January Reading; “Habit Forming”

Hello all,

Ah, January 1st - the peak day in the peak season for getting a drastically early start on things in a way that will never be sustained. It’s resolution season, and while I have my own separate tradition (perhaps to be discussed a future month), I happen to have spent the past few months involuntarily meditating on my own habits. As such, it felt like a good time to turn to a book that really rocked my world when it was first assigned as a Voice and Speech reading in university. In fact, it’s a useful breakdown of the our habits tend to form—and how understanding those specific mechanics can make it easier to make (or break) the habits we do and don’t want.

So I’ll just leave this all here then…

“The Power of Habit; Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business”

by Charles Duhigg

Duhigg’s book first came to me before I’d been indoctrinated in a healthy dose of skepticism over pop-sci books (read: fell into listening to “If Books Could Kill” episodes back to back). Still, I think the central kernel of information in this book is a really useful framework, and of the anecdotes contained, there are still some bangers I find myself quoting all these years later. And while normally the “-and Business” component of that subtitle would be a red flag, not every story paints the corporations involved in a complementary light (see the section on how Target hired new data expert Andrew Pole to ask him “can your computers figure out which customers are pregnant, if if they don’t want us to know?”

But, rather than indulging in yet another flavor of the “corporations openly discuss controlling your behavior” menu, we’re going to dip into the appendix for Duhigg’s excellent breakdown on that central kernel I mentioned earlier - the habit loop. I’m certain this is the section Duhigg would most want me to share with you - because he’s already made it free to download on his website.

Related Readings:

“Tools” 

Charles Duhigg

Can’t wait for the excerpt this month to get those already-procrastinated resolutions done? Hours into your new resolutions and already wavering? Let’s get you some applicable advice straight from the source. Charles Duhigg has not one but two guides to applying his book to your New Year’s Resolutions (both of which function well as the cliff notes for the whole book).

- How to Design a New Year’s Resolution That Lasts
- 5 Tips for Sticking to Your New Year’s Resolution

Go forth resolute!

…unless of course, you’re not into the whole resolution thing. For you, I offer this next reading:

“How to Make a Better New Year’s Resolution”

Elissa Nadworny in conversation with Faith Hill (but not that one) on “Consider This”

I really tried to find a “the case against new year’s resolutions” article or podcast for you all, but the truth is 90% of those are actually just an argument against waiting until January 1st to make positive changes. And given today’s date that’s not … overhelpful. So instead, this old “Consider This” episode makes a good case for considering Intentions rather than Resolutions.