The Power of Habit Themes

In The Power of Habit, journalist Charles Duhigg explores how people’s habits—their automatic patterns of behavior—shape their lives, accomplishments, and identities. By making ordinary decisions automatic, habits save people time and energy. But, for this very reason, they’re also easy to overlook. Every day, people make hundreds of habitual decisions about ordinary issues like what to eat, how to get to work, what to do during their free time, and how to handle stress…

Charles Duhigg wants his readers to understand how habits work and why they’re so central to human life, but his real goal is to give people the tools they need to change their habits for the better. This is why The Power of Habit is best known for its detailed advice on how to replace bad habits with good ones. While many people think of their habits as automatic, set in stone, and outside their…

Because habit change is such a powerful tool, it can do immense good—or considerable evil. In The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg surveys examples that span the whole moral spectrum. Many cases of habit change are obviously morally good—like overcoming violent tendencies or stopping medical malpractice. But when people develop or fail to overcome their evil habits, Duhigg asks, who is at fault? Habits are complicated because, while they are often involuntary, people ultimately…