Passages, structures and practical devices, connected to their books and patterns. Every example keeps its source and review status.
Start with reviewed examples. Select any number to compare, with their source context intact.
Explore guided comparisons ↗PART The Habits of Individuals
PART The Habits of Successful Organizations
PART The Habits of Societies
The same idea is examined first in an individual, then in organizations, then in society.
“Andrew Pole had just started working as a data expert for Target when a few colleagues from the marketing department stopped by his desk one day and asked the kind of question Pole had been born to answer: “Can your computers figure out which customers are pregnant, even if they don’t want us to know?””
The question is spoken directly. Duhigg gives it personal stakes through customer privacy.
A repeated behavior is separated into its cue, routine and reward. The roles become questions readers can carry into another case.
Cue, routine and reward become repeated questions readers can ask of a case. The model earns its name by helping them locate something, compare something and eventually change something.
The Febreze team visits a woman with nine cats who does not notice their smell. A useful product is missing the perceived cue the initial explanation assumed.
Chapter 2 does something stronger than illustrating a rule: it teaches an attractive first explanation, shows what it cannot explain, and makes the reader revisit the opening success with a better question.
Duhigg changes the afternoon activity to explore whether he wants food, a break or social contact. The appendix models a sequence of diagnostic trials rather than issuing a universal rule.
The appendix converts a model into a sequence: identify the routine, test possible rewards, isolate the cue, and make a plan. The crucial move is treating the first explanation of your behavior as something to investigate.
Reviewed examples have a source-linked editorial interpretation. Detected candidates are exact passages or structures retrieved by an explicit rule and still need interpretation. Neither label establishes a cause of bestseller longevity. No missing text is counted as a negative example.