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Swipe: The Science Behind Why We Don't Finish What We Start
This book is the key to escaping the cycle of failure, disengagement, and regret. Every day we wake up determined to engage with life—to overcome work challenges, finish that novel, reach fitness goals, or repair a strained relationship. Despite our best intentions, we fall short. Why is it so hard to finish what we start? Are we doomed to a lifetime of regret? Reaching goals after repeated frustration starts with understanding the impulse known as the Swipe , a side effect of our high-tech culture. Based on a massive research database, and drawing on disciplines from neurobiology to business, Tracy Maylett and Tim Vandehey reveal a powerful psychological process that makes us disengage from what (or who) we care about most—often when we’re heartbreakingly close to real breakthroughs. In Swipe , readers will learn how this mechanism works and recognize when they’re caught on the “Hamster Wheel.” They’ll discover how to short-circuit the Swipe, reengage, and finally finish what they start.
- GenresNonfiction
264 pages, Hardcover
Published March 21, 2023
1 person is currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Tracy Maylett
8 books19 followersTracy M. Maylett is the CEO of DecisionWise, an international consulting firm advising leaders in more than 70 countries in employee engagement, leadership, and organization development.
Dr. Maylett works regularly with executives across the globe on leadership and engagement. He has an MBA from Brigham Young University, and holds a doctorate in Organization Change from Pepperdine University. He currently teaches courses in leadership and organization behavior in the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University.
Tracy's work has been published in numerous academic and business articles, and his work on engagement and leadership have been cited by various business sources, including The Wall Street Journal and CNN.
Tracy lives in the beautiful mountains of Utah with his wife, Lindy, and 4 sons.
Dr. Maylett works regularly with executives across the globe on leadership and engagement. He has an MBA from Brigham Young University, and holds a doctorate in Organization Change from Pepperdine University. He currently teaches courses in leadership and organization behavior in the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University.
Tracy's work has been published in numerous academic and business articles, and his work on engagement and leadership have been cited by various business sources, including The Wall Street Journal and CNN.
Tracy lives in the beautiful mountains of Utah with his wife, Lindy, and 4 sons.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 13, 2023
Stop swiping, get things done and grow
Electronic devices are wonderful tools as long as we don’t allow them to become addictive and take over our lives. It’s so easy to lose hours swiping and scrolling, precious hours that we won’t get back.
Swipe takes us through how swiping impacts our lives, wastes time and prevents us developing and growing. Rather than accept that difficulties are part of life and that working through them to learn and achieve new aims are things of great worth which we should celebrate we take the easy route and we swipe to avoid discomfort. By doing this we stop ourselves from learning new skills and stunt our personal development.
The book takes us through the underlying psychology and how it affects our brains and lives. Most importantly, it tells us how to take back control of our attention so we can apply and direct it as we want and need to.
Of the ten chapters the first six cover the negative impact swiping has on us and our lives. The next two look at the psychology of swiping and how it affects our brains. The final two chapters look at how to master our attention and change the cycle to a beneficial one. Personally, there is some repetition and I think the book could be edited to give a more balanced structure to leave the reader with a more positive, I can do this feeling by the end. This is a minor quibble and I gained some very useful info from the book and am already being far more conscious about how I’m using my devices and feel that I’m putting my time to better and far more positive use.
I was given this book from the author via netgalley only for the pleasure of reading and leaving an honest review should I choose to.
Electronic devices are wonderful tools as long as we don’t allow them to become addictive and take over our lives. It’s so easy to lose hours swiping and scrolling, precious hours that we won’t get back.
Swipe takes us through how swiping impacts our lives, wastes time and prevents us developing and growing. Rather than accept that difficulties are part of life and that working through them to learn and achieve new aims are things of great worth which we should celebrate we take the easy route and we swipe to avoid discomfort. By doing this we stop ourselves from learning new skills and stunt our personal development.
The book takes us through the underlying psychology and how it affects our brains and lives. Most importantly, it tells us how to take back control of our attention so we can apply and direct it as we want and need to.
Of the ten chapters the first six cover the negative impact swiping has on us and our lives. The next two look at the psychology of swiping and how it affects our brains. The final two chapters look at how to master our attention and change the cycle to a beneficial one. Personally, there is some repetition and I think the book could be edited to give a more balanced structure to leave the reader with a more positive, I can do this feeling by the end. This is a minor quibble and I gained some very useful info from the book and am already being far more conscious about how I’m using my devices and feel that I’m putting my time to better and far more positive use.
I was given this book from the author via netgalley only for the pleasure of reading and leaving an honest review should I choose to.
January 25, 2023
When I read the blurb for this book I thought that it sounded so much like me that I had to read it! I often don’t finish things because I am tempted by a new idea so I thought there could be some useful lessons here for me.
The book is very insightful and leads the reader through all the reasons we might swipe from one thing to another, and also looks at the different types of swiper and reasons behind why we swipe. There is also some psychology and a deeper look at what happens in the brain when we swipe, and what makes swiping a more attractive option than finishing something.
Like most books of this type, most of the content is taken up with the what and why, with the ‘how to fix it’ saved for the last chapter. However, dotted throughout the book are side boxes with information about how to stop swiping so you never feel like all the juicy stuff is kept until the end.
Reading this book will not automatically stop you from swiping - unfortunately, you have to do the work for that! But reading this book will help you understand why you behave as you do and steps you can take to recognise and then change that behaviour.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who suffers with not being able to finish what they start, who keeps being distracted or who suffer with ‘shiny object syndrome’. All these are learned habits that absolutely can be unlearned, with a fair bit of work and guidance from this book.
With thanks to Netgalley and Amplify Publishing for an advance review copy. All opinions are my own.
The book is very insightful and leads the reader through all the reasons we might swipe from one thing to another, and also looks at the different types of swiper and reasons behind why we swipe. There is also some psychology and a deeper look at what happens in the brain when we swipe, and what makes swiping a more attractive option than finishing something.
Like most books of this type, most of the content is taken up with the what and why, with the ‘how to fix it’ saved for the last chapter. However, dotted throughout the book are side boxes with information about how to stop swiping so you never feel like all the juicy stuff is kept until the end.
Reading this book will not automatically stop you from swiping - unfortunately, you have to do the work for that! But reading this book will help you understand why you behave as you do and steps you can take to recognise and then change that behaviour.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who suffers with not being able to finish what they start, who keeps being distracted or who suffer with ‘shiny object syndrome’. All these are learned habits that absolutely can be unlearned, with a fair bit of work and guidance from this book.
With thanks to Netgalley and Amplify Publishing for an advance review copy. All opinions are my own.
January 30, 2023
I liked the underlying premise of the book, especially it coming at a time when there is a lot of talk on similar areas like quiet quitting, disengagement etc. I have some mixed feelings about the book - at places it seemed to enlighten me at places it confused me about the meaning of swipe. Possibly I need to re-read the book once to be sure, But I think it would have been helpful to have a simple way to understand this concept.
March 27, 2023
If you’re like me and feel very guilty about always starting and then ending up abandoning projects, this book by Tracy Maylett and Tim Vandehey is for you!
Check out the main ideas from it on my blog:
https://shereadsbusiness.com/2023/03/...
Check out the main ideas from it on my blog:
https://shereadsbusiness.com/2023/03/...
March 6, 2023
Stop trying to make Swipe happen. (It's never gonna happen.)
To those who get the reference: kudos. To everyone else: let me explain.
Swipe is a very concise read compiling data and examples from people, companies, organizations, that have suffered at the hands of their own discouragement. 'Swipe' is coined in place of the word 'Pass'. He passed on this, she passed on that. I understand that coining a unique term or phrase it is a model employed by many of the most successful leadership books and brands, but it feels like there could be a better term for the phenomenon Maylett and Vandehey are trying to encapsulate.
That said, the 'Swipe' phenomenon is very well researched. In a digital era, how often do we find ourselves quitting prematurely or procrastinating on the things we know will benefit us in the long run? In terms of advice, Swipe does an excellent job of defining, supporting, and offering tools for breaking our own habits of self-destruction.
Definitely a great read to keep handy and recommend to anyone you know on the verge of burnout. Also an excellent reference for other great works that are cited throughout. I was personally impressed by the number of other authors and researchers mentioned whose work I was already familiar with.
Ready to break professional self-sabotage? Give swipe a try.
[Thank you to NetGalley and Amplify Publishing for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.]
To those who get the reference: kudos. To everyone else: let me explain.
Swipe is a very concise read compiling data and examples from people, companies, organizations, that have suffered at the hands of their own discouragement. 'Swipe' is coined in place of the word 'Pass'. He passed on this, she passed on that. I understand that coining a unique term or phrase it is a model employed by many of the most successful leadership books and brands, but it feels like there could be a better term for the phenomenon Maylett and Vandehey are trying to encapsulate.
That said, the 'Swipe' phenomenon is very well researched. In a digital era, how often do we find ourselves quitting prematurely or procrastinating on the things we know will benefit us in the long run? In terms of advice, Swipe does an excellent job of defining, supporting, and offering tools for breaking our own habits of self-destruction.
Definitely a great read to keep handy and recommend to anyone you know on the verge of burnout. Also an excellent reference for other great works that are cited throughout. I was personally impressed by the number of other authors and researchers mentioned whose work I was already familiar with.
Ready to break professional self-sabotage? Give swipe a try.
[Thank you to NetGalley and Amplify Publishing for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.]
April 26, 2023
I suppose it is my fault for not taking the title at face value: this book definitely goes into the science of why we don't finish everything we start. The problem I had was that solutions for this were brief and packed into the very last last chapter, like an afterthought. The first few chapters were a slog and it would have been nice if those had been condensed and the solutions expanded on, but I do believe it IS valuable to know WHY you do things, so even though the solutions were a let down this book wasn't a total waste. I am thinking about my own tendencies to "swipe" (ugh) now so there is good information in here.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews