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8 Essential Books for Building Better Habits
Changing your behavior means understanding how behavior works
Around 40% of the actions you take today will be nearly automatic. Each one will start with a cue that kicks off a well-rehearsed routine. Upon completion, you’ll be rewarded with a satisfying sense of fulfillment.
We call these habits, and they get a lot of attention this time of year.
The start of the new year feels like a big reset button. We feel like anything is possible — a new workout regimen, a consistent meditation practice, or maybe more business books in the “finished reading” pile. We make similar promises in our work, whether to focus on more ambitious projects or spend less time checking email and Instagram. Habits also influence our relationships with others, the teams we work with, and the organizations we work for.
The other thing we’re reminded of each new year is that habits are hard to change.
The good news is that our understanding of habits has sharpened immensely in the last 30 years thanks to advances in neurological and behavioral research. And in the 2010s, we saw the release of several books that translated those findings into tools we could use.
