Habits are not mysteries. They are shortcuts your brain builds to save effort. This chapter shows how a behavior becomes automatic when it gets wired into a simple loop: cue, routine, reward.
At first the loop is just repetition. Then the brain learns to anticipate the payoff. A craving forms, and the routine starts to run with less conscious choice. That’s why you can “know better” and still do the same thing.
The chapter also makes a surprising point about memory: a person can lose the ability to store new facts and still form new habits. The habit system is separate from the story-telling mind.
Once you can spot cues and rewards, you can stop treating habits as destiny and start treating them as engineering. The loop doesn’t judge you. It just repeats what it has learned.