Starting Habit Journey with “The Power of Habit”

Starting My Reading Habit Journey

As a member of the Focusaur team, I’ve decided to grow my focus and attention together with friends who share the same goal of building better habits.

To start, the first book I picked up is The Power of Habit. At the end of this article, I’ve also included a list of widely recommended books. Some I’ve already read, but most are still on my list. I’ll keep sharing my reading notes here as I go along.

The Power of Habit

By Charles Duhigg

The central idea of this book is simple yet powerful: nearly 40% of what we do every day isn’t the result of conscious decision-making — it’s driven by habits. Habits are automatic patterns that guide our behavior, often without us realizing it. Once we understand how habits work, we can learn to reshape ourselves, influence others, and even spark large-scale social change. Here are the main takeaways:

1. The Habit Loop

This is the heart of the book. Every habit operates as a loop made up of three elements:

Cue: The trigger that kicks off the behavior. It could be a time, place, emotion, another person, or even something that just happened (e.g., waking up in the morning, feeling stressed, seeing your phone).
Routine: The actual behavior or action (e.g., brushing your teeth, eating a snack, going for a run).
Reward: The positive outcome your brain associates with the routine (e.g., a clean mouth, relief from stress, the runner’s high).

The brain learns to crave the reward — and that craving is what drives the habit to stick.

focusaur the habit loop

2. The Golden Rule of Habit Change

You can’t simply “eliminate” a bad habit by sheer willpower. That usually fails.
The effective way is to keep the same cue and reward but replace the routine.

Example: Someone feels stressed (cue), eats chocolate (routine), and feels relaxed (reward). To change the habit, they can replace chocolate with a walk (new routine), which still delivers relaxation (reward). Over time, the brain learns to crave the walk instead.

3. Keystone Habits — The Domino Effect

Some habits carry outsized influence. Duhigg calls them keystone habits because changing one of them can set off a chain reaction that transforms many other areas of life.

Case study: When Paul O’Neill became CEO of Alcoa, he made “worker safety” the company’s top priority. To improve safety, Alcoa had to overhaul communication, streamline processes, and strengthen teamwork. The results went far beyond safety: productivity soared, quality improved, profits climbed.

4. Habits Shape Individuals, Companies, and Societies

On a personal level: Good habits build healthier, more productive, and more successful lives.
On an organizational level: Company culture, efficiency, and innovation all depend on collective habits.
On a societal level: Movements like the Civil Rights Movement succeeded because leaders leveraged and reshaped group habits.

Recommended Books

I did a lot of research and came up with this book list. I truly value the act of reading. My goal is to improve my focus and build better habits. Therefore, I believe the first step is to enhance my understanding through extensive reading—gaining more knowledge about the brain and cognition. After that, I can work on cultivating good habits, improving my life, and ultimately achieving greater happiness.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen R. Covey
Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything – BJ Fogg
Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results – Stephen Guise
The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It – Kelly McGonigal
Procrastination: Why You Do It, What to Do About It – Jane B. Burka, Lenora M. Yuen
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise – Anders Ericsson, Robert Pool
Thinking, Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman
The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their Lives – William Stixrud, Ned Johnson
Educated: A Memoir – Tara Westover
Adversity Quotient: Turning Obstacles into Opportunities – Paul G. Stoltz
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High – Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler
Crucial Confrontations: Tools for Resolving Broken Promises, Violated Expectations, and Bad Behavior – Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion – Robert B. Cialdini
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard – Chip Heath, Dan Heath
The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right – Atul Gawande
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity – David Allen
Principles: Life and Work – Ray Dalio
Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time – Keith Ferrazzi
Positive Discipline – Jane Nelsen
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life – Marshall B. Rosenberg
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business – Charles Duhigg