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I’m currently reading The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change : Charles Duhigg. It is fascinating. Life changing.
I’ve given up drinking in the past couple of years. It was really hard. This book explains why it was so hard. Turns out most habits are unconscious. So once the trigger happens, without thinking you perform the habit. If the trigger occurs and you fight the habit, you get really, really strong cravings. They have all these brain scans to show these things happening deep in your brain. Crazy stuff. Explains a lot.
20 years ago when I gave up smoking I found it really hard because I would often buy a packet and smoke a cigarette without thinking. I’d be there smoking when I’d remember “I was meant to be giving up! Damn.”
Like half the population I want to improve my diet and exercise more regularly. I’m going to try and use this book to set up some better habits and change some old ones. BTW turns out habits never really die. They are etched in your brain forever. The best you can do is change them. Or make new ones.
I’m buying this book for everyone I know. Fascinating.
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