Smart Change

Five Tools to Create New and Sustainable Habits in Yourself and Others

By: Art Markman

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

An insightful guide that shows how habits of behavior are formed, and how we can transform bad habits into positive behaviors in ourselves and others. Smart Change explores the psychological mechanisms that form and maintain habits in individuals and groups and offers real, accessible and actionable advice for changing habits. In an engaging narrative, Markman covers a wide range of habits, from individual behaviors like eating better and exercising regularly to work-related behaviors such as learning effectively and influencing customers’ purchases.

He proposes that there are five effective tools to help individuals change behavior and to help people influence the habits of the people around them:

1. Tame the “Go” system: Identify the triggers of habits, replace old behaviors with new ones and generate specific plans to deal with obstacles.

2. Harness the “Stop” system: Learn to deal with stress and other factors that hinder the development of new and positive habits.

3. Optimize your goals. Determine the course of behavior change and how to successfully incorporate those changes for the long term.

4. Manage your environment: Change your surroundings to dramatically reduce poor behavior and habits.

5. Engage your Neighbors: To affect other people’s behavior, understand the shared culture that creates a mutual dependency, and allows neighbors and colleagues to have a profound positive influence on the behavior of other members of their community.

©2014 Art Markman PhD (P)2014 Gildan Media LLC

Very practical book to change habits

I really liked it and I'll read it again with pauses for implementation. I've read a few books in the subject and this is the most practical one. But don't dream too much about it, as any other book about habit changes, you have to be open and willing to change. The door opens from inside.

The best book about changing habits.

I've read well over a dozen books on habits, mindsets, willpower and the like. This one is the best. It synthesizes (but doesn't site unfortunately) well studied research about our habits and willpower. It actually gives you distinct steps to take to make effective change in your life instead of just expecting you to figure it out - a huge failing in most other self development books.
Read it. Do it. Get the habits you actually want.

3/5

Some good insights and written with Marksman's gift for informed, user-friendly concision, but not on par with Smart Thinking as an authoritative, comprehensive treatment of its subject matter.

Revealing book

Great stuff. Similar to Change Anything but the information was looked at from different angles. I liked the concept of habit for convenience to my brain and it made me appreciate the difficulty in change. Recommended.

very inspiring

just finish the first listening. will come back later to pick up some favorite sections to chew on. very good material for habit changing, guess I need to act now ☺