The best habit books are not necessarily the ones that make you feel guilty or constantly question your choices. The best books on habits allow you to form a plan and understand how to build lasting habits.
For every decision you make, the second most important factor is how well you habitually take care of it. It’s not always easy to make a habit, but it is not impossible.
Habits are the equivalent of doing the right thing automatically without even thinking about it. It is something that can be applied to anything, from your daily routine to accomplishing lifelong goals.
What Are Some Of The Best Habit Books About Habit Development?
Many habit books claim to provide the perfect guide to living a healthy, happy, and productive life. Yet, many factors make it hard for these habits to stick in the long term.
So, is it possible for one book about habits to be the best?
At motivationinlife.com, we suggest reading multiple best habits books on habit formation instead of sticking with one. Doing so will make sure you’re getting all the information you need to live a better life and form healthy and productive habits.
What Are The Recommended Books To Build Good Habits?
The best habit books are those that are worth reading if you want to start a new daily habits or break an old one. These books come from a variety of authors and include motivation, science, and stories of success.
So we have tried to pick up some of the most relevant books about habits that will set the momentum for you over time. Keep checking back from time to time as we will keep adding more recommendations from time to time.
Table of Contents
- 10 Best Books About Habit
- The Power Of Habit By Charles Duhigg
- Tiny Habits By B J Fogg
- High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard
- Better Than Before: By Gretchen Rubin
- Habit Stacking: 127 Small Changes To Improve Your Health, Wealth, and Happiness By S J Scott
- The Habit Blueprint By Patrik Edblad.
- Willpower By Roy Baumeister
- The Courage Habit By Kate Swoboda
- 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey
- Smart Change: Break The Habits That Hold You Back And Form The Habits Of Success By Art Markman
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10 Best Books About Habit
There are countless books about habits, but these ten best habit books are some of the best. They offer different perspectives on how to change bad habits into good ones.
These best habit books will help you understand why certain behaviors are difficult to break. Whether you want to develop a new habit or break an old one, these books on habits will have something for you.
So here we go!! In this list, if we may call them habits books there is something for everyone here!
The Power Of Habit By Charles Duhigg
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg is a non-fiction book that discusses the why and how of habits. The author breaks down habits into three parts that are
- cued by certain triggers,
- followed by a routine,
- and then achieve a reward at the end.
He also discusses how to change bad habits by first pinpointing the cues, routines, and rewards that are involved in the habit.
In the Power of Habit, the author details how a habit is formed in what he calls a “habit loop,” which consists of three parts: a cue, the behavior, and the reward.
The brain creates a habit when it associates any activity with a sense of pleasure or relief from discomfort. It can be difficult to break habits because they are created using the mind’s neurological circuitry.
If you understand how the habit loop works, you can make or break habits. In the book, Duhigg explores the power of the mind in developing life-changing habits, which in turn are the reason behind success and failure.
In today’s fast-paced world, many people struggle with bad habits such as
- eating too much sugar,
- drinking too much alcohol,
- and spending too much time on social media.
To break these habits, it is important to first pinpoint what cues or triggers make you engage in the habit. Next, try to change the routine by changing your environment or making a new habit that you think will be more beneficial.
Some Best Quotes From The Power Of Habit By Charles Duhigg
“Willpower isn’t just a skill. It’s a muscle, like the muscles in your arms or legs, and it gets tired as it works harder, so there’s less power left over for other things.”
“If you believe you can change – if you make it a habit – the change becomes real.”
“There’s nothing you can’t do if you get the habits right.”
Charles Duhigg, the author of The Power of Habit, would not be surprised to learn that companies are using his book to help them stay productive. Good and productive habits are integral to any corporation.
Companies like General Electric and Procter & Gamble have used the strategy of creating specific routines for employees that provide incentives in the form of rewards when they complete their tasks.
Tiny Habits By B J Fogg
B J Fogg, a behavioral scientist, states that “smaller habits take less effort to maintain than larger ones.” He goes on to say that having too many habits can lead to failure because of the amount of time it takes to maintain all of them.
According to Fogg, this is often the case with people who have made New Year’s resolutions. He believes resolutions should be broken down into smaller tasks or mini habits so they are easier to accomplish.
If you are looking for a way to make incremental, lasting behavior changes in your life, and break bad habits then you might want to try “tiny habits.”
Tiny habits are small, doable behaviors that can be incorporated into your day-to-day routine. They are so small and simple that they can be done while driving to work or walking around the office.
The idea behind this is that if something is so easy to do it will happen naturally. Plus you will do it without putting in too much effort.
Some Of The Noteworthy Quotes From Tiny Habits By B J Fogg
“After you put your feet on the floor in the morning, immediately say this phrase, “It’s going to be a great day.” As you say these seven words, try to feel optimistic and positive.”
“There are only three things we can do that will create lasting change: Have an epiphany, change our environment, or change our habits in tiny ways.”
“We live in an aspiration-driven culture that is rooted in instant gratification. We find it difficult to enact or even accept incremental progress.”
Fogg explains how to develop habits in 3 steps in the book:
1st is to establish an anchor moment which is a pre-existing habit you already have and develop a new one with the help of it. The anchor moment gives you a clue or reminder to do the new habit.
2ndly whatever you are trying to achieve, the author explains that the same should be very tiny. Something that you do not need any external motivation for and it is too simple to avoid.
He suggests that you should focus on any action that you can complete within 30 seconds. Doing two push-ups, for example, or flossing teeth immediately after brushing The tiny behavior must be done immediately after the anchor moment.
And the third is to rejoice immediately, like giving yourself a motivational pep talk for completing the task. You must immediately celebrate after performing the new tiny behavior. This way, the new behavior will be wired into your brain.
High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard
Brendon Burchard is a well-known author and high-performance coach. In his book, High Performance Habits, he shares the most interesting things he has learned from coaching the world’s best performers about what they do differently to get such great results.
In this original and data-driven look at how humans work best, he reveals everything we need to know about high performance found in the habits of the world’s top 10% of most successful people.
The book discusses principles for achieving peak performance in life, work, and happiness. To reach the top of your game, you must
- develop a commitment to excellence
- and an idea of what your highest potential looks like.
For this to happen, you have to have what the author calls “high performance habits.” These include being
- clear about your goals,
- developing healthy rituals and routines,
- and recognizing that external success is not as important as internal success.
Some Powerful Quotes From The Book High Performance Habits By Brendon Burchard
“High performance habits are not quick “life hacks”. They all require a major, conscious and consistent effort.”
“Be more intentional about who you want to become. Have vision beyond your current circumstances. Imagine your best future self, and start acting like that person today.”
“Seek clarity. Generate energy. Raise necessity. Increase productivity. Develop Influence. Demonstrate Courage. These are the six habits that you need to adopt if you are to reach high performance in any situation.”
The book also includes tricks and tips to develop habits that high performers use daily in their lives. He also explains what traits these high performers have that differentiate them from the rest of the crowd.
It is not that these highly effective people are exceptional or have special talents. It is just that they have honed their skills and habits to a level where despite adversities they achieve what they set their minds to.
Further Burchard also advises on how to stick with these habits despite the challenges of work and other responsibilities.
Better Than Before: By Gretchen Rubin
Expert author Gretchen Rubin published her newest book, Better Than Before, in October 2015. The premise of the book is that there are four pillars of habit change: identity, motivation, social support, and skills. She suggests the following strategies for making permanent changes:
- Identifying the habits you would like to change,
- Understanding your motivations for changing them
- Finding friends or family who can help keep you accountable for the new behaviors you want to adopt,
- Breaking bad habits that you want to let go
- Practicing new routines until they become second nature
Some Of The Mesmerizing Quotes From The Book Better Than Before: By Gretchen Rubin
“How we schedule our days is how we spend our lives.”
“There’s a great satisfaction in knowing that we’ve made good use of our days, that we’ve lived up to our expectations of ourselves.”
“In the chaos of everyday life, it’s easy to lose sight of what really matters, and I can use my habits to make sure that my life reflects my values.”
In her best-selling book, Better Than Before, the author argues that humans have a natural tendency to slide back into their old habits. She provides tactics for mastering your habits and not falling back into old patterns.
In her book, she introduces a set of tools and techniques to help her readers better manage their everyday lives.
She starts by stating that she had a hard time breaking habits because they were all over the place before, but now she’s more stable. She refers to herself as “a recovering perfectionist,” which is what led her to write this book in the first place.
Habit Stacking: 127 Small Changes To Improve Your Health, Wealth, and Happiness By S J Scott
Habit stacking, the practice of combining several habits into a single routine, is an effective strategy for self-improvement and personal development.
This technique has been used by numerous people to begin
- early morning workouts,
- stop smoking,
- and build lean muscle mass.
In the book Habit Stacking, author S. J. Scott provides an outline for habit stacking, which incorporates six simple steps.
Habit stacking is an easy way to form new habits. Author S J Scott states that there are two types of habits: behaviors that are challenging and behaviors that are not challenging.
An example of challenging behavior includes “getting up at 5 am every day”. An example of not challenging behavior is “drinking water”. Stacking, or pairing the desired habits, is done by first making habits that are difficult easier.
Habit stacking is an effective tool for building better habits. You can use it to develop any habit or improve your existing ones by intentionally using the power of habits. Habit stacking has four steps:
(1) choose a few habits you need to work on;
(2) list them in order of priority;
(3) determine which habits are compatible with one another; and
(4) stack the habits together into clusters that you’ll be able to accomplish at one time.
Some Intriguing Quotes From The Book Habit Stacking By S J Scott
“If a task will take you two minutes or less to do, deal with it immediately and move on.”
“It’s hard to be happy in a relationship unless we are first happy with ourselves. That’s why it’s important to take a few moments every day to do something we thoroughly enjoy, whether it’s a quick five-minute meditation or maybe listening to your favorite song. When we are happy, we can make others happy, improving our social lives and relationships immensely.”
“Energy is usually at its peak during the first part of your day, which means you should be completing habits that inspire or excite you about the day ahead.”
In this book, you get 127 actionable steps with specific guides on how to execute habit stacking effectively. This will help you to form habits concerning different key areas of your life like work relationships and finances. It provides specific habits that you need to develop. It also provides guidelines on how to build them.
You also get nine sets of routines as examples, which you can choose as per your liking and implement as part of your daily rituals for better productivity and happier life.
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The Habit Blueprint By Patrik Edblad.
Habits help shape our lives and can be both a blessing and a curse. The quality of our habits affects our
- productivity,
- happiness,
- health,
- and success in life.
What’s more, they can also affect the people you interact with every day. However, when you try to change a habit in your life, it is often unsuccessful and leaves you feeling discouraged and frustrated.
The concept of habit design has been gaining popularity in recent years. It is one of the most effective ways to change your behavior.
The Habit Blueprint is a step-by-step guide for designing habits that align with your goals and values. Author Patrik Edblad shares both his own experiences and scientific research on how you can shape your habits to succeed.
In this book, he teaches you how to choose a core habit and develop it. You then observe how everything in your life streamlines according to that habit.
Secondly, he encourages that while starting, start so small that your willpower does not give way while pursuing or developing that habit. You also should learn how to surround yourself with positive people and how to get committed to sticking to a habit.
He explains that most people fail to develop the habits that they want because they try to bring huge transformations in their lifestyle in a very short period.
However, when they try to do so, sooner or later, their willpower diminishes and they tend to give up. So he suggests that try to start so small that there is no reason for failure. For instance, going for a run for 2 minutes. Once the action is initiated it is easier to gain momentum.
Further, he says that you often get stuck to an idea or habit because you have already invested a lot of time and energy into it. You do so even when you realize that the said habit is not giving you the required results.
Patrick Edblad suggests it is important to deal with your emotions and stop falling into mental loopholes. Keep changing your approach and strategies so that they benefit you and you do not remain stuck in the past.
To explain the concept, he writes “There’s no point in ruminating over a missed attempt because stacking guilt and shame on top of what you perceive as a poor performance only makes it harder to get back on track. Let the past be in the past, forgive yourself quickly and get back in the game as fast as you can.”
Willpower By Roy Baumeister
Willpower has been the topic of many discussions. Some attribute it to an internal push to take control of oneself or one’s situation.
However, Roy Baumeister in his book argues that willpower is not a resource that can be used up and replenished, but rather something that comes about through shifts in expectations. The book teaches you how to learn the techniques of self-control.
Willpower is something that everyone possesses but does not know how to apply. You know when you need some willpower.
You need it when your body is craving something like ice cream or alcohol. However, it takes more than willpower to make these cravings go away.
What you need is a plan with the support of a healthy diet and lifestyle practices to make any changes in your life.
In this book, Roy explains how you need to hone your willpower and willpower instinct so that you can use them to your advantage. He says that willpower is like a muscle, if you overuse it will not serve its purpose.
So you need to train it in a manner that you can use to control your cravings and control your habits to your advantage.
He also says that the problem with setting goals is that you try to over-achieve or set too many goals at the same time. Consequently, after some time your willpower fails you and you give up.
He, therefore, suggests setting realistic goals with enough room for flexibility. He says it is preferable to set goals on a weekly or monthly basis as this gives you more flexibility and space to adjust your schedule and willpower.
Some Interesting Quotes From The Book Willpower By Roy Baumeister
“When you pick your battles, look beyond the immediate challenges and put your life in perspective. Are you where you want to be? What could be better?”
“Charles Darwin wrote in The Descent of Man, “The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.”
“For most of us, though, the problem is not a lack of goals but rather too many of them.”
The Courage Habit By Kate Swoboda
Kate Swoboda has been writing about courage for years. She is a former editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post, and she has interviewed many famous people who have overcome major struggles to achieve success in their areas of expertise.
In her book, The Courage Habit: Take on Your Toughest Challenges and Emerge Stronger, Kate examines what it means to be courageous in ordinary life: “Brave doesn’t mean you’re fearless. Brave means you face your fear.“
Some people live their entire lives without ever having the impulse to do something brave. They never take risks or step outside of their comfort zone because they are scared of the consequences.
The truth is, once you face your fear and act boldly, it becomes easier to keep doing so. The feeling of bravery soon becomes normal, and eventually even routine. This is what author Kate Swoboda calls “the courage habit” in her book.
In this book, she tells you how to get over your self-imposed restrictions that are preventing you from achieving what you want from your life. You learn to control your emotions and, as a result, your fears when they are triggered.
You also learn to overpower your inner critic, which is preventing you from taking bold decisions to move forward in your life. So if you need to develop habits, make habits work for you, and push yourself out of your comfort zone, read books building courage like the Courage Habit.
Some important quotes from the book Courage Habit By Kate Swoboda
“So, what is it that you want to be truly and deeply different in your life?”
“First, discontent and unhappiness are signals worth listening to. There’s an authentic part of all us that refuses to be a liar and pretend that things are okay even when they really are not. This part of us will keep showing up through feelings like exhaustion, resentment, numbing out or joylessness. Not feeling great about your life? Stop seeing those feelings as problems to quickly be rid of, and instead pay attention to why those feelings are showing up in the first place.”
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey
Stephen Covey’s book, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change,” was published in 1989 and quickly became a New York Times and international bestseller.
In this self-help book, Covey discusses the importance of balancing both the “proactive” work you are responsible for and the “reactive” duties you can’t control to be effective.
Stephen Covey’s book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, is a list of habits that are typically attained by highly effective people.
These 7 habits are:
Habit 1: Be Proactive,
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind,
Habit 3: Put First Things First,
Habit 4: Think Win-Win,
Habit 5: Seek to Understand, not just to be Understood,
Habit 6: Synergize
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw.
This book by Steven Covey is a self-help book that is based on Covey’s experience with others that he has worked with over the years. The main point of this book is that you can develop your effectiveness by adopting good habits.
He shares many insights about how to be more productive and fulfilled in your life. He believes that people are truly successful if their habits enable them to take care of themselves, their families, and their work.
According to him truly successful people can see things from different perspectives and are typically better decision-makers.
Some Interesting Quotes From The Book Highly Effective People by Steven Covey
“Start with the end in mind.”
“To change ourselves effectively, we first had to change our perceptions.”
“When the trust account is high, communication is easy, instant, and effective.”
“Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.”
Smart Change: Break The Habits That Hold You Back And Form The Habits Of Success By Art Markman
Art Markman is a well-known author and psychologist who writes about motivation and changing people’s behaviors. With a Ph.D. from UT Austin, he has researched, consulted, and lectured all over the world.
In his book “Smart Change,” he offers practical ways to change your life for the better. He starts by addressing how people tend to think about change as being big or small. He says that all changes are smart because they are either minor or major.
Smart Change is a book by Art Markman that discusses how to change habits. He argues that if you want to change your habits, you first need to identify the bad ones. Thereafter, come up with new behaviors or actions that will replace old habits.
You should also think about what prompted the habit in the first place and use those same cues to promote the new habit. Finally, be patient with yourself because it takes time for the brain to change habits.
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These are some of the best books on developing habits and also letting go of bad habits we have chosen for you. We will keep updating this list so do keep checking for new updates to the list of best habit books.
What Books Did You Find To Be Most Helpful In Making & Breaking Habits? What Do You Think Are The Best Books On Habits?
Habits are one of the most important things you can rely on in your life. They can make or break your day-to-day routine, and without them, it can be hard to get anything done. So, it’s important to know what habits to build and which ones to break.
In this post, we have tried to compile a list of the best habit books out there.
Which ones did you read and find to be helpful? Which other books would you want us to review? Do let us know!!
What Was The Most Surprising Use Of Habits That You Uncovered?
I found that making mini-habit changes works wonders. You give time to your body to adapt to the changes that you want to incorporate and the small wins boost your morale for the bigger changes.
I was also surprised to learn that some common habits can help you reach your goals in ways you might not expect. For example, making sure I eat breakfast every morning has helped me stay on track with my diet and avoid cravings throughout the day.
In the same way, writing down my goals regularly has helped me keep track of my progress and keep me going.
What about You?
Final Thoughts
Several elements contribute to the success of making lifestyle changes. One of these is motivation or wanting to change for a better tomorrow.
Other factors that can help in building habits are having a supportive environment and having someone resembling an expert to guide the way.
Another element is understanding what steps are needed for the desired change. Sometimes people think they need to make drastic changes when small ones will do instead.
If you are interested in learning more about habits and healthy habits that you can start building today read our blog post on healthy habits to start today.