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  • Hey there, guys!

  • Today I wanted to give you five lessons that I learned

  • from reading the book, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

  • Now, I read this book a little while ago.

  • I took a lot of notes on it and learned a ton from it

  • and it actually helped me start to change a lot of my habits

  • which led to some pretty drastic changes in my life.

  • So, I wanted to share some of the most important things

  • that I've learned from this book.

  • And the first lesson, is simply that all habits

  • can be broken down into a three-step process.

  • Habits are triggered by cues

  • which then lead into a routine

  • and the routine ultimately culminates in a reward.

  • One of the key things to note in this lesson

  • is that habits are delicate things.

  • They don't trigger unless the cue triggers them.

  • So if you don't expose yourself to a cue

  • you're not going to do a habit.

  • Now, this is important for both good habits and bad habits.

  • You need to build cues that trigger good habits

  • and you want to try to avoid cues that trigger the bad ones.

  • Now, speaking of cues that trigger habits

  • the second lesson I learned from this book

  • that I want to share with you is that almost all cues

  • fall into one of five different categories.

  • They either fall into the category of location

  • time, emotional state, actions of other people

  • or the immediately preceding action.

  • Knowing these five categories of cues

  • is useful when you wanna start changing bad habits

  • because they'll allow you to pick out the cues

  • of each individual, specific habit that you're targeting.

  • Now, the third lesson that I learned

  • from this book is that there's actually

  • a fourth component to the habit loop.

  • When I read the first chapter

  • it presented the first three parts of that loop

  • but then later on in the book you learn about the fourth one

  • which is craving.

  • Through an experiment done on a monkey

  • scientists have been able to figure out

  • that in the initial stages of building a habit

  • the brain receives a spike of activity.

  • Basically, a dopamine surge, when the actual reward

  • of the habit is achieved.

  • However, as time goes on and the habit is done over and over

  • and over again and becomes more ingrained

  • the spike of activity starts to come

  • before the routine has even gone through.

  • It comes when the cue happens.

  • Now what this means for you is that when you're exposed

  • to a cue for a habit that you've already had for a while

  • and have gone through many different times

  • your brain gets that spike of activity

  • before even going through the routine.

  • At that point you get this craving

  • this need to get the reward and it's self-perpetuating cycle

  • that keeps the habit going.

  • Now the book talks a lot about how to change your habits

  • how to actually break bad habits and start building new ones

  • but one of the most interesting parts of this

  • that I read about, which I wanna make the subject

  • of this fourth lesson, is that people who want to break

  • bad habits or who are trying to make a change in their life

  • are often more successful if they plan in advance

  • what they're going to do when there's a pain point

  • when something difficult comes up.

  • The example Duhigg gave in the book was of people

  • who had knee-replacement surgeries.

  • People who have this surgery have to go through

  • lots of painful rehabilitation and walking, exercising

  • to actually regain full functionality of their knees

  • but this rehabilitation is actually really painful

  • and a lot of patients just can't muster

  • the willpower to go through it.

  • Now what researchers found is patients

  • who actually wrote down a plan of what they were

  • going to do at specific times during the day

  • to rehabilitate their knee were much more likely

  • to go through that painful rehabilitation process

  • and were, in turn, much more likely to recover.

  • And finally, the last lesson that I wanna share

  • from this book is that some habits have a tendency

  • to spawn other habits and these habits are called

  • keystone habits.

  • The book mentions that for people trying to lose weight

  • one of the most successful methods that has been used

  • is simply having them keep a daily food journal.

  • By establishing this one little, easy-to-maintain habit

  • dieters were actually able to recognize patterns

  • in their life they hadn't noticed before

  • and that spurred them on to start making

  • more positive changes to tackle those patterns.

  • Essentially, keystone habits help to create small wins

  • which, in turn, boost your overall motivation

  • and give you some momentum to build

  • even more habits in your life.

  • To give you a personal example, I started

  • getting serious about building new habits back in 2014

  • and my keystone habit was simply waking up early everyday.

  • By establishing that habit, I was waking up early

  • and feeling really productive in the morning

  • and that gave me the motivation to start creating

  • a morning routine full of other good habits.

  • So, those are my five lessons, I wanted to share

  • with you from The Power of Habit.

  • Overall, I learned a lot from this book

  • and I highly recommend reading it.

  • And if you wanna find it, I've linked to it

  • down in the description below.

  • By the way, this video is the start of a new series

  • in this channel that I'm calling Five Lessons.

  • Essentially, when I finish a book that I really

  • wanna share lessons from with you guys

  • I'm gonna create a video that shares those lessons.

  • And I'm doing this because I'm not really

  • that good at criticizing books.

  • I'm not really a reviewer, of sorts

  • but I am a good curator and I do like

  • sharing the things that I learn.

  • Now these videos won't be replacing the weekly videos

  • that are already coming out on this channel

  • they'll actually be in addition to those videos

  • and they won't be weekly themselves

  • because I don't read a book every single week.

  • I actually take my time to read books

  • and I make sure to take really good notes on them

  • and I think that'll enable me to share

  • better lessons from them as well.

  • So, if you're already a subscriber to this channel

  • don't worry, the other content's not going away

  • this is simply in addition to it.

  • And if you're new here, this channel is actually all about

  • studying more effectively and being a better student.

  • So, if you enjoyed this video and you wanna learn

  • how to learn more effectively, try subscribing.

  • Also, if you've already read this book

  • or you're a voracious reader and just want

  • more book recommendations, I've got a whole list of books

  • that I've enjoyed and think are really good for students

  • on my site and you can click the card or the link

  • down in the description to find them right now.

  • That's all I got, so thanks so much for watching

  • and I'll see you on Thursday.

  • Hey guys, thanks so much for watching

  • this inaugural video of my Five Lessons series.

  • Now, if you enjoyed it, you can support

  • this channel by leaving a like.

  • And if you wanna get more videos on being

  • a more effective student every week

  • and more Five Lessons videos in the future

  • click the big red Subscribe button right there.

  • If you wanna read a book on earning better grades

  • I happen to write one and it's absolutely free.

  • So, if you want a copy, click the picture of the book

  • and I will send you one.

  • If you wanna read a summary for all five of these lessons

  • and get links to this book and others I recommend

  • click the orange logo right there

  • to go to the companion blog post.

  • You can click the thumbnail to see another video

  • of mine with book recommendations.

  • And if you wanna connect I'm on twitter

  • or you can leave a comment below

  • with any questions you have.

  • Thanks.

Hey there, guys!

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