exactly where you are. I'm still working on getting better everyday. By posting and asking for help to change you've already gotten better today. Now get a little bit better tomorrow. Than again. Marginal, consistent improvement eventually adds up to exponential change. Just like your bad habits took years to creep up and form, your good habits will take time to establish.
Sometimes understanding how your brain works can help you to change the way it works. Check out: The Power of Habit.
Model yourself after people you admire. If that's not anyone you know personally right now, look to your cultural heroes. Read/listen/watch about how they started out, what choices they made and habits they formed early. If you can't think of anybody to emulate start here: 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, then start browsing related books from there. Educate yourself on HOW to change.
Figure out your WHY. Why do you want to make these habit changes? Write it down. Look at it everyday, and put it in your mind. Let it affect your choices and shape your habits into better habits.
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There's tons of motivating material out there in the world - if you find it helpful, put it in front of you more often. Recurring bursts of motivation can get you over the initial hump of building discipline to form new habits. Also, this video from Will Smith genuinely inspires a different way of thinking about yourself and the world (seems like a joke, but Fresh Prince is inspiring as hell.) That's all I'll list, go out and find your own inspiration.
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Good luck.
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TL;DR - Every *morning tell yourself...
“You are going to start working out, stop smoking, start a new hobby, and most importantly become a man.”
Then do it in the smallest way possible. Next day, add to it. Repeat. Repeat. Prosper!
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EDIT: fixed some typo's.
For more in-depth stuff, a great book about habits.
Excellent read for one and it helped me quit smoking (more than the drugs even). It's amazing how much power habits have, positive AND negative.
My perception as a fellow 28 year old is that you might be a bit too hard on yourself for calling your life a mess when you can't stick to a diet/gym schedule. I do plenty of things my 13 year old self would be jealous of (weekly Halo with friends, ComicCon outings, visiting the heart of geeky Japan, and even occasionally eating a whole pizza solo), and I don't see any shame in that.
Also, be wary that even if you succeed in all those things, they won't necessarily make you feel like you're much less of a mess. They'll help, but I found that once I got myself on track a bit, I started to feel small and purposeless if my only goals were around me and my physical state.
That said, (and I only started this a year or two ago), I would recommend a two-fold approach for achieving what you said.
First, Tim Ferris' Four Hour Body for diet and exercise. It's relentlessly focused on the absolute minimum things you can do and still get results. The gym time is minimal, and the diet is mentally simple enough that I've stuck with it for a few years. If you've tried other things and lost motivation, simplicity is a great tool for making sure you don't fall too far off the wagon.
Second, I recommend some in-depth reading about habit formation. I've read a lot, but I think The Power of Habit is a decent overview along with this podcast episode. Basically habits are the hack you can perform to level up your routine with minimal effort. It can be tricky, but this is the method I've used to make sure I floss regularly, keep my apartment clean after meals, and do the minimal cook prep I need to do each week.
So... chill out and take a deep breath. There's plenty of time to improve, and I agree with the others that the best approach is to try one thing at a time.
Learn what a habit is, how they form and how to create new habits
This book is also good on how to stay focused on the 'one thing' it is that you want to do.
At the end of the day, it comes down to working on whatever it is you're interested in EVERY SINGLE DAY. Even 15 minutes is better than 0. I have new ideas that I come up with all the time, will work on them for a bit then nothing. But if it's an idea that I'm really excited about I will just keep trying to work on it at least once a day. This will most likely mean sacrificing 'fun' and time with friends/family so there has to be a 'WHY' for whatever it is that you're working on.
I've had a lot of ideas that were exciting at first but at the end of the day the WHY wasn't that powerful so they would fall through but this current project I'm working on has the potential to make me insane amounts of money which is a huge 'WHY' and is why I have been not hanging out with anybody and just working on the project every single day. Some days I don't feel like it but I just get started and then the ideas/motivation will usually flow from there. Also, listening to motivational videos when you're feeling lazy or even working on it will help too.
Working while playing videos like thiswill usually light a fire and give me tons of energy to keep making progress. I can recite almost all motivation videos/speeches on youtube at this point haha
I'm not sure if it was Charles Duhigg's "The power of habit" or an article, but it helped me accept that habits are not mundane or boring. The idea is that by making your wake-up routine a habit you don't have to waste willpower and energy on thinking about it. Instead of going "Where do I run, what do I eat, what do I wear, Where are my keys, Why am I doing this" you just do the routine and save this mental energy for more important questions or activities.
After this I changed my wake-up routine to 07:00 out and about, regardless. Subsequently I go to sleep a bit earlier... it's quite nice.
The only way to escape procrastination is to keep a to-do list and routine. Set a deadline for each task you need to do and create habits.
Good apps helps a lot, I use School Planner and TimeTune to do that. Books also helps, read Charles Duhigg's "The Power of Habit".
Similarly the book The Power of Habit is pretty good about learning how our brain created habits and how to break that.
Perhaps reading this can help you more than an app.
I have read it once personally and reading it again second time a few months after. It's been pretty useful to help me understand many aspects of myself that I thought were beyond or within my control when it's in fact the opposite.
I deleted my Steam folder 3 weeks back. All 560GB of it. Been the most productive ever since, when compared to the last 3 years. Created a new 3D engine from scratch since the old one I was using was not scaling well in iPhone and started working on the game code
I read this book: Will Power Instinct that helped me realize a pattern.
Identifying and updating your habbits help enforce more self control and keep you focused. Currently reading this book: The Power of Habbit
I think you should read this book. My mind immediately went to the story of the new CEO of Alcoa, his great emphasis on safety, and the downstream effects of it.
If you're interested you should check out the book "The Power of Habit": https://www.amazon.com/Power-Habit-What-Life-Business-ebook/dp/B0055PGUYU
In it he talks about how the best way to overcome bad habits is to replace them with other habits (ideally good ones, or less bad ones). Something about how the brain can't just be cut off from a habit altogether but it's more healthy for our brains to adjust to have or do something else in place of that habit, and then eventually you can phase any such habit off. It sounds like you are naturally doing this and it's working out well for you so far. Whatever it takes!
> old habits sometimes creep up
Yes they do, I am not denying it. Realize that they are "habits" and the best way is not to pay attention to them by being busy with forming "new/better habits". https://www.amazon.com/Power-Habit-What-Life-Business-ebook/dp/B0055PGUYU
If you want to know why we got addicted to those foods, read this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393062163/ the TL;DR: is that food companies use science to get people addicted to cheap/unhealthy foods that make them a lot of money.
First and foremost, if you are ever, EVER feeling suicidal, please reach out to somebody:
Sorry to hear you're having a rough time. I've been there. I'm there frequently. A lot of us are. A lot of people who seem to have amazing lives and tons of friends are feeling just as much pain and loneliness as you. You are not alone. Sometimes it can feel like no one cares. Yes, lots of people are selfish and/or busy with their own stuff, but people do care.
Know that your situation will change. Everything changes. Everything passes. You're feeling crappy right now, but hold on. Be strong. Be brave. Make some changes. If you do, you might blink and it be six months from now and you're having an amazing time in your acting classes, hanging out with a few people you really love spending time with, have forgotten all about your ex, etc. Everything passes. Bad times pass, so try to just ride the wave, roll with the punches, and know things will get better. But also good times pass. So when you're doing something you enjoy, or spending time with someone you care about, try really hard to be present and appreciate every moment, every detail. That's the beauty of life. It's transient. Nothing is permanent. Our species is not permanent. Our world is not permanent. It's a ride. It's a game. It's whatever metaphor you choose, but the point is things go up and down and round and round and in the end nothing really matters other than the fact that we have the gift of the present moment and the ability to try and enjoy little things here and there.
I know you mentioned having seen a therapist and it did nothing. Hopefully that was just that one therapist. Sometimes it takes trying a couple months with a couple different therapists before you find someone who you really like. You just have to be open, honest, and trust that they are there to listen to you and there to help you. And give them time. There are very few quick fixes in life.
There are things you can do for yourself, too. Things that will have a huge impact on your happiness, contentment, confidence, loneliness, motivation, etc. Most of the below is scientifically proven to help a lot. You don't have to do all of this at once, and you don't have to be an expert at all of this all at once. The important thing is to try. Bit by bit. Each day try one new thing on this list, and try to make a habit of it. Do it at that time, every day. Start small, with easier things, like doing stuff for 5 minutes, then next week up it to 10 minutes, and so on:
All of the above should be the priority here. Your health is #1. If you look after yourself emotionally and physically, you'll be way better set up to deal with all the BS in life and enjoy yourself and form and maintain good relationships with people, and to be motivated and energized about working on acting (or anything else).
Acting is amazing. But it's very fucking hard. For most actors, it's a tough lifestyle. To pursue it, you have to be cool to roll with the fact that most of the time it's hard work. It is a job. You have to work at it. Actors get rejected all the time. It's part of the job. You have to work hard to be in a good spot emotionally and physically in order to help deal with that. So, like I said, for now, it may be worth putting a lot of energy into that stuff.
I hope some of this is helpful. Sending you love and good vibes from the other side of the world. xxxx
Bear with me on this, but I think this article may benefit you. The focus is on how we can be manipulated through habit, but I've never seen this information on habit formation anywhere else. The author of the article has written a book and now that you mention it, I could stand to learn more about habit myself, so I just bought it on Kindle and I'll let you know what I think of it.
In short and according to the article:
Human behavior is often governed by sets of habits that are stacked together to create habit chunks.
>the brain converts a sequence of actions into an automatic routine, is called “chunking.” There are dozens, if not hundreds, of behavioral chunks we rely on every day. Some are simple: you automatically put toothpaste on your toothbrush before sticking it in your mouth. Some, like making the kids’ lunch, are a little more complex. Still others are so complicated that it’s remarkable to realize that a habit could have emerged at all.
So these chunks are awesome because they let us save energy and be more efficient, and they suck because when things are different from our expectations (we've been fooled) or don't go as planned (as we've rehearsed them so many times before) then we get into trouble.
>we’ve devised a clever system to determine when to let a habit take over. It’s something that happens whenever a chunk of behavior starts or ends — and it helps to explain why habits are so difficult to change once they’re formed, despite our best intentions
>the process within our brains that creates habits is a three-step loop. First, there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. Then there is the routine, which can be physical or mental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future. Over time, this loop — cue, routine, reward; cue, routine, reward — becomes more and more automatic. The cue and reward become neurologically intertwined until a sense of craving emerges. What’s unique about cues and rewards, however, is how subtle they can be. Neurological studies like the ones in Graybiel’s lab have revealed that some cues span just milliseconds. And rewards can range from the obvious (like the sugar rush that a morning doughnut habit provides) to the infinitesimal (like the barely noticeable — but measurable — sense of relief the brain experiences after successfully navigating the driveway). Most cues and rewards, in fact, happen so quickly and are so slight that we are hardly aware of them at all. But our neural systems notice and use them to build automatic behaviors.
>Habits aren’t destiny — they can be ignored, changed or replaced. But it’s also true that once the loop is established and a habit emerges, your brain stops fully participating in decision-making. So unless you deliberately fight a habit — unless you find new cues and rewards — the old pattern will unfold automatically
After reading Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, I wonder if what we call our intuition might even be these chunked behaviors in effect.
The whole article is definitely worth a read.
If you could drop this awesome motivation on me every single day that would be great. Haha.
Congrats on running the full marathon! That is amazing! A huge accomplishment.
I understand what you mean when you cannot function when you do not run. I feel anxious when I have not gone for a run yet.
I just mentioned this in another comment, but habits are extremely powerful. I agree with you. I am currently reading The Power of Habit right now and I am shocked of their importance. I had no idea how much we rely on habits. It is very inspiring.
Learned habits, especially from parents, are the hardest to break. Try to sit him down and talk with him about his addictions. Get to the root of the problem and maybe you could sort it out.
I'd recommend you give a read to The Power of Habit. This may help figure out when he gets the urge to buy tickets, or why he doesn't follow through with plans.
> I maybe can get a swim in around twice a week but most days I am absolutely dead after work.
I used to feel the exact same way. Working out in the morning will completely transform the rest of your day. You need to form the habit first, which is the hard part. I recommend reading The Power of Habit to help with that.
OK, chiming in here for the first time.
In his book "The Power of Habit" Charles Duhigg talks about "cornerstone" habits.
There seem to be habist that draw a host of others with them, and improve the general life.
That one is sports.
As soon as people pick up the habit of exercise, their diet improves, they often reduce drug usage such as nicotine, etc..
With 400lbs+, this may seem daunting.
A friend of mine did this with walking at night. Just started walking around his neighborhood when no one could see him.
Link to book (no promo code)
https://www.amazon.com/Power-Habit-What-Life-Business-ebook/dp/B0055PGUYU
As for the other stuff - facebook has been shown to be a bad influence on mental health.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/may/19/popular-social-media-sites-harm-young-peoples-mental-health
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/22/facebook-break-can-boost-wellbeing-study-suggests
So at least take a break from it.
Good luck!
Aslo: Feel free to message me directly.
Spent three mornings this week in the gym. This is a near impossible feat for a man of such a weak will as mine. Many thanks to The Power of Habit which has been a recent catalyst in producing change.
I recently read "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business" and found it to be illuminating. It's not really a self-help book; it's mostly a series of case studies about how we form/maintain habits as individuals and collectively, and what it looks like when we change them. I'm a chronic hobby jumper and this book is starting to reshape how I look at what I do and why. Can't recommend it enough.
I recommend "The Power of Habit." by Charles Duhigg It is a great book and really gets to the core of how fapping can become just a daily habit. If you are analytical like me this will explain why you are doing it like you do. When you break a habit, you need replacement habits that take it over, or you'll slip right back into your old habits. We are kicking a dopamine addiction. A good replacement for dopamine are endorphins. A great endorphin rush is working out.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Habit-Business-ebook/dp/B0055PGUYU
I've had similar goals based around fitness and diet and also relationships. I've had stretches of good and stretches of bad, but the thing that helped was changing my mindset (and it is still a daily struggle)
I have read some good books on these topics as well for self-awareness and highly recommend them, though some are pretty dense.
If you really want a wake-up call, for me it was a close-relative who had a heart-attack (smoker, and unhealthy eater and at a young age (late 40's) he survived and recovered fully, but being much younger I discovered it is not too late. I look at it not like your investing only in the future self, but that my quality of life is going up as well. As Shaw-shank-redemption says "Get busy living or get busy dying" , Once you start making positive changes they will keep you motivated as well.
pm me if you have any questions or need some help.
If you truly are not physically addicted (which is highly suspect given you drink every day), your "craving" could have been feeling that you needed to numb a a bad feeling or perhaps the habit pattern that one has to have a celebratory drink when something good happens. I would highly recommend reading Brene Brown's The Gifts of Imperfection as well as The Power of Habit to delve deeper into both of those issues.
I totally hear you, I do the same thing and it's super frustrating to look back and think of what I could have gotten done if I hadn't spent so much time not starting projects and vegging out.
I recently read The Power of Habit which was helpful if only for helping me realize what is cueing the habit of wanting to veg out and procrastinate. I hope that I can make some headway.
I've started spending the first 15 minutes of work journaling about the previous day and what I want to get done today. It doesn't help me avoid big hard projects, but it does help me organize what I want to do, and if I can make it a habit I think it'll be really helpful.
But really, it's an ongoing battle, and I'm painfully aware that if I could kick this monster, I would achieve all kinds of things that I've been wanting to achieve.
Thanks for this response. Glad to know I was on the side of the fence looking to the successful groups behaviors and not genetics. The work ethic of new immigrant generations is something that I see repeated all the time in the history of America. The first generation born in America leap above and beyondwhat the previous generation had in terms of education and assets. I think it's any parent's goal for their kids to live comfortably but it can easily cross over into laziness, being in a low energy state is in our nature. Good behaviors and community is incredibly important and I will work towards instilling good behaviors in my close family and friends. Here is a book on habit, it might be an interesting read on the subject.
Just curious. What do you teach?
Thanks for the read.
Food is tough for many reasons, and some of them is highlighted in your post. Many things can be kicked cold turkey, and that's a pretty damn effective way to handle them. However, given foods overall importance to not starving to death, it can't be kicked cold turkey. Another thing is that in all likelihood, some of those old habits (smoking, drinking, etc) have been co-opted by eating. Habits never actually go away, you just change what action occurs between the cue and the reward. So, I would bet that some of those bad habits were transformed into overeating habits.
Check out this book, it may give you some insight. It's obviously not an end all be all guide, but it could give you a skill set that you haven't yet had in your battle against overeating. Perhaps this one will be the one.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Habit-Business-ebook/dp/B0055PGUYU
The Power of Habit
This is the book that allowed me to actually fix my habits.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Habit-What-Business-ebook/dp/B0055PGUYU
Absolutely. I saw the post regarding the last book you read Is this new one also a motivation/business/perspective type, or something different? What are your top 3 most life-changing or life-affirming that you've read? What was the last book that sucked you in more than you had expected?
Certainly. I'm not sure exactly how you want to develop your thesis, but an interesting point anthropologically is diet over the generations.
My grandfather lived through the great depression and used to eat very similarly - high fat, high calorie but as cheap as he can. My parent then lived in the boom during the 50s and 60s where food became abundant and affordable. Meats were still considered a luxury item and have moved toward a high protein, high animal meat diet. Heavily processed foods also entered at this time. This has led to a significant increase in many of the chronic diseases we experience today. This new generation is starting to pave some new changes to organic, locally sourced, healthy foods.
Of course this is completely over simplified as traditions and culture are slow to change. There's even a great case study about how the US gov't tried to sell less desirable meats (like liver) during the World Wars so the soldiers could have the short supply of better meats and how they tried to instill change. I think I read more about this in the book Power of Habit
Good luck to you in which ever direction you go!
Do you feel immature or irresponsible? Based on what you said you aren't doing I think you mean the latter. What you need to do is work on good habits. Good habits lead to responsibility.
I don't believe you're immature because you recognize these faults and want to fix them. Fixing them is hard, though. It's easier to not try.
Try this book out; http://www.amazon.com/Power-Habit-Why-What-Change-ebook/dp/B0055PGUYU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413397143&sr=8-1&keywords=habits
Here's a very good book on the subject of Habits. It really goes into depth with the idea/science of habits and behavioral addictions
Here ya go:
http://amazon.com/Power-Habit-Why-What-Change-ebook/dp/B0055PGUYU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411160944&sr=8-1&keywords=the+power+of+habit
I found it at the library but it was so good I may buy it.
I create an environment for productivity. For example, the cafe is for productivity and only that. I force myself to go there and get stuff done. Also, I created an area in my apartment for getting work done. I use a standing desk to keep myself from slouching back and being lazy, and also only use that desk for work related things to create that trigger to start the habit for myself.
All habits hace triggers, and for some people, arrive home is a trigger to get comfortable and lay back which is also a habit.
There is a whole book about habits: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055PGUYU/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1