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Originally published on Medium on March 12th, 2017
Better late than never. I’ve set a goal during 2017 to read 52 books, totaling up to one a week (after reading 21 in 2016, I’m more than doubling that). I’m already on my way to accomplishing that goal, but I wanted to remember all the books that I read in 2016.
I read Made to Stick approaching it from a business perspective and how to brand things, appeal to customers, all that jazz. Instead, I walked away with a new take on how to communicate any idea that I have, regardless of the context.
“Research shows that people are more likely to make a charitable gift to a single needy individual than an entire impoverished region. We are wired to feel things for people, not for abstractions.”
Referring to when one person taps a song, another person listens, and the tapper is baffled by why the listener doesn’t know what song it is — “It’s hard to be a tapper. The problem is that tappers have been given knowledge (the song title) that makes it impossible for them to imagine what it’s like to lack that knowledge. When they’re tapping, they can’t imagine what it’s like for the listeners to hear isolated taps rather than a song. This is the Curse of Knowledge. Once we know something, we find it hard to imagine what it was like not to know it. Our knowledge has “cursed” us. And it becomes difficult for us to share our knowledge with others, because we can’t readily re-create our listeners’ state of mind.”
“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away” (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
“The longer you work on a story, the more you can find yourself losing direction. No detail is too small. You just don’t know what your story is anymore” (Ed Cray)
“Perhaps most surprisingly, mental simulations can also build skills. A review of thirty-five studies featuring 3,214 participants showed that mental practice alone — sitting quietly, without moving, and picturing yourself performing a task successfully from start to finish — improves performance significantly.”
“We don’t always have to create sticky ideas. Spotting them is often easier and more useful. What if history teachers were diligent about sharing teaching methods that worked brilliantly in reaching students? What if we could count on the volunteers of nonprofit organizations to be on the lookout for symbolic events or encounters that might inspire other people in the organization? What if we could count on our bosses to take a gamble on important ideas?”
What Sticks?