As a busy mum with 5 kiddos between 1 to 10.5-years old, I have started cutting down on doing product reviews to focus on my childcare and family life, home cooking, education, helping with hubby's administration site of the business and sharing informational articles on my FB fan page so I am only accepting and prioritizing products that can fit into our family dynamics (especially books on parenting or educational stuff, family products, something along those genre)! Reading is my passion and coupled with books that are of parenting, children, family or religion or educational genre, all the more I gotta say yes!!!!!
Title: Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick
Author: Wendy Wood
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (October 1, 2019)
ISBN-13: 978-1250159076
Paperback: 320 pages
Description from the product page:
"We spend a shocking 43 percent of our day doing things without thinking about them. That means that almost half of our actions aren’t conscious choices but the result of our non-conscious mind nudging our body to act along learned behaviors. How we respond to the people around us; the way we conduct ourselves in a meeting; what we buy; when and how we exercise, eat, and drink―a truly remarkable number of things we do every day, regardless of their complexity, operate outside of our awareness. We do them automatically. We do them by habit. And yet, whenever we want to change something about ourselves, we rely on willpower. We keep turning to our conscious selves, hoping that our determination and intention will be enough to effect positive change. And that is why almost all of us fail. But what if you could harness the extraordinary power of your unconscious mind, which already determines so much of what you do, to truly reach your goals?
Wendy Wood draws on three decades of original research to explain the fascinating science of how we form habits, and offers the key to unlocking our habitual mind in order to make the changes we seek. A potent mix of neuroscience, case studies, and experiments conducted in her lab, Good Habits, Bad Habits is a comprehensive, accessible, and above all deeply practical book that will change the way you think about almost every aspect of your life. By explaining how our brains are wired to respond to rewards, receive cues from our surroundings, and shut down when faced with too much friction, Wood skillfully dissects habit formation, demonstrating how we can take advantage of this knowledge to form better habits. Her clear and incisive work shows why willpower alone is woefully inadequate when we’re working toward building the life we truly want, and offers real hope for those who want to make positive change. "
This book draws on how we form our habits and what we can do to break out from the bad habits as well as how to stick to the good ones. I've highlighted some key points I took from this book which I think touch a point in my life - that there is a set pattern and we have to follow and stick to it in order to make it stick and firm up.
As a parent, for example to get our children to eat vegetables, we have to set a pattern (include vegetables in every meals for instance) and then follow it (by making sure everyone including us parents eat it). When children see the adults do it, they emulate and follow through, but of course, we have to keep on repeating and be diligent at it in order to make the habits stick.
Another point which I think is very important to me from this book is the word FRICTION. From the dictionary, the word 'friction' means: the force that resists relative motion between two bodies in contact or the clashing between two persons or parties of opposed views. Sounds like a negative word but like the book stated, it can be manipulated to help accomplish astounding things.
For example: If you want to save money, you need to cut down on your unnecessary expenses. So you create friction by not using credit card. Force yourself to use cash everytime you buy something, perhaps the sight of the physical money leaving your wallet and hands will trigger some conscience in yourself that this is money going out. The purchase better be worth it.
I feel that this book has some key points that is beneficial for those looking to break their bad habits and maintain / form good ones. One thing that I personally would like to see more is perhaps for the important points to be in bullet forms or to sort of bold it or something. As a mother of 5 kiddos, I'm constantly being distracted, so to be able to quickly grasp important points from the book is a plus point for me.
Overall, a very inspiring and educational book to have!
The book is available at all major bookstores in Malaysia.
I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a copy of the book in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"
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