Smart Change: Five Tools to Create New and Sustainable Habits in Yourself and Others

by Art Markman

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

1. Tame the “Go” Identify the triggers of habits, replace old behaviors with new ones and generate specific plans to deal with obstacles.
2. Harness the “Stop” 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 Change your surroundings to dramatically reduce poor behavior and habits.
5. Engage your 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.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Psychology, Business, Productivity, Personal Development, Audiobook

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 7, 2014

About the author

Art Markman is a professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and is one of the premier cognitive scientists in the field. He served as director of the program in the Human Dimensions of Organizations. Now, Art is Executive Director of the IC2 Institute. Art's research explores a variety of topics in thinking including how people use analogies, make decisions, communicate, and get motivated. He also consults to companies teaching their employees to think more effectively. That work is central to his books Smart Thinking, Smart Change, Brain Briefs, and Habits of Leadership. His newest book is Bring Your Brain to Work. When Art is not working or spending time with his family, he is playing the saxophone in a band.