Any successful change requires a translation of ambiguous goals into concrete behaviors. In short, to make a switch, you need to script the critical moves.

Too many choices can lead to decision paralysis. For effective change, limit the options as much as possible.

The basic three-part framework you need to change behavior:

• Direct the Rider. Provide crystal clear direction. “What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity.”
• Motivate the Elephant. Engage the emotional side. “What looks like laziness ...

• Habits can be both good and bad and to change yourself, you have to replace the bad habits with the good.  
• Changing habits requires a change of environment and a change in mentality.
• You can change habits by employin...

To shrink the change:

• Make the change small enough that you can’t help but score a victory
• Limit the investment you’re asking for
• Think of small wins—milestones that are within reach.

The brain has two independent systems at work at all times.

• First, there’s the emotional side. It’s the part of you that is instinctive, that feels pain and pleasure.
• Second, there’s the rational side, also known as the reflective or conscious sys...

• Bright spots are successful efforts worth emulating
• To discover bright spots, ask yourself: “What’s working and how can we do more of it?”
• The Miracle Question: “What’s the first small sign you’d see that would make you think the problem was gone?”
• Y...

Create a destination postcard that shows what you want to achieve in the near future.

Destination postcards—pictures of a future that hard work can make possible—show the Rider where you’re headed, and they show the Elephant why the journey is worthwhile.

Growing your people is all about building the necessary rapport to get things done.

The strategy relies on the identity decision-making model that essentially asks three questions:

• Who am l?
• What kind of situation is this?
• What would someone ...