The Power of Habit

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg

From Michael Phelps' winning swim strategy, to Proctor & Gamble determining how to best sell Febreeze, Duhigg explores how our automatic habits shape outcomes. 

The book starts out strong, with a woman who transformed her messy life when she stopped smoking.  The woman goes on to running marathons, finding success in her job, and actually changing the neurological patterns in her brain.  Unfortunately, by the end he lost me.  When the author began to tout all the accomplishments of the Obama administration, and how fabulous the Saddleback Church is because they founded their religion on what people wanted or didn't want, I felt I was being indoctrinated into what I should think is good and right. Although I was intrigued by the fact that Martin Luther King Jr. was basically peer pressured into standing behind Rosa Parks. 

However, at the end I wish he would have included guidelines for how to change or improve your own habits.  It would have been a little more helpful than just an anecdote collection.