I just finished reading Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath. It’s a fine read geared towards implementing behavioral change. This book was published in 2010, and influenced a lot of non-fiction self-improvement books that have come out since, primarily Atomic Habits by James Clear, which I’ll touch on later.
The core of argument in Switch is that if you want to induce change in others, say, at your office or with a loved one, then, in addition to making a logical/rational argument, you’ll need to make an appeal to personal identity and make the change as easy as possible. Dan’s already summarized this in a Youtube clip:
Key Takeaways
This is intuitive, and I’ll try to use these insights in my day-to-day life. In particular, as a data scientist I’m tasked with understanding and building narratives from the data I’m working with. Relying on hard facts and logic works well within my team, but I’ve found that sometimes sharing the results with executives can be challenging, particularly if someone is married to a particular outcome. I think taking a step back and constructing an emotional argument around the data may be an effective way to persuade otherwise reluctant parties.
In addition to that, I also picked up the concept of focusing on bright spots. That is, when an experiment yields mixed results, focus on understanding what went right. I tend to be skeptical by nature, and too often focus on evaluating high level results before drilling down. That mostly developed out of self-defense against confirmation bias. But the examples provided in Switch have made me consider the merits of taking a deeper look at where and when success occurs in order to tease out some silver linings.
Related ideas
Lastly, the ideas in “Switch” can also be applied to self-improvement, as presented in James Clear’s Atomic Habits (2018). Specifically, lasting change only occurs with a change in identity. If you want to change your eating habits, you need to see yourself as someone who eats healthy, not someone who is dieting. If you want to start exercising, approach it as: “I am someone who exercises daily” instead of “I should exercise daily.”
Having read a LOT of self-improvement books in an effort to understand myself and world around me, I think Atomic Habits is one of the best books I’ve read and can’t recommend it enough. It’s the same message over and over again. Namely, have a vision, set your goals to get there, and execute. Execution sucks, and is the chief thing I struggle with. However, following the advice of the Heaths and Clear, it’s important to realize that lasting change can only occur when your identity is in line with your goals, and your path is made clear and simple. I’ll be re-reading Atomic Habits later this year, and will hopefully have a full write-up on it.
Happy reading!