Table Of ContentSPECIAL EDITION
T H E P O W E R O F
H A B I T S
Start Good Ones, Break Bad Ones, Change Your Life
1
CONTENTS
4 Introduction: How Habits Make
(and Break) Us
GOOD HABITS
10 How to Tame the Wild Inside You
18 Safety First, Benefits Follow
26 Kids and Habits: A Love Story
32 Humans Aren’t the Only Species
with Habits
36 She Does, He Does
42 Embracing Family Habits (Most of Them)
46 The Fun Way to Make Fitness Stick
BAD HABITS
54 Habits That Are Worse Than Habits
60 Is Addiction a Habit or a Disease?
66 Wholesale Changes?
68 The Blueprint for Changing Your Habits
LIFE-CHANGING HABITS
74 Habits Around the World
80 Habits of the Rich and Famous
86 The Healthy, Quiet Practice
of Meditation
90 30 Personal Finance Habits Everyone
Should Follow
Parts of this edition appeared previously in TIME.
3
THE POWER OF HABITS INTRODUCTION
HOW HABITS MAKE
(AND BREAK) US
THEY TORMENT US AND YET PROTECT US,
DRIVE US MAD AND YET KEEP US SAFE.
IT ALL DEPENDS ON WHICH HABITS
WE LEARN AND WHICH ONES WE LOSE
BY JEFFREY KLUGER
YOU’RE MORE LIKE A PAIR OF PANTS THAN YOU hasbeenachangeinthetissue, and this change is a
think.Weallare.Wealsohaveafairbitincommon newhabitofcohesion.”
withaviolin,abalkylockandafoldedpieceofpaper. Dumont saw something similar in the way that
That, at least, is how the 19th-century French psy- the sound produced by a violin—provided it has
chologistandphilosopherLéonDumontsawus. beeninthehandsofagiftedplayer—improvesover
Dumont had a knack for tackling irresistible as- time because the very fibers of the wood “contract
pectsofhumanbehavior:thescienceoflaughter,of habits of vibration conformed to harmonic rela-
gratitude,ofempathy.Healso,famously,pondered tions.” In the same way, the rough, fresh metal of a
thescienceofhabits.Tohim,ourtendencytoform lock’sinternalmechanismsissmoothedbyrepeated
unconscious behavioral patterns—to learn an ac- use, and the first fold of a piece of paper is always
tion, sometimes link it to a whole series of actions a bit harder than subsequent folds along the same
and then repeat it again and again and again, often crease. “Just so,” he wrote, do the things we expe-
entirely unconsciously—was less a matter of mind rience and the manner of our actions “fashion for
thanamatterofphysics.Wedonotsomuchdirect themselves in the nervous system more and more
ourownactionsasbecomeshapedbythem. appropriatepaths.”
“Everyone knows how a garment, after having That, quite simply, is why you bite your nails
beenwornacertaintime,clingstotheshapeofthe or chew your pens or twirl your hair or jingle your
body better than when it was new,” he wrote. “There keys or do that incessant throat clearing whenever
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THE POWER OF HABITS INTRODUCTION
Likeanimals,whosebehaviorisshotthroughwithhardwiredhabits,werepeatbehaviors if
only because they got us through one day and will likely get us through the next.
you’reconcentrating,evenifthepeoplearoundyou We’vecomealongwaysincethedayswheneven
arelookingatyouwithexpressionsthatarebegging suchdeepthinkersasRenéDescartesbelievedthat
youtoplease,please,pleasestopitalready. animalswereessentiallylivingmachines,automata
More-complex habits with greater impact on thatresponded exclusively to neural programming
yourlifearetheresultofsimilarexperientialshap- andexternalstimuli—likeself-drivingcarswithno
ing.Thereisthehabitualbusinessofshowinguplate thought, volition or even consciousness. That may
or missing your deadlines or failing to save money actually be true when it comes to simple creatures
orpromisingyourselfyou’llgotothegymbutnever like insects, but the overwhelming consensus now
actuallyfollowingthrough.You’veeitherdeveloped is that higher animals are very much conscious be-
the habit for those bad things or failed to develop ings,possessedofrichinteriorlives.
good ones. And if you do learn to do better, well, Still, instincts are instincts, and animals are gov-
thatinitselfisanotherkindofhabit. ernedbyasortoffactory-loadedcodefarmoresothan
Eitherway,itsometimesseemsthatwearefairly weare.Whyelsewoulddomesticateddogsstillturnin
governedbyourhabits,inthrallofourhabits—that circlesbeforelyingdown,ifnottoflattenoutthegrass
we are, as Dumont’s contemporary, American phi- onalong-agoprairie,despitethefactthatitsspecies
losopherWilliamJamesputit,littlemorethan“bun- hasn’tlivedthereforhundredsofgenerations?Why
dlesofhabits.”It’sadescriptionthatfeelsequalparts elsewouldamalebirdputonamatingdisplayinfront
right and unavoidably galling—at least for higher- ofadecoyfemale,respondingmoretosilhouetteand
order creatures like us. color than to the fact that the ostensible female has
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notmovedsomuchasamillimeter?Animalbehavior ones—both good and bad. Procrastinators follow a
isshotthroughwithsuchhardwiredhabits. well-established behavioral pattern of avoidance,
Humans, certainly, are different, though not delay, rationalization and, finally, night-before
nearly so much as we think. Most of our habits are panic. Planners follow a similarly well-trod path
learned, not instinctual, but we perform them un- of organization, discipline, scheduling and follow-
consciously all the same—and that can actually through. Frugal people practice the familiar habit
be a good thing. You’d waste a whole lot of time if of earning, saving and smartly investing. The less
you had to think through each step of your morn- frugalareinasimilarlypredictablecycleofmaxing
ingcommute—pouryourcoffee,pickupyourkeys, outcreditcards,pilinguplatefeesandsweatingout
hop in the car, start it up, put the coffee in the cup the last two days before the paycheck arrives. So it
holderandonandonuntilyouatlastarriveatwork. goesifwedoordon’texercise,doordon’tkeepatidy
Formanysimplechoreslikethat—brushingyour desk,doordon’teatthewayourdoctorkeepstelling
teeth,makingyourbed,fryinganegg—youbundle us to eat. All of these behaviors have been learned,
the whole thing up into a single habit package and rehearsed,chunked,stored—andallofthemareex-
thenperformitautomatically.Psychologistscallthat ceedinglydifficulttounlearnwhenwewant.
phenomenon“chunking,”andwhilemost of the time But exceedingly difficult is not the same as im-
it’sentirelybenign,it’snotalways. possible. And here the hard science of neurology
Unconscious habits like nail-biting or even and evolution can yield to the softer science of
smokingarechunkedtoo.Theyaretriggered,often self-discipline and practice. Psychologists recom-
enough,bystress,whichgivesrisetoaphysicaldis- mend,forexample,establishingso-calledkeystone
tractionintendedtobleedoffsomeofthatanxious habits—fundamental goals or objectives that en-
psychicenergy.Thegoodnewsisthatitworks.The couragethedevelopmentoflesserincludedhabits.
bad news is that the reward becomes learned and If your keystone habit is to have enough money to
permanent.Whiletheveryfirstnailbiteorhairtwirl retireandbuyasummerhome,thelatefeesandthe
or certainly cigarette might have been a conscious maxed-outcardsgivewaytothehabitsofsaving.If
choice,thehundredsandthousandsthatfollowover yourkeystonehabitisphysicalhealth,thejunk-food
theyearsareentirelyautomatic.Thebehavioris,ina anddrinkinghabitsgetbrokenandare replaced by
sense,substanceabusewithoutthesubstances.Re- ahealthydietandregularexercise.
gardless of the indulgence—drugs, alcohol, a self- There is, too, the strategy of habit substitution.
soothing habit—the rush of feel-good brain chem- Simplydroppinganunwantedhabitisgoingtoleave
istrythatfollowsmakesithardnottowanttorepeat behindabehavioralvacuumthatisallbutcertainto
theaction,nevermindtheconsequences. befilledinshortorderbythatverysamehabit.Re-
This,likeitornot,doesbringusclosertoourani- placethenail-bitingwithdeepbreathing,thecandy
malkin.Inacelebrated—ifarguablyunkind—1985 withcarrots,andyoucrowdoutthebadactionsyou
experiment,agroupofpsychologistsattheUniver- don’t want with the good actions you do. Avoiding
sityofCambridgetrainedlaboratoryratstopressa triggers—thepeoplewhocauseyoustress,thefoods
lever to receive a food reward. The connection be- you’remostlikelytobingeon—canworktoo.
tweenactionandoutcomewasestablished,andthe None of this is easy. For all of its elegance, evo-
animals kept pressing and kept eating. They were lution can sometimes be a very blunt instrument.
then moved to a different cage without a lever and Itshapedustosurvive—nothingmore—anditgave
fedthesamefood,onlythistimeitwastreatedwith us the best brain it could for that job. The problem
a chemical that left it tasting exactly the same but is, it’s a brain that’s trying to do its surviving in a
causedtheratstoexperiencenausea.Thiswassup- worldfullofstressorsandtemptationsandendless
posed to “devalue” the reward, discouraging the demands. So we take shortcuts and repeat behav-
ratsfromgoingneartheleverlater.Forsome,that’s iors and indulge our appetites if only because they
whathappened.Otherswentstraightbacktopress- gotusthroughonedayandwilllikelygetusthrough
ing.Theyhadlearnedthatthefoodwasbad,but the the next. Our habits are, in a sense, the sum of our
originalhabittrumpedthelaterwisdom. experiences.We’renotresponsiblefortheoneswe
Thatautomaticityplaysoutinoursimplephysi- have, but we can be responsible for taking control
cal habits, and it’s equally true of our more complex and developing better ones.
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