HOT READS FOR THE PRACTITIONER
Title: Habits are not Destiny
Competency: self-development, managing self
Who benefits: you
Consultant Usage: food for thought in how you conduct your business
What’s it about? Want to remake your life? Want to exercise regularly, lose weight, raise exceptional children, or become more productive? Want to build your own company? Start a social revolution? Achieve success in your chosen field?
Want to write a book that enters the New York Times’ bestseller list at #4? Reporter Charles Duhigg did! How did he do that? By answering the questions in the first paragraph.
This recently released book is The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business.
The book is about changing personal habits.
The book is about changing organizational habits.
The key is the “keystone habitâ€. Focusing on one pattern you want to change. Reprogram that habit and you are on your way to reprograming other routines. Find small “wins†that provide momentum. Habits are not destiny: Change a habit, change your habits, change your life.
According to Duke research, which influenced the author’s decision to write this book, 40% of what we do each day isn’t a conscious decision. It is a habit.
The book is written in three parts. Part I is all about habits: how they are formed, how to build new ones and how to change old ones. There are many personal and organizational stories how to change habits.
Part II looks at the habits of successful companies. And more stories of successful change.
Part III looks at the habits of societies. And even more stories. The one about Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement is particularly instructive.
The author sums up the book by saying: “Habits can be changed, if we understand how they work.”
Most of you are probably familiar with this old joke: Question: How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb. Answer: One, but first the light bulb has to want to change. This book is like the joke. Question: Should I read this book? Answer: Yes, but only if you want to change.
If you are not interested in the book but want more information, you can go to the author’s Blog (which I found a little too self-serving for my taste), listen to him on YouTube1 (4 minutes) or YouTube2 (3 minutes) , or read an interesting review of the book as it relates to procrastination in a Psychology Today article.
Want one more way to improve your life? Make a habit of reading my TGIF column every Friday on this Blog site. (Okay, maybe that one is a reach – hehe.)
Catch you later.
Bill Bradley
Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.
