Add The Power of Habit to Your Must-Read List

I first heard about The Power of Habit last December, while listening to the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast*. Intrigued, I ordered it immediately and began working my way through it. It’s not a new book. It was published in 2012 and has spent over 60 weeks on the New York Times Best-Seller list. But I have to tell you…this is a must-read. Whether you’re involved in discipleship, spiritual formation, or small group ministry, the principles and practices that are shared in The Power of Habit will make it into your thinking and the way you do what you do will probably be different because of what you learn.

Packed with true stories and “scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed,” it is both a page turner and a book that will frequently cause you to turn down page corners to be read again later. My copy is very marked up and dog-eared, starred and underlined, pages littered with notes in the margins.

As I read The Power of Habit I found myself thinking again and again, “how can we not introduce these principles and practices in the work we do making disciples?” If the keys to losing weight, exercising on a regular basis, and being more productive are found in understanding how habits work and harnessing this new science…why can’t we adapt the ideas to help make more and better disciples?

If you’re a skip to the end kind of person, the appendix is actually an easy-to-understand-and-implement reader’s guide to using these ideas. If you’re not a skip to the end kind of person, you’ll find The Power of Habit fascinating and full of potential for application. I loved it and am already working to integrate what I’ve learned in the discipleship work I am doing.

*You can hear Charles Duhigg talk about keystone habits and The Power of Habit right here on the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast.

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