Welcome to my first book review post.  The book is The Power of Habit – Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business by Charles Duhigg.  The reason I chose this book is because it is highly relevant to anyone who reads this blog, from both a personal and professional perspective.

I am not one to typically read science related books but I found this book fascinating, as well as a very easy and entertaining read.  Until reading this book, I never understood how truly powerful habit could be and how it impacts everything in our lives.  As stated in the book, habits are technically defined as “the choices that all of us deliberately make at some point, and then stop thinking about but continue doing, often every day.”

The book is broken into three sections, describing the impact of habit on individuals, successful organizations and societies.  Understanding all three of these concepts gives individuals in our line of work a greater perspective on not only themselves, but also the company they work for and the individual plaintiffs we deal with on a daily basis.

One paragraph from the prologue, regarding the experience of a U.S. major in Iraq, provides a great example of the impact of habit: “’Understanding habits is the most important thing I’ve learned in the army,’” the major told me.  “It’s changed everything about how I see the world.  You want to fall asleep fast and wake up feeling good?  Pay attention to your nighttime patterns and what you automatically do when you get up.  You want to make running easy? Create triggers to make it a routine.  I drill my kids on this stuff.  My wife and I write out habit plans for our marriage.  This is all we talk about in command meetings.  Not one person in Kufa would have told me that we could influence crowds by taking away the kebab stands, but once you see everything as a bunch of habits, it’s like someone gave you a flashlight and a crowbar and you can get to work.”

The book is filled with anecdotes like this explaining how habit impacts every part of our lives.  You can’t help but make markings, notes and underlines throughout the book.  When you finish reading it, you will be overwhelmed with inspiration to change yourself and your company for the better.

Read it and you won’t be disappointed.  Then let me know what you think.

To see more about this book, check out the website:  http://charlesduhigg.com/the-power-of-habit/