The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg - 830 Words

When it comes to the topic of addiction, most of us will readily agree that it is a miserable trait to possess. An addiction is a physical and psychological state of being that if not treated correctly could result into harmful wrongdoing. In The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, he recounts a story in which a fatigued housewife named Angie Bachmann lost all of her family’s assets, amounting to a million dollars due to a gambling addiction. Every habit has three components: a cue or a trigger of an automatic behavior to start, a routine the behavior itself, and a reward which is how our brain learns to remember this pattern for the future. According to Duhigg, â€Å"you cannot extinguish a bad habit, you can only change it† (63). Duhigg†¦show more content†¦Once the debt piled up and her cash flow decreasing, she then starts to blame the casino of feeding her addiction. In my opinion that is a poor move to make because not only would the casino lawyers crush her in court, they would try to file for absurd amounts of damages. That is why Bachmann should be held accountable for her mistakes or most addicted gamblers would follow the same route. Bachmann’s gambling addiction follows a simple cycle known as the habit loop. A habit loop, which explained earlier, is a cycle consisting of a cue, routine, and reward affect. Identifying the habit loop for addicts is a great way of finding ways in altering the addiction to completely get rid of it or to minimize the activity. The initial cue of the addiction was when she felt unappreciated by her kids or had a verbal disagreement with her husband. The routine was playing blackjack at the casinos, while generating conversations with random strangers. Finally the reward hopefully was winning the game or receiving money once cashing in the chips and having a sense of being good at something. Knowing Bachmann’s habit loop, we can infer that her problem can be adjusted in a way to minimi ze the amounts of money that are poured into the game and spending less time in a casino. Duhigg provides a solution for people who want to change their bad habits by informing them about the golden rule of habit change explained in The Power of Habit. Essentially theShow MoreRelatedThe Power Of Habit By Charles Duhigg756 Words   |  4 Pagesdecided their future, they decide their habits, and these habits decide their future. A habit is a learned behavior repeated regularly, requiring small or no reasoning. Habits are created, are not obtained by inheritance, habits can transform themselves in needs. In addition, habits are not unique to people, organizations, to be made up of people, have habits also. There are right, and wrong habits; right habits normally are called as virtues, and wrong habits are called as vices. Undoubtedly, virtuesRead MoreThe Power Of Habit By Charles Duhigg1232 Words   |  5 Pagesit isn t always easy. But with time and effort, almost any habit can be reshaped,† Charles Duhigg writes in his book The Power of Habit. Whether a person rea lizes it or not, habits dictate their daily choices. Often, the choices made out of habit are not what the person really desires; they are just the easy way. They are a crutch†¦ something the person does out of ease or comfort without putting thought into it. At some point these habits started out as a conscious decision, but eventually they becameRead MoreThe Power Of Habit By Charles Duhigg978 Words   |  4 PagesMy Plan to Change My Habit In the Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg explains his theory of habit formation based on the habit loop. The habit loop is whenever a certain cue triggers your brain to go into a mode that automatically uses makes you follow certain patterns. This routine can be physical, mental or emotional. Then there is a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future. We know a habit that we have good or bad is for a reason, butRead MoreThe Power Of Habit By Charles Duhigg1474 Words   |  6 Pagesit made her happy. She can’t blame anyone else for her actions besides herself; it is Angie’s fault for her addiction. Their are more better things to do besides sitting at a table and throwing away all your money. In the article The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, it read that, â€Å" it was 10:30am, her 3 daughters were gone, and Bachman had resorted again-taping a piece of paper over the kitchen clock to stop looking...When the clock hit twelve o’clock, she put on some makeup and nice dress and droveRead MoreThe Power Of Habit : Henry Molaison And Eugene Pauly1496 Words   |  6 Pagesleast one habit – whether it is good or bad – and unless someone else points it out, they almost never notice it. Such unconscious tasks exist thanks to â€Å"a nub of neurological tissue known as the basal ganglia† (Duhigg 13). However, scientists would never have learned that this part of the brain was responsible for the formation of routine were it not for two significant men: Henry Molaison and Eugene Pauly. In his book, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Bus iness, Charles DuhiggRead MoreEssay 21098 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿The Power of Belief in Habit Changing All of us have formed habits in our daily life. Even though some of these habits only exist in our subconscious and we cannot actually make sure whether they are real or only the conjectures. But it is undoubted that all of our behaviors are influenced by our desires on specific objectives. In the book, the power of habit, Charles Duhigg explained the definition of a habit as an effort-saving instinct. â€Å"When a habit emerges, the brain stops fully participatingRead MoreThe Habits Of The Habit1474 Words   |  6 Pages â€Å"Habit formation is the process by which new behaviors become automatic† (â€Å"Habit Formation†). These automatic behaviors can have self-destructive qualities, such as: overeating, smoking cigarettes, texting and driving, or aggressive behavior. Some unfortunate souls, they have overlapping self-inflicting habits. It may come as a shock when one realizes how many of their daily â€Å"decisions† are indeed habits that they have unconsci ously developed. Likewise, many people do not realize that when theyRead MoreA Study On Computer Science1402 Words   |  6 Pagesadvantage of users’ habits and human psychology to increase its revenue. Although this practice is the nature of the online marketing business to make profits, I totally disagree with this practice; Google should be clear in what data they receive from its users and sell to advertisers. In the book The Power of Habits, the author Charles Duhigg emphasizes how enormously our habits impact our daily lives. He indicates that 40 percent of our daily activities are a sequence of our habits (xii). AccordingRead MoreHarkirt Kaur. English 130- Levine . Essay 3. April 4, 2017.1548 Words   |  7 Pages Angie Bachmann’s Addiction Charles Duhigg in his book The Power of Habit talks about a woman named Angie Bachmann who is addicted to gambling. Bachmann of Iowa was a stay-at-home mom who found herself bored every day. She had nothing to satisfy her boredom because her husband was busy at work and the kids were at school. To treat herself one afternoon she decided to dress up and drive to a local casino. She gave herself strict rules. Duhigg states, â€Å"No more than one hour at the blackjackRead MoreThe Sweet Spot By Charles Duhigg Writers1444 Words   |  6 PagesThe profound authors Malcolm Gladwell, who wrote â€Å"10,000 Hours Rule†, Charles Duhigg writer of â€Å"How Habits Work†, and lastly Dan Coyle, who wrote â€Å"The Sweet Spot† all giving different perspectives on what is a possible route one could take to begin achieving mastery of a skill. Each kind of writing that is being presented by the authors use many different kinds of evidence to show the understanding of the topic of creating a habit, remembering the activities from memory, and lastly repetition and how