Stick with It

A Scientifically Proven Process for Changing Your Life-for Good
by Sean D. Young | Harper © 2017 · 304 pages

Sean Young has a Ph.D. in psychology and a master’s in health services from Stanford. He’s now a professor at UCLA’s medical school and the Executive Director of the University of California Institute for Prediction Technology, plus the UCLA Center for Digital Behavior. In this book, he shares his research on how to effectively change our behaviors and challenges some of the prevailing ideas about how to go about changing our lives with an emphasis on the seven “psychological forces” that drive the show and that form the acronym SCIENCE: Stepladders + Community + Important + Easy + Neurohacks + Captivating + Engrained. In our Note, we take a quick look at all that goodness.


Recent research shows that seven psychological forces support the ability of people to stick with their plans—in both life and work. The more of these forces people incorporate in their behaviors, the more likely they are to stick with something until they reach a goal.
Sean D. Young

“People have trouble making lasting changes. They quit nutrition plans, don’t adhere to medication regimens, and can’t keep New Year’s resolutions to lose weight or stop procrastinating.

The advice offered up by recent bestsellers?

Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit and Gretchen Rubin’s Better Than Before insist that the secret to success in both your personal and business lives is to develop good habits. Yet they base this on just one study suggesting that habits account for 40 percent of behaviors in life and work. So what are we supposed to do about the other 60 percent of our behaviors?

Conventional wisdom also fails to solve the problem. It tells you the answer is to change who you are. If you want to stick with your fitness goals, learn to love exercising like Richard Simmons. To be a successful entrepreneur, become a creative genius like Steve Jobs. If you want to be a good salesperson, morph into a social butterfly like Mary Kay Ash. And the list goes on for people we’re told to become like.

Changing your character is easier said than done: every individual has a core personality that doesn’t change much throughout life. Fortunately, you don’t need to change who are as a person to make change last. You just need to understand the science behind lasting change and how to create a process that fits who you are. That’s what this book delivers.”

~ Sean D. Young, Ph.D. from Stick with It

Sean Young has a Ph.D. in psychology and a master’s in health services from Stanford. He’s now a professor at UCLA’s medical school and the Executive Director of the University of California Institute for Prediction Technology, plus the UCLA Center for Digital Behavior.

In this book, he shares his research on how to effectively change our behaviors and challenges some of the prevailing ideas about how to go about changing our lives. (Get a copy here!)

As you know, I love drilling into the science of what we know works. I especially enjoy the thoughts of a researcher in the field. As a young researcher, Sean has created a model that has been proven to be super-effective in helping people “stick with it!”

I’m excited to share some of my favorite Big Ideas so let’s jump straight in!

Unlock this PhilosophersNote

Create your account to get more wisdom in less time. Personal development made simple so you can flourish in energy, work, and love. Today.

Sign Up Today

About the author

Authors

Sean D. Young

Author, Behavioral psychologist, Executive Director of the UCIPT.