Chapter 5 of The Power of Habit applies heavily to the field of education. It discusses the development of a man named Travis who had dropped out of high school. His childhood was defined by a heroin addict for a father and relentless bullying in school. By the time he was six, he knew the drill for when his father overdosed, and he saw one of his father’s friends die. Travis was about as disadvantaged as it gets, and he struggled in the workforce after having dropped out of high school. Academic education aside, Travis didn’t even learn the basics of how to be a functioning human. Until, however, he got hired at Starbucks. Duhigg, the author of The Power of Habit, details the focus that Starbucks places on educating its employees. The focus of that education isn’t necessarily how to make drinks, but willpower. After six years of working at Starbucks, Travis became a manager of two stores at twenty-five, with an impressive salary, a 401(k), and no debt. How could such an underprivileged person pull themselves up from their bootstraps so drastically?
Duhigg cites research on page 131 that suggests that self-discipline is the greatest predictor of success. Beating even socioeconomic status and IQ, willpower seems to be the most important factor. What makes Starbucks’ approach so revolutionary, is that they not only taught willpower, but they found a way to make it a habit.
Many are familiar with the marshmallow test. However, the research surrounding the results is critical. Researchers found that “the four-year-olds who could delay gratification the longest ended up with the best grades and with SAT scores 210 points higher, on average, than everyone else.” (133) An interesting extension of this research is that willpower seems to be a finite resource. A particular study showed that stimulating subjects with situations requiring willpower spent 60% less time on a later task than the subjects that were not likewise stimulated. (137) This suggests that willpower is more of a muscle that can get tired, but that means that it can be trained.
Starbucks trained this muscle by teaching routines to follow when faced with situations that require willpower. The cues and routines taught were specific to work as a Starbucks employee, but the resultant habits had applicability in everyday life. Consistent guided exposure to situations requiring willpower helped to build habits in response to the situations, which then helped to train the muscle that is willpower by extension. This seems analogous to the importance of lifting with good form at the gym, focusing on the mind-body connection as opposed to flailing weights wildly. Practicing good form will lead to healthy muscle growth but relying on momentum can cause severe injuries.
Duhigg mentions the Knowledge Is Power Program, a collection of charter schools that incorporated willpower-strengthening lessons into curriculums, resulting in dramatically raised test scores. (139) Research found that training willpower in kind and supportive environments is much more successful than in harsh and unforgiving environments. (151) As well, making people feel like they have a choice in the matter, especially when it’s framed as something that can help others, made things “feel” like they took less willpower. (151)
These are all important factors to note. Focusing on willpower-strengthening exercises in kind and supportive environments isn’t enough. We must also keep in mind that it is incredibly helpful to consider the structure of the habit loop, as well as the fact that giving people a choice and framing the activity as helpful to others makes tasks feel less taxing with respect to willpower. I have to reflect on this for a long time to come up with ways to incorporate this in my lesson plans, but knowing the tools at my disposal, I will seek to apply them going forward.