Charles Duhigg on Habits, Productivity and Connection

Charles Duhigg is a best-selling author. I first found out about him from his first book The Power of Habit which is all about the science of habit formation in our lives, companies, and societies. It is a must-read if you’re interested in productivity or effectiveness or maximizing your potential. His next book, Smarter, Faster, Better is all about productivity; I highly recommend you check both of those out.

In today’s conversation, we weave a lot of what Charles has learned with those books into our conversation, and we talk about his future book, his next book, which is all about connection. We talk about how Charles has come to see the world from a habit lens, from a productivity lens, and from a connection lens as well.

He currently writes for the New Yorker Magazine; previously, he wrote for The New York Times. He is someone who thinks things deeply about how humans can thrive and how we can flourish and how we can be our best. He really dives deep into the science and the research whenever he is writing and sharing what he’s learned. He is someone that should be on your radar if he’s not already.

 

Charles had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“Your relationship with this person [who has passed away] continues for the rest of your life” (7:05).

“When we think about death, we think about it as the worst thing that could possibly happen to us. And I think that that’s wrong. Everyone we know and love at some point is going to die. We might die before them. But this is, literally, just part of life. Embracing that, and saying there’s good and there’s bad, I don’t think it demeans it, I think it actually elevates it” (9:15).

“In some respects, the more successful you are… the less enjoyment you get from life” (11:55).

“You have to genuinely decide how you define success, and then commit to that. Embrace it and celebrate it” (12:20).

“Throughout time, the people who are happiest and most successful and who live the longest are the people who have the strongest relationships” (13:45).

“I’ve very deliberately started defining success as connections” (15:40).

“There’s a form of contentedness that comes from intensity” (22:40).

“I like to have a certain amount of intensity in my life” (23:00).

“We make a choice. And then when we stop making that choice, that’s when we get in trouble. We continue acting on this decision we made a month ago, a year ago, ten years ago, without reconsidering the question” (26:30).

“I spend a lot of time second guessing the choices I’m making. I commit to them when I make them [though]” (26:45).

“I need to keep in touch with that part of my brain that allows me to know that it’s time to change” (28:55).

“There was a time when busy and successful were synonymous” (30:35).

“There are periods when you love something, and you become too busy at that thing” (32:30).

“If you feel busy and you don’t know why, it’s a warning sign that you’re not thinking deeply enough” (32:45).

“Saying no is very important” (39:10).

“I can’t buy into the stakes around sports” (44:35).

“Democracy is made up. Justice is made up. All of these things that I think are really important, they’re made-up ideas that we make true simply by believing in them” (48:00).

“When it comes to conversation, one of the things that’s really important is to be less goal-oriented” (51:40).

“The other people around us have huge influences on our habits and on our productivity” (52:15).

“We become more productive, we become better shaped in our habits when we do it in a community, when we enlist other people” (52:25).

“Most of our lives are just a series of unrelated moments. But we tell ourselves a story about our lives and we endow that story into the things we care about” (53:00).

“A story only exists when there’s other people to hear it” (53:35).

“Surprise is what makes reading things interesting” (57:50).

“Everything about life is just about how do we take more control?” (1:06:00)

 

Additionally, you can find Charles’s website here. You can also reach out to Charles via email at Charles@CharlesDuhigg.com.

Thank you so much to Charles for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.