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wanderinghill's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.0
This is a really great book that I will absolutely be revisiting in the future. A lot of great advice and ideas, both for personal change and change in the workplace. Very inspiring and very challenging, a great read for anyone looking to make a change.
daeus's review against another edition
4.0
Solid book about changing behaviors with a lot of great real world examples. A big focus was on the fundamental attribution error, which is that we attribute to the person what is actually more attributable to the situation. So then the question becomes: how can I change the environment to change the behavior?
Quotes:
- "'What’s working, and how can we do more of it?' Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Yet, in the real world, this obvious question is almost never asked. Instead, the question we ask is more problem focused: 'What’s broken, and how do we fix it?'"
- "Change is hard because people wear themselves out. And that’s the second surprise about change: What looks like laziness is often exhaustion."
- "A small win reduces importance: 'this is no big deal,' Reduces demands: 'that's all that needs to be done,' and raises perceived skill levels: 'I can do that at least'. All three of these factors will tend to make change easier and more self sustaining."
Quotes:
- "'What’s working, and how can we do more of it?' Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Yet, in the real world, this obvious question is almost never asked. Instead, the question we ask is more problem focused: 'What’s broken, and how do we fix it?'"
- "Change is hard because people wear themselves out. And that’s the second surprise about change: What looks like laziness is often exhaustion."
- "A small win reduces importance: 'this is no big deal,' Reduces demands: 'that's all that needs to be done,' and raises perceived skill levels: 'I can do that at least'. All three of these factors will tend to make change easier and more self sustaining."
kristianawithak's review against another edition
3.0
I thought this was a really interesting look at behavior and motivating change in yourself and others. The beginning was really engaging and the rest of the book is very practical and accessible. I'm interested in reading his other books.
Notes I took while reading:
knowledge does not change behavior.
self control is a limited resource
decision paralysis - options and ambiguity play into this
every barrier that is removed makes the path easier
motivate the masses
marry your long term goal with short term critical moves
investigate and cloan the successes.
The rider and the elephant:
The rider focuses on problems, not successes, has limited strength.
Rider needs direction, elephant needs motivation. Motivation comes from feeling.
Speak to people's feelings. That influences change.
analyze - think - change (the normal view)
reality (see - feel - change)
create the expectation of failure, failure is part of change
fixed versus growth personality. DO you think you can grow and change into new habits.
shaping the path (tweak the environment)
tweak behavior to make bad behavior less possible. anticipate failure/accidents.
reinforce progress
Notes I took while reading:
knowledge does not change behavior.
self control is a limited resource
decision paralysis - options and ambiguity play into this
every barrier that is removed makes the path easier
motivate the masses
marry your long term goal with short term critical moves
investigate and cloan the successes.
The rider and the elephant:
The rider focuses on problems, not successes, has limited strength.
Rider needs direction, elephant needs motivation. Motivation comes from feeling.
Speak to people's feelings. That influences change.
analyze - think - change (the normal view)
reality (see - feel - change)
create the expectation of failure, failure is part of change
fixed versus growth personality. DO you think you can grow and change into new habits.
shaping the path (tweak the environment)
tweak behavior to make bad behavior less possible. anticipate failure/accidents.
reinforce progress
jennbliven's review against another edition
4.0
My take-aways: We, as people, love negativity. But to affect change, one should take a look at what IS working and do MORE of it. Also, key tip: Eliminate ambiguity if you want to make things happen your way.
lbatch's review against another edition
Uhhh hate to DNF this because I used a free-trial audible credit and it came highly recommended but there was enough fatpbobia (*lots*) and some questionable mental health metaphors and ethnocentric leanings in the first chapter and a half that I'm just not inclined to keep hanging out with this one. I know it's a business book so maybe I should lower my standards but woof. The format also seemed pretty anecdotal and reliant on a central metaphor without (as far as I could tell a very short way in, to be fair) strong practical applications. Very surprised, this was a #1 recommendation at the end of a book I just gave 5 stars and that was pretty justice-informed, so not sure what's up with that.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia
Minor: Xenophobia
theishu's review against another edition
3.0
Excellent playbook to plan for, start and make effective change happen
peachykeenebooks's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
5.0