Developing Good Habits

by Harvard Business Review

Improve the way you work and feel by forming better habits.

We all have habits. Some of them we've carefully built up; others we may have simply fallen into. Some of them may help us get our work done or balance the many aspects of our lives. Others, though, may hold us back.

Developing Good Habits explores how to assess your behavior to see where you can improve your mood and productivity at the granular level. With the latest psychological research and practical advice from leading experts, you'll learn how to set healthy habits; let go of toxic behaviors that drain you; and overcome any mental blocks that might be preventing change.

How to be human at work. The HBR Emotional Intelligence Series features smart, essential reading on the human side of professional life from the pages of Harvard Business Review. Each book in the series offers proven research showing how our emotions impact our work lives, practical advice for managing difficult people and situations, and inspiring essays on what it means to tend to our emotional well-being at work. Uplifting and practical, these books describe the social skills that are critical for ambitious professionals to master.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Business

121 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 25, 2023

Reviews

[Karissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

my new nonfic obsession might be reading Harvard Business Review collections!! very concise, well-written, and helpful tips on how to be effective. references a lot of prominent voices in the self-help field. chapter 5's focus on timeboxing was particularly relevant and helpful to me :)

[Fatima]

It is not the last exercise that makes you slim, it is not the last word of novel that finishes your novel, it’s all the work you put along the way.
For sth to become habit we need reward.
We need to start small

[Day Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok so I do come into this with a bias as I love Havard Business review. This was a concise, punch packing read about habits, perfect for thinking about habits at work for the new year, and it gave me some good ideas of things to try to implement.

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick easy bite-sized tips on building new habits, I definitely got some new ideas from this book I want to try 😊

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of ideas on habits that condenses a lot of work/writings into readable (not boring) info that makes sense and may help you build better habits.

[Kayla Veldman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A super short read with some great tips on building effective habits! If you’ve read atomic habits some of the ideas overlap but a nice little refresher

[Deborah Ogren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty interesting explaining how habits affect our lives and work.

[Joe Maffa · Rating 4 out of 5]

sure

[Michael Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

A modern and concise set of highlights from the literature on behaviour change. Highly actionable.

[Ekaterina T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Useful, helpful, short and easy.

[Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read that reinforces some already established concepts about Habits; while debunking others.

[Emma Pontzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good, but it summarized other books. There were less of its own ideas.

[Johanna Elsener · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book to read at the beginning of the year. Inspiring and clear.

[Jae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but with some very good and helpful essays

[Sarah Bast · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick little reminder book on the power of habits

[Lili Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great thoughts, especially from James Clear (and I read his “Atomic Habits” book)!

Notable lines:
“This is the reason why habits matter-they shift your internal narrative. They can change your self-image . . . at some point, when you keep showing up, you cross this invisible threshold. You start to think, yeah, maybe I am a studious person, or maybe I am a clean and organized person. Every action you take is like a vote for the type of person you want to become.”

“This means that what you read and what you consume often is the precursor to the thoughts that you have, or to the creative or innovative ideas that you come up with.”

“If you can redesign your environment, whether it’s your desk at work or your home office, you can classify the actions of least resistance as the good and productive ones. You can increase the friction of the things that take your attention away.”

“It’s not the last workout that gives you a fit body; it’s all the ones that came before. And if you can be willing to keep showing up and keep hammering on the rock-to keep building up that potential energy, to know that it’s not wasted, but that it’s just being stored-then maybe you can start to fight that emotional battle of building better habits and ultimately get to the rewards that you’re waiting to accumulate.”

“ . . . it’s hard to accept that you won’t be getting the rewards immediately. With bad habits it’s the opposite. You get the immediate outcome. Bad habits feel great in the moment, but they ultimately hurt you in the long run. The cost of your good habits is in the present. The cost of your bad habits is in the future. And a lot of the reason why bad habits form so readily and good habits form so slowly has to do with that gap in time and reward.”

[Maja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast read with many good advices