According to Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, a habit is a loop that consists of three parts: a cue, a routine, and a reward.7 The cue is something that activates the habit—it leads to the routine. The routine is the behavior itself—it leads to the reward. The reward is the perceived benefit that comes from doing the behavior, and it reinforces the habit so that the next occurrence of the same cue is more likely to automatically activate the routine. Thus a loop forms.
