The Power of Habit

Every single day of your life you do things without really thinking about them. The way you get dressed, what you have for breakfast and the route you take to work: for most people, there is no need to think before engaging in these activities - they've become habits. How powerful these and other habits actually are and how we can create new and change old habits is the subject of Charles Duhigg's book The Power of Habit: Why we do what we do and how to change.

If you read the book, you will learn...

... how habits work and how they can help combat Alzheimer's.
... how to create new habits, like starting to exercise on a regular basis.
... why some people are able to stop overeating and others aren't.
... which habits matter most and how Starbucks uses good habits.
... how movements like the Saddleback Church and the Montgomery Bus Boycott happen.

And lastly, Duhigg will discuss the question of whether we are responsible for our habits or not. This was one of my favorite chapters in the book, which I highly recommend reading.

Here are a few quotes from the book...

The power of habits:
"Habits are powerful, but delicate. They can emerge outside our consciousness, or can be deliberately designed. They often occur without our permission, but can be reshaped by fiddling with their parts. They shape our lives far more than we realize - they are so strong, in fact, that they cause our brains to cling to them at the exclusion of all else, including common sense." (p. 25)

The power of believing:
"Belief was the ingredient that made a reworked habit loop into a permanent behavior." (p. 85)

"But we do know that for habits to permanently change, people must believe that change is feasible. [...] Belief is easier when it occurs within a community." (p. 89)

No one-size-fits-all solution:
"Individuals and habits are all different, and so the specifics of diagnosing and changing the patterns in our lives differ from person to person and behavior to behavior." (p. 275)

Change is possible:
"Change might not be fast and it isn't always easy. But with time and effort, almost any habit can be reshaped." (p. 276)

So now that you want to get the book (I know you do ;-)), let me help you out: if you get it here, you will also be supporting this blog. Thanks!

Play Offense Instead of Defense

The annual Superbowl (championship game of the National Football League) is approaching fast, but don't worry: this will not be a post on American Football strategy or on what my team needs to do on Sunday night in order to win the title. Instead it's a summary of what I have learned from the reading of Willpower: Why Self-Control is the Secret to Success by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney. I have made a list of 15 things you should keep in mind and rules you should follow if you want to improve your willpower and self-control. If it's not all clear, post your questions in the comments section or go and read the book for yourself! ;-)

Receiving Help From Above

The famous English guitarist and singer-songwriter Eric Clapton was an alcoholic and drug addict. "Drinking was in my thoughts all the time," he writes in his autobiography. All the time... until, that is, he started praying. Here's how he describes the night he finally sank to his knees and started asking for help from above: "I had no notion who I thought I was talking to, I just knew that I had come to the end of my tether. I had nothing left to fight with. Then I remembered what I had heard about surrender, something I thought I could never do, my pride just wouldn't allow it, but I knew that on my own I wasn't going to make it, so I asked for help, and, getting down on my knees, I surrendered." According to Clapton, he's never again even seriously considered taking another drink.

Where did all the willpower to quit (which he didn't have before) all of a sudden come from? Even Clapton can't really explain it, but he now prays for help every morning and night. Telling his story in their book Willpower, it becomes clear that Roy Baumeister and John Tierney aren't quite sure how to explain it either and since neither is particularly religious it's understandable that they have decided to focus on the social component of religious denominations in order to explain how faith benefits people looking for more self-control in their lives. Put simply, being alone sucks:

Getting Into The Habit...

Does the name Henry Morton Stanley ring a bell? I'm impressed if it does, since Mr. Stanley is not quite as well-known as the man he found in the African jungle in 1871 after months of searching: the great missionary Dr. David Livingstone. But according to the authors of Willpower. Why Self-Control is the Secret to Success, it is hard "to name any explorer in history who endured such sustained misery and terror so deep in the wilderness" as Henry Stanley. How did he do it?

Stanley was actually a journalist (not a scientist or explorer primarily) and definitely didn't get his willpower from his upbringing: Born to an unmarried eighteen-year-old woman who abandoned him to her father, he never knew his own father and ended up in a workhouse by the time he was six years old. But for some reason he saw the benefits of having self-control early on and worked on improving his own continually. So by the time he went on his first expeditions to the interior of Africa, he was well prepared - mentally probably even more so than physically.

Taking A Good, Hard Look At Yourself

It's one of our most important traits as human beings. Most animals don't have it, so it's one of several things that sets us apart from them. And as it turns out, it's a key factor when it comes to exercising willpower: self-awareness.

As humans, we start developing self-awareness at an early stage, usually being able to pass the "mirror test" by our second birthday: the forehead of the baby is dabbed with a spot of odorless dye and the child is set before a mirror. Most animals reach for the mirror in order to touch the spot, but even as babies we are capable of realizing that the spot is on our own body and reach up to touch our own forehead.

On Making Plans And Decisions

So, what's the plan?

Maybe you've been asked this question before. Usually in situations where some guidance is needed as to what the next step should be. What now? Where do we go from here? What do you think we should do? It's always good to have a plan. It's not a bad idea to make a plan. Know where you're going and what you're trying to achieve. That's why Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney stress this important point in their book Willpower: "The first step in self-control is to set a clear goal." (p. 62) And in order to reach that goal you need a plan. Just make sure it allows for some flexibility, which is why you should probably avoid making daily plans:

Eat Your Way to Willpower...Sort Of

Ever heard of glucose? Maybe in connection with diabetics? Well, as it turns out it's not just important for them, but for all of us. So what exactly is it? According to the authors of Willpower, Roy Baumeister and John Tierney it is "...the simple sugar manufactured in the body from all kinds of foods, not just sweet ones." (p. 44) And as research has recently shown, it's vital to practicing self-control. Here are a few things you should keep in mind if you want to make sure you have enough glucose in your organism:

1) Feed the beast.
Meaning the potential demon inside you because of glucose depletion. Have a good breakfast, especially on days that you're stressed. Don't argue with your boss several hours after having had lunch. And I especially liked the authors' last example: "When you're on a romantic trip across Europe, don't drive into a walled medieval town at seven p.m. and try to navigate to your hotel on an empty stomach. Your car can probably survive the cobblestone maze, but your relationship might not." (p. 57) Nicely put.

One Step At A Time...

There are some things in life that take time; developing and improving your willpower is one of them. Most of us have at least one bad habit we would like to get rid of, but we keep making the same bad decisions, showing a lack of self-control and willpower. Why does this happen? There are probably several reasons, but let's start today's post with something called "ego depletion". Here's how John Tierney, one of the authors of Willpower. Why Self-Control is the Secret to Success describes it:

"Thus was born 'ego depletion,' Baumeister's term for describing people's diminished capacity to regulate their thoughts, feelings, and actions. People can sometimes overcome mental fatigue, but Baumeister found that if they had used up energy by exerting willpower (or by making decisions, another form of ego depletion that we'll discuss later), they would eventually succumb." (p. 28)

Uncovering The Secret To Success

That's what we'll be doing in the next few weeks, where we will be taking a closer look at a book entitled Willpower. Why Self-Control is the Secret to Success by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney, a psychologist and a science writer who have teamed up to show the importance of self-control in all of our lives. Their subtitle is a pretty bold proposition to make, but the authors are not ashamed to state their case right in the introduction to their book. According to them, psychologists all over the world