Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success

"Change Anything" comes with a risky and audacious promise: if you apply the principles of this book to your life you will produce sustainable change in your behavior that will noticeably improve your life! To make such a huge claim about a topic of such immense practical importance is, indeed, audacious.So does "Change Anything" live up to its claim? Yes, and No.YESThe fact that I think this book lives up to anything even approaching its bold claim is a high recommendation for this book. Here's what the book delivers that makes me believe that if you actually understand and faithfully use the principles of this book that you can, indeed, change many of your behaviors for the better.First, the authors free us from a powerful mind trap: the simplistic belief that if only we had more willpower we'd succeed in changing our lives. The reality the authors argue for (persuasively) is that while willpower is still important, changing behavior turns out to be as much about "skill" as it is about "will." And the truth is that certain skills for changing our behaviors can be taught. The authors also point out that that often (for example when you go to Las Vegas into a casino) you can't see what's controlling. However, "If you can see it, you can change it." "Change Anything," then, is a book about seeing the hidden influences in our lives and using them to change our behaviors from ones with negative to ones with positive consequences.The book opens with a series of fascinating experiments on children that provide evidence for all that the authors will present. Throughout, what the authors teach is supported by research experiments that are not only enlightening but also entertaining.So why do we fail at personal change? We don't have enough influences working for us and working all together.It turns out that there are 6 sources of Influence in our lives. These same 6 sources of influence can be used to either promote a healthy or unhealthy behavior.1. personal motivation - tap into your existing desires and wants2. personal ability - learn new skills to promote change3. social motivation - turn accomplices into friends that help you make positive changes4. social ability - use confederates to enable good choices5. structural motivation - directly link short-term rewards and punishments to your new habits6. structural ability - change your environment to one more likely to promote the change you wantFor each of these 6 sources of influence, the authors provide specific strategies for change that will use this influence to help you change your behavior to something positive instead of the default negative behavior. Their identification of the 6 sources of influence, combined with their chapter-long discussion of strategies to change each of these influences, is an impressive accomplishment.I don't want to give away too much of their work, but when I looked at the chapter on the first factor, which I thought might be one of the weakest areas, I was surprised to find the authors advocating that it is, in fact, possible to learn to love what you hate. If someone can change this, then change is very, very possible.The remainder of the book, after describing each influence and its attendant strategies in detail, applies these 6 sources of influence and change to key areas of our lives that are what most of us care most about: career success, weight loss, financial fitness, addiction, relationships, and how to change the world.This is an impressive book that has brought together in one place a simple, powerful, and reasonable means of changing our lives.NOAfter such a glowing report, why do I say that the authors don't completely live up to their promise? Because I believe that the human heart is more corrupt, self-deceptive, and weak than they assume. I believe that there are certain things about our lives that, in spite of persistently and intentionally using their strategies, will remain unchanged. In spite of using a variety of influences as suggested, often the heart wants what the heart wants, even if it's not good for the body, the soul, or others.Having said this, this is still an incredible book! I've read several books on change, many on finding your talents and using them, many other self-help books, and even more on leadership. "Change Anything" is a book that excels most of these other books I've read, and I believe that just about everyone should have it on their bookshelf. But don't merely "read" this book: put it into effect. I'm confident you'll be surprised at how different life can be.By the way, this book also comes with a free code to access their website with a lot of additional information. If you liked this book, then you might also enjoy and benefit from Cialdini's "Influence." "Influence" won't teach you how to change things, but it will provide much more fascinating evidence about the things that influence us, often without us knowing it.If you want to know not only how to change your behavior but how to influence others for good, read the authors' other book: "Influencer." It's probably even better!

I highly recommend this book.

I found the book very interesting and read it quickly. I have found many helpful tips that I can use to help myself change, packaged in one easily accesible place that structures its ideas so that they can be (potentially) applied with great effectiveness. The book also features free access to a web site that is at least modeartely helpful in applying some of the book's suggestions. That's the one great thing about this book- it helps people to change by focusing on the change process itself rather than a particular issue where people might want to help themselves. That makes it a good value for the money, and an excellent supplement to other, issue-specific self-help materials one might use.Yet there were still drawbacks and areas of disagreement:- The book tries to present its ideas as new, which is not even remotely true. For instance, the fact that friendships and family circumstances influence behavior has been repeated for as long as people have been writing about the human condition. Most of the other information in the book has always been known, at least implicitly and in a general way. Look to the milenia-old Rule of St. Benedict and you will find much of the "new sicence" presented in this book very nicely integrated, and successfuly enabling incredibly difficult lifestyles.- The book undermines the idea of human willpower, then constantly contradicts itself by instructing readers (by personal choice) to change their own environments, meditate on their personal motivations, or hold transformation conversations. This indicates that the authors both hold and promote a simplistic definition of the word "will" (I will change by making my feelings strong enough), rather than an accurate view, which is precisely based on the multiple small decisions that the authors advocate.- As aware as the authors are about how verbiage can help change our view of reality, they participate in this excact phenomenon by substituting the terms "spouse" "husband" or "wife" with the term "life partner". In doing this they are, of course, undermining the institution of marriage.Even after pointing out all these issues, though, the book's set-up is helpful enough that I would recommend it to anyone who can see through some of the worldview problems and just make use of the good material.

This is a life-changing book and the information contained in it should be taught to every person, everywhere. More people need to have access to this book and the lessons in it.

A fast and prompt delivery from Little Miss Sunshine. The book was in perfect condition, and really enjoyable too. Thank you, I will certainly purchase more book with this seller :)

Would recommend this book to anybody who wants to improve their life but unable to change due to some old habits or are unable to build new habits.Have tried to implement the learnings on the long sought after goal of reducing weight, and now, thankfully on track and have already lost 1 1/2 KG since implementation

This is the best book I've ever read about personal change. It moves away from the old will-power model and replaces it with a six point plan of support for you as you make changes. I am summarising it on a Word document and writing in my own features e.g. what crucial moments make it difficult for me to stick to my goals and what critical behaviours can I choose instead. There are a number of good ideas in this book and the authors say that, used together, these ideas support you in your chosen behaviour changes, which they help you to identify in the first place.Of course the change many people want is to lose weight. This is where the book is a little lacking in that it glibly says that you need to eat fewer calories than you use during the day. However if you are continually hungry, you will certainly fail. Better to choose behaviours that you can sustain, like eating 3 healthy meals a day plus a piece of fruit for morning and afternoon tea. Being well nourished will enable you to avoid binge eating on high calorie food. Dieting will lead to binge eating. If you start the behaviours that are sustainable in the long run, you can succeed much better especially if you are patient enough to lose weight slowly. With these factors in mind, you can use this book to support yourself in these new behaviours. You can even benefit from your inevitable bad days by regarding them with curiosity (what can I learn?) rather than depression

So excited to get started changing my life just from reading this book.An enthusiastic hopeful fan for life.Thank you