The Power of Habit, and the loop that runs on a person

Every habit has three parts. A cue, which is the signal that starts it. A routine, which is what you do. A reward, which is what you get.

The main rule: keep the cue and the reward, and change the routine in the middle. It also shows how one key habit can shift many others.

It is right that habits run on a loop, and that the loop can be mapped. It is right that you rarely delete a habit. You swap what happens in the middle.

Readers often say it explains the why better than the how. That is fair, and the why still helps.

Most of the book's cues are times and places: the afternoon slump, the walk past the kitchen. Those can be planned for.

A pattern's cue is often a person. A partner goes quiet, or a boss frowns. It fires fast, and the routine runs before you see the loop.

Changing the routine is the right idea. The hard part is noticing the cue in time to do it.

Behavioral Interception is the practice of catching an automatic pattern as it begins, intercepting its usual response, and practicing a different action until it becomes more natural.

It puts the book's swap into the seconds. First you feel the body signal, a stomach drop or tight chest, and name the pattern.

Then you run the different action in place of the old one. Repeat it each time the signal comes back.