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

Duhigg begins Chapter 3 with the story of Tony Dungy, who was the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 1990s. The team had a long losing streak. To change that, Dungy purposefully wanted to change the team’s habits by addressing the routine portion of the team’s cue > routine > reward habit loops. Dungy coached his players on a few simple plays, and they learned to perform perfectly, quickly, and efficiently. Previously, their routine had included dozens of complicated plays, which the players performed sub-standardly.

To change the team’s habits, Dungy applied the “Golden Rule” of habit change: “If you use the same cue, and provide the same reward, you can shift the routine and change the habit. Almost any behavior can be transformed if the cue and reward stay the same” (62). Duhigg explains that the best way to change a bad habit is not to extinguish it entirely. In fact, the brain is so set in its automatic behaviors that it is almost impossible to remove a habit. Instead, preserve the cue and reward and change the routine. In effect, the Golden Rule tricks the brain.

The Golden Rule is also apparent in the example of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), which a man named Bill Wilson first created in the 1930s. AA is a 12-step program that has helped millions of individuals battling addiction. Key to AA’s longevity and success is its ability to help people insert new routines into their habit loops, without changing the cue or reward. For example, if one alcoholic’s previous habit loop was 1) getting off of work (the cue), 2) going to the bar for drinks (routine), and 3) getting to see friends and socialize (reward), AA offers a similar habit loop but with a different routine. Wilson created AA’s program without prior knowledge of the Golden Rule, a scientific find that arrived decades later, but his program nevertheless uses the same principal.