Suhas Bathini - Week 11: Habits
Last year, I went with my Dad to visit one of his long-time customers who lives in Atherton. After being left shocked by the $21 million house and multiple maids who greeted us (who would've thought that was a thing in the Bay Area), I sat down and listened while my Dad mostly talked about business-related topics with his customer. After a quick discussion at the end about myself, the host went inside and gifted me two books: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and The 5 Minute Journal. That same day I sat down and got engrossed in the book and began writing daily 5-minute journals—or that's what I should have done. Instead, I came back home and tossed both books into my bookshelf after reading the first two pages for them to collect dust.
Only during this winter break after one of my friends also suggested the book did I begin to give the book a shot. It was well worth it as I felt the book was genuinely perspective-changing.
The book covers the science behind habits and how they are created and reformed. It also discusses what exactly constitutes a habit: the cue, routine, and reward. It also includes the importance of replacing addictive habits with new ones that maintain the same cue and reward but with a different routine. The book helped me realize the significance habits have in our lives such as how they determine our long-term success and dictate our productivity, health, and personal and professional growth.
Another critical topic of the book is willpower. Duhigg explains how willpower is like a muscle where it can get exhausted, but it can also be built and strengthened through consistent use. Rather than relying on just motivation, (this can be a random flicker of it or the type of motivation that leaks out 2 days before the POAS paper is due) it's important to position your environment to make good habits easier and bad habits harder. One example of this is when I put my phone in a separate room when studying which has significantly improved my productivity.
Being intentional with habits and routines allows you to take control and harness the full potential of your actions. Habits are the backbone of our daily lives and shape our success.
I've already bought another book from Charles Duhigg and plan to read that over spring break. I have yet to use The 5 Minute Journal but plan to do so in the foreseeable future. I've included a picture of all three books below and I would highly suggest them!
Only during this winter break after one of my friends also suggested the book did I begin to give the book a shot. It was well worth it as I felt the book was genuinely perspective-changing.
The book covers the science behind habits and how they are created and reformed. It also discusses what exactly constitutes a habit: the cue, routine, and reward. It also includes the importance of replacing addictive habits with new ones that maintain the same cue and reward but with a different routine. The book helped me realize the significance habits have in our lives such as how they determine our long-term success and dictate our productivity, health, and personal and professional growth.
Another critical topic of the book is willpower. Duhigg explains how willpower is like a muscle where it can get exhausted, but it can also be built and strengthened through consistent use. Rather than relying on just motivation, (this can be a random flicker of it or the type of motivation that leaks out 2 days before the POAS paper is due) it's important to position your environment to make good habits easier and bad habits harder. One example of this is when I put my phone in a separate room when studying which has significantly improved my productivity.
Being intentional with habits and routines allows you to take control and harness the full potential of your actions. Habits are the backbone of our daily lives and shape our success.
I've already bought another book from Charles Duhigg and plan to read that over spring break. I have yet to use The 5 Minute Journal but plan to do so in the foreseeable future. I've included a picture of all three books below and I would highly suggest them!
Hi Suhas,
ReplyDeleteI found your title very interesting as my mind sprang to life about the power of habits and routine in our lives. I like how you tie personal experiences into your blog and relate it to the concept of power. Through this, you are able to engage the audience and readers which I appreciated as it made it easier to read your blog. Bringing up books is also a great idea considering the class that we are in, and it helps us relate to what you are trying to say as your audience consists of like-minded people. I agree that willpower is like a muscle as it needs to be trained and can get exhausted in long assignments like the POAS as you mentioned and other tests of endurance mentally and physically. Thank you for recommending those books, and I will make sure to check them out!
-Krish
Hi Suhas!
ReplyDeleteIt was pretty interesting reading your blog this week! What led to him giving you the books? Was it just out of the blue or was the conversation somehow related? The use of personal pronouns throughout this blog made it seem like a friendly conversation with you, and made it more enjoyable. I can relate that the power of habits is real in people and can shape the way we live. A cue, routine, and reward is also pretty interesting to read, because I didn’t know that was what made up a habit. I also agree that motivation isn’t the only factor in being successful and habits are also a very driving force in being successful. Using POAS as an example was really nice, because all of us can relate to it. I also had to put my phone away while doing it, and I think doing POAS kind of allowed me to do a reset and lose my addiction to my phone. I enjoyed reading your blog this week, see you later today!
- Colin
Hi Suhas! I really liked how you opened your blog post with an anecdote and this fantasy happy ending of reading the books and suddenly having all the motivation in the world–only to rescind the narrative like a record scratch interrupting a flashback. It makes your portrayal that much more relatable! I confess that, although my dad has encouraged me to read similar books (such as Atomic Habits), I couldn’t even find the incentive to read the books, thinking that it would be the same topics that we go over every so often in our SEL sessions. Looking back, I find it ironic that I couldn’t muster up the motivation to even learn about gaining motivation in the long run. I like how you used a sort of catchline with “cue, routine, and reward,” and I hope to be able to repeat the phrase in my mind when I get the urge to distract myself from work by doing something else instead. I think that I have always preferred to skip to the part where I became fully spurred to do my work by pure motivation, instead of first struggling through the period of hard discipline like you described. Unfortunately, this means that I still rely on short-term bursts of endorphins and on the adrenaline of “[two] days before” to get me through. This post has definitely served as a wake-up call to work harder toward creating a stronger work ethic! What are some other ways in which you have been able to implement what you learned from these books into your own life? Thanks for the book recommendations, and thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Suhas,
ReplyDeleteI can definitely connect to your experiences in collecting books as gifts, only to let them rot on your bookshelf and collect dust perpetually. Since I’ve been a little kid, I’d say around 90% of the books I’ve received as gifts have just been lying in my house without a single hand touching them (forget actually opening up and reading!). I think it’s really thoughtful and diligent of you to check out the book that your dad’s client gave to you. Due to the seemingly successful nature of the host, the book might’ve been a great learning opportunity. Out of curiosity, was this the reason that influenced you to read the book, or was there another more particular reason. The reward system, as you described it, is quite a powerful concept that I will definitely integrate in my life as the way you explained it definitely resonated with me. Perhaps utilizing the idea of a reward system could make me more productive when doing my homework, since it would encourage me to do my work through a reward that I would actually enjoy and appreciate. Is this something that you’ve tried to integrate in your own life?
-Ritwik