Book Review: Habits and Happiness: How to Become Happier and Improve Your Wellbeing by Changing Your Habits by Braco Pobric

An old adage states, “Your mind is like fertile soil…It doesn’t matter what you plant there, anything will grow.” But, until statements like these are subject to rigorous research, they can become fodder for new age rhetoric. 

In his 2014 book, Habits and Happiness: How to Become Happier and Improve Your Wellbeing by Changing Your Habits, Braco Pobric has summarized the best of the old and new science of happiness research. The book’s mission is to help us identify ways to break old “bad” habits and replace with new “good” habits. This summary comes with its own warning, however, and that is that it is not enough to just read about habits. “For change to occur,” says Pobric, “you must be committed.”

Rather than explore one large theory of habit building, the book hits hard and quick, offering a new concept in each short chapter. These practical exercises include hints like practicing a “time in” which reinforces what you read; rewarding good habits; mindfulness; breaking down larger goals to small, actionable items; and charting your new course, among others. 

What it might lack in original thinking, it makes up for in presentation. His work draws on pioneers such as William James, the famous psychologist from the late 1800s to the recent writings of Charles Duhigg, who scripted the habit loop. In reiterating findings from others, he offers us a concise meta-analysis of pertinent thinking written in a fresh, accessible, and motivating prose. This gem of a book also has the extra advantage of being compact in size with large type, making it a perfect reading companion for the treadmill (hint-hint).