THE POWER OF HABIT Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd i 10/17/11 12:01 PM Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd ii 10/17/11 12:01 PM THE POWER OF HABIT W h y We D o W h a t We D o and How to Change It CHARLES DUHIGG Random House Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd iii e N e w Yo r k 10/17/11 12:01 PM This is a work of nonfiction Nonetheless, some names and personal characteristics of individuals or events have been changed in order to disguise identities Any resulting resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental and unintentional Copyright © 2012 by Charles Duhigg All rights reserved Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York RANDOM HOUSE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc ISBN 978-1-4000-6928-6 eBook ISBN 978-0-679-60385-6 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Illustrations by Anton Ioukhnovets www.atrandom.com First Edition Book design by Liz Cosgrove Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd iv 10/17/11 12:01 PM To Oliver, John Harry, John and Doris, and, everlastingly, to Liz Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd v 10/17/11 12:01 PM Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd vi 10/17/11 12:01 PM CONTENTS PROLOGUE The Habit Cure xi ●●● PA R T O N E The Habits of Individuals THE HABIT LOOP How Habits Work THE CRAVING BRAIN How to Create New Habits 31 THE GOLDEN RULE OF HABIT CHANGE Why Transformation Occurs 60 ●●● PA R T T W O The Habits of Successful Organizations KEYSTONE HABITS, OR THE BALLAD OF PAUL O’NEILL Which Habits Matter Most Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd vii 97 10/17/11 12:01 PM viii ● Contents STARBUCKS AND THE HABIT OF SUCCESS 127 When Willpower Becomes Automatic THE POWER OF A CRISIS How Leaders Create Habits Through Accident 154 and Design HOW TARGET KNOWS WHAT YOU WANT BEFORE YOU DO When Companies Predict (and Manipulate) 182 Habits ●●● PA R T T H R E E The Habits of Societies SADDLEBACK CHURCH AND THE MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT 215 How Movements Happen THE NEUROLOGY OF FREE WILL 245 Are We Responsible for Our Habits? ●●● APPENDIX A Reader’s Guide to Using These Ideas Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd viii Acknowledgments 287 A Note on Sources 291 Notes 293 Index 355 275 10/17/11 12:01 PM THE POWER OF HABIT Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd ix 10/17/11 12:01 PM Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd x 10/17/11 12:01 PM 352 ● Notes Inhibitory Networks Predicts Pathological Gambling in PD,” Neurology 75, no 19 (2010): 1711–16; L Cottler and K Leung, “Treatment of Pathological Gambling,” Current Opinion in Psychiatry 22, no (2009): 69–74; M Roca et al., “Executive Functions in Pathologic Gamblers Selected in an Ecologic Setting,” Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology 21, no (2008): 1–4; E D Driver-Dunckley et al., “Gambling and Increased Sexual Desire with Dopaminergic Medications in Restless Legs Syndrome,” Clinical Neuropharmacology 30, no (2007): 249–55; Erin Gibbs Van Brunschot, “Gambling and Risk Behaviour: A Literature Review,” University of Calgary, March 2009 268 “they’re acting without choice” In an email, Habib clarified his thoughts on this topic: “It is a question about free will and self-control, and one that falls as much in the domain of philosophy as in cognitive neuroscience If we say that the gambling behavior in the Parkinson’s patient is out of their own hands and driven by their medication, why can’t we (or don’t we) make the same argument in the case of the pathological gambler given that the same areas of the brain seem to be active? The only (somewhat unsatisfactory) answer that I can come up with (and one that you mention yourself) is that as a society we are more comfortable removing responsibility if there is an external agent that it can be placed upon So, it is easy in the Parkinson’s case to say that the gambling pathology resulted from the medication, but in the case of the pathological gambler, because there is no external agent influencing their behavior (well, there is—societal pressures, casino billboards, life stresses, etc.—but, nothing as pervasive as medication that a person must take), we are more reluctant to blame the addiction and prefer to put the responsibility for their pathological behavior on themselves—‘they should know better and not gamble,’ for example I think as cognitive neuroscientists learn more—and ‘modern’ brain imaging is only about 20–25 years old as a field—perhaps some of these misguided societal beliefs (that even we cognitive neuroscientists sometimes hold) will slowly begin to change For example, from our data, while I can comfortably conclude that there are definite differences in the brains of pathological gamblers versus non-pathological gamblers, at least when they are gambling, and I might even be able to make some claims such as the near-misses appear more win-like to the pathological gambler but more loss-like to the non-pathological gambler, I cannot state with any confidence or certainty that these differences therefore imply that the pathological gambler does not have a choice when they see a billboard advertising a local casino—that they are a slave to their urges In the absence of hard direct evidence, I guess the best we can is draw inferences by analogy, but there is much uncertainty associated with such comparisons.” Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd 352 10/17/11 12:02 PM Notes ● 353 272 “whatever the latter may be” William James, Talks to Teachers on Psychology: and to Students on Some of Life’s Ideals 273 the Metaphysical Club Louis Menand, The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2002) 274 “traced by itself before” James is quoting the French psychologist and philosopher Léon Dumont’s essay “De l’habitude.” Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd 353 10/17/11 12:02 PM Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd 354 10/17/11 12:02 PM INDEX (TK—16PP) Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd 355 10/17/11 12:02 PM Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd 370 10/17/11 12:02 PM ABOUT THE AUTHOR Charles Duhigg is an investigative reporter for The New York Times, where he contributes to the newspaper and the magazine He authored or contributed to Golden Opportunities (2007), a series of articles that examined how companies are trying to take advantage of aging Americans, The Reckoning (2008), which studied the causes and outcomes of the financial crisis, and Toxic Waters (2009), about the worsening pollution in American waters and regulators’ response For his work, Mr Duhigg has received the National Academies of Sciences, National Journalism, George Polk, Gerald Loeb, and other awards, and he was part of a team of finalists for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize He has appeared on This American Life, The Dr Oz Show, NPR, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and Frontline Mr Duhigg is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Yale College Before becoming a journalist, Mr Duhigg worked in private equity and—for one terrifying day—was a bike messenger in San Francisco Mr Duhigg can acquire bad habits—most notably regarding fried foods—within minutes, and lives in Brooklyn with his wife, a marine biologist, and their two sons, whose habits include waking at 5:00 a.m., flinging food at dinnertime, and smiling perfectly Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd 371 10/17/11 12:02 PM Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd 372 10/17/11 12:02 PM ABOUT THE TYPE Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd 373 10/17/11 12:02 PM Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd 374 10/17/11 12:02 PM Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd 375 10/17/11 12:02 PM Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd 376 10/17/11 12:02 PM Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd 377 10/17/11 12:02 PM Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd 378 10/17/11 12:02 PM Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd 379 10/17/11 12:02 PM Duhi_9781400069286_2p_all_r1.j.indd 380 10/17/11 12:02 PM ... Individuals THE HABIT LOOP How Habits Work THE CRAVING BRAIN How to Create New Habits 31 THE GOLDEN RULE OF HABIT CHANGE Why Transformation Occurs 60 ●●● PA R T T W O The Habits of Successful... meals The researchers’ goal was to figure out how habits work on a neurological level and what it took to make them change “I know you’ve told this story a dozen times,” the doctor said to Lisa,... ● THE POWER OF HABIT ments that tested the limits of his memory By then, Eugene and Beverly had moved from Playa del Rey to San Diego to be closer to their daughter, and Squire often visited their