Habits Chapter Summary

The beginning of the book starts out talking about an elderly male, Eugene Pauly, who suffers a brain injury that affects his short-term memory. His wife was getting increasingly worried about his lack of exercise. He could not go out anywhere because he would not remember how to get back or where his house was. Eugene’s wife takes him on walks when something amazing happened. Eugene went on a walk by himself. He could do this because he got so used to walking that the action became habit for him. Habits are an integral part of what we do, and why we do the things we do. Charles Duhigg, the books author, then states how to start a habit, and why habits occur. A habit is something that you do, but don’t necessarily think about. For example,

The author talked about a keystone habit, which is a habit that causes a chain reaction of habit disruption. By focusing on changing one habit and making it better, other bad habits will also follow. The example the book gave was if people start working out the natural chain reaction is for them to eat healthier as well. The book then moved towards companies trying to predict consumer habits to benefit companies and maximize profit. Most companies do this by studies and marketing research. For example, when most people enter a grocery store they immediately turn right. Stores then take this information and place their floor plan around this information. The habits of societies are also discussed in the book, questioning whether are brain is solely responsible for our habits or are habits

In The Power of Habit Charles Duhigg talks about Starbucks and how willpower can become automatic. Starbucks success is they way the company utilizes their employees and wanting them to be creative and intellectual. The workers have to be motivated by something to be able to work as hard and as efficient as Starbucks wants them too. The textbook talks about Maslow’s hierarchy and writes how it is connected to marketing strategies. Self-actualization is the 5th step in this process. Self-actualization involves the desire for self-fulfillment; to become all that one is capable of becoming. This is how Starbucks is so successful and what Charles Duhigg explains. People work better when they believe they are achieving things for themselves and not working for someone else. That is what Starbucks makes their employees believe and that is why they are