How Do You Break Bad Habits? In this short video Charles Duhigg, author of, The Power of Habit, explains how to break a habit. Every habit functions the same way. At first, there is a cue. Some type of trigger that makes the behavior unfold automatically. … The next part in the habit loop is the routine , the behavior itself. … The last part of the habit loop is the reward and in some respects the reward is the most important part. Source: Farnam Street habitpsychologycueroutinereward