How to Change

How to Change Plot Summary

Introduction

Change is one of life's most fascinating paradoxes. We desperately want it, yet we resist it at every turn. We dream of transformation—better health, more fulfilling relationships, greater success—but find ourselves stuck in patterns that feel impossible to break. Why is meaningful change so difficult to achieve and sustain? This question lies at the heart of human experience, touching everything from personal goals to organizational transformation. The journey from where you are to where you want to be isn't about willpower alone. Research reveals that successful change requires understanding the specific obstacles that block your path and applying tailored solutions to overcome them. Whether you're trying to exercise more consistently, save for retirement, or break a procrastination habit, the most effective approach isn't one-size-fits-all. Instead, by identifying what specifically stands in your way—impulsivity, forgetfulness, lack of confidence, or social pressure—you can select strategies specifically designed to address these challenges and finally bridge the gap between your intentions and your actions.

Chapter 1: Harness Fresh Starts to Initiate Change

Fresh starts represent powerful moments when we feel naturally motivated to pursue positive change. These temporal landmarks—moments that stand out from the continuous flow of our lives—create a psychological break between our past and future selves, making change feel more possible and desirable. Research shows that people are significantly more likely to take action toward their goals after these fresh start moments. The story of Ray Zahab illustrates this perfectly. In his early thirties, Ray was a heavy smoker and drinker who sometimes ate fast food for every meal. Though he desperately wanted to improve his health, quitting smoking seemed impossible despite repeated attempts. The cravings always pulled him back. Then Ray had an inspiration—he would use the turn of the millennium, New Year's Eve 1999, as his definitive quitting point. "I used that date because it had such a huge finality in everyone's minds," Ray explained. "It was the end of the century. This was a reset switch for humanity." On December 31st, Ray smoked his final cigarette, telling himself, "If I can't do it now, I'll never be able to do it." The next morning, despite intense cravings, something changed. "It was January 1, 2000," he recalled. "Something in me, a little spark, said 'I can do this.'" And he did quit—for good. Within a few years, Ray had transformed so completely that he won the grueling 100-mile Yukon Arctic Ultra, one of the world's most extreme endurance races. What made Ray's transformation possible was the psychological power of the fresh start. When we encounter these temporal landmarks—whether a new year, birthday, or the start of a season—we experience a disconnect from our past selves. This creates a mental clean slate that helps us overcome a common obstacle to initiating change: the feeling that our past failures predict future ones. The fresh start effect gives us permission to leave those failures behind and believe in new possibilities. The fresh start phenomenon isn't limited to calendar dates. Major life transitions like moving to a new city, changing jobs, or recovering from illness can create similar psychological resets. When Bob Pass, a frustrated government attorney, was hospitalized with a serious heart infection, the experience became a pivotal fresh start. While contemplating his mortality, Bob realized he hated being a lawyer. After recovery, he abandoned his legal career to open a tennis academy—a decision he called the best of his life. To harness fresh starts in your own life, actively look for these opportunities. Beyond New Year's, consider Mondays (the start of a new week), the first of each month, or your birthday as natural moments to initiate change. When a fresh start arrives, be strategic—use this motivational boost to establish clear intentions and take concrete first steps toward your goal. Create reminders that will help you maintain momentum after the initial enthusiasm fades. However, be cautious about disrupting positive momentum. Research shows that while fresh starts can help kick-start new behaviors, they can also interrupt routines when you're already making good progress. If you're in a positive groove, it's sometimes better to maintain continuity rather than viewing a temporal landmark as an excuse to reset.

Chapter 2: Make Goal Pursuit Fun with Temptation Bundling

One of the biggest obstacles to behavior change is the fact that doing what's good for us long-term often feels unpleasant in the moment. We know we should exercise, save money, and prepare healthy meals, but these activities typically offer delayed rewards while requiring immediate sacrifice. This present bias—our tendency to prioritize immediate gratification over future benefits—is a powerful force that derails even our most sincere intentions. The story of Stockholm's Odenplan metro station illustrates a clever solution to this problem. In 2009, Volkswagen funded an unusual experiment at this busy transit hub. Overnight, technicians transformed the ordinary staircase leading up from the station into a set of giant, working piano keys. Prior to this installation, almost everyone chose the adjacent escalator over climbing the stairs. But when the piano stairs appeared, something remarkable happened. Commuters of all ages began hopping up and down the musical staircase, creating melodies with each step. According to measurements, stair usage increased by 66% after the installation. By making stair-climbing fun, the designers turned a healthy behavior that people typically avoid into an activity they actively sought out. This example demonstrates the power of what behavioral scientists call "temptation bundling"—the practice of combining activities you need to do but tend to avoid with activities you enjoy but may feel guilty about. Rather than relying on willpower alone, this approach transforms duties into pleasures by linking them with immediate rewards. It's the modern scientific expression of Mary Poppins' famous wisdom: "In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and snap! The job's a game." To implement temptation bundling in your own life, identify activities you tend to postpone or avoid despite knowing they're beneficial (exercise, studying, expense tracking, etc.). Then identify guilty pleasures or temptations you enjoy but may feel bad about indulging in (watching Netflix, enjoying a glass of wine, scrolling social media). Next, create rules that allow you to enjoy those pleasures only while engaged in the beneficial activity. For example, allow yourself to watch your favorite TV show only while folding laundry or using the treadmill, listen to addictive podcasts only while walking, or permit yourself to enjoy a latte only when reviewing your finances. The key to successful temptation bundling is creating strict linkages. The more you can restrict a temptation to only being available during your target activity, the more powerful the motivation becomes. Some people delete streaming apps from their phones and only install them on stationary exercise equipment, ensuring they can only binge-watch while working out. Others keep certain treats or beverages exclusively at their desk to motivate focused work sessions. Research confirms this approach works remarkably well. In one study, participants who were given audiobooks they could only access while at the gym increased their exercise frequency by 55% compared to a control group. The effect was strongest for the busiest participants—precisely those who struggle most with fitting healthy habits into their packed schedules.

Chapter 3: Overcome Procrastination Through Commitment Devices

Procrastination remains one of the most common obstacles to achieving our goals. We postpone difficult tasks despite knowing delay will ultimately make things worse, repeatedly prioritizing immediate comfort over long-term success. This tendency affects everything from student assignments to retirement savings, and it stems from our inherent difficulty valuing future outcomes appropriately. Consider the story of Omar Andaya, president of Green Bank in the Philippines, who faced a critical challenge: his customers weren't saving enough money. This wasn't just a business problem—undersaving has dire consequences, limiting access to healthcare, stunting educational achievement, and restricting lifetime earnings potential. Omar knew his customers wanted to save more but consistently failed to follow through on their intentions. Seeking a solution, he connected with academics who proposed an unusual idea: "locked" savings accounts that would prevent withdrawals until either a future date or savings goal was reached. Many bankers thought this sounded crazy—why would anyone willingly restrict access to their own money without receiving a higher interest rate as compensation? Yet when Omar tested the concept, the results were stunning. Customers who were offered these accounts saved 80% more over the next year compared to a control group. Despite having identical interest rates to standard accounts, these restricted accounts proved remarkably effective at helping people reach their savings goals. The accounts worked because they were "commitment devices"—tools that deliberately limit future choices to overcome temptation. Commitment devices operate on a simple principle: sometimes we need to restrict our future freedom to ensure we act in accordance with our best intentions. Just as Odysseus had himself tied to the mast of his ship to resist the Sirens' call, we can create structures that bind our future selves to good behavior. These self-imposed constraints prevent momentary weakness from derailing long-term goals. To create your own commitment devices, start by identifying situations where immediate temptations repeatedly interfere with important goals. Then design mechanisms that make giving in to those temptations more difficult or costly. For instance, if you're trying to reduce social media use, you might install website blockers that prevent access during work hours. If you're saving for a vacation, you might set up an automatic transfer to a separate account that charges penalties for early withdrawals. The most versatile commitment tools are cash commitment devices—arrangements where you put money on the line that you'll forfeit if you don't follow through on your intentions. Services like stickK allow you to make a binding commitment that if you fail to exercise three times weekly or complete your work project by Friday, money will be automatically donated to an organization you dislike (creating an extra incentive to succeed!). For those who find financial penalties too extreme, softer commitment strategies can also be effective. Public pledges—telling friends, family, or colleagues about your intentions—create accountability and social pressure to follow through. Even placing a visible reminder of your commitment where others will see it can help, as demonstrated by a study where doctors who displayed signed pledges in their waiting rooms reduced inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions by nearly a third. The most effective commitment devices share three characteristics: they're specific about the actions required, they create clear consequences for non-compliance, and they remove the need for willpower in the moment of temptation. By structuring your environment to make good choices easier and poor choices harder, you can dramatically increase your chances of overcoming procrastination and achieving lasting change.

Chapter 4: Defeat Forgetfulness with Strategic Planning

Forgetfulness represents a surprisingly common obstacle to change. We genuinely intend to vote, get vaccinated, exercise, or complete important projects, but then simply forget to follow through. According to research, "I forgot" is the most common explanation would-be voters give for their failure to show up at polls—and the same applies to many other unrealized intentions. Todd Rogers, a professor at Harvard Kennedy School, encountered this problem while working to increase voter turnout for the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Rogers discovered that a staggering 54% of registered voters who told pollsters they intended to vote failed to actually cast ballots. Rather than assuming these voters were lying or unmotivated, Rogers suspected a different culprit: they simply forgot. This insight led him to develop a powerful but surprisingly simple intervention. Instead of just encouraging registered voters to show up on Election Day as usual, Rogers created a script that prompted them to form detailed voting plans. Callers asked voters: "What time do you expect you'll head to the polls? Where do you expect you'll be coming from? What do you think you'll be doing before you head out?" These questions helped voters form what psychologists call "implementation intentions"—specific plans that link intended actions to concrete cues in our environment. When Rogers tested this approach with nearly 40,000 registered voters, the results were impressive. Among those who picked up the phone, hearing these planning prompts increased voter turnout by 9% compared to standard get-out-the-vote calls. Most interestingly, the effect was twice as strong for voters living alone, who were less likely to have naturally discussed voting logistics with household members. By helping people form concrete plans, Rogers had found a way to bridge the gap between good intentions and follow-through. This technique works because it addresses a fundamental limitation of human memory. We forget nearly half of newly learned information within twenty minutes, and approximately 70% within twenty-four hours. By linking intended actions to specific cues (like times, locations, or preceding activities), we create mental triggers that help us remember to follow through. Each time we encounter our chosen cue, it retrieves the memory of what we planned to do. To apply cue-based planning to your own goals, start by completing the sentence: "When __ happens, I'll do __." For example, "After I brush my teeth each night, I'll meditate for five minutes" or "Every Thursday at 7 p.m., I'll call my parents." The more specific and vivid your plan, the more likely you are to remember it. Research shows that distinctive, unusual cues are particularly effective memory triggers. If possible, link your intended action to something you already do habitually, making it easier to incorporate into your routine. For complex plans or when absolute reliability is crucial, consider using checklists as an additional safeguard. As surgeon Atul Gawande demonstrated in his book The Checklist Manifesto, formal checklists can reduce failure rates dramatically, cutting surgical complications by 35-45%. From medicine to aviation to finance, checklists provide protection against the limitations of human memory. Remember that timing matters too. Reminders work best when delivered at the moment you can act on them, not hours or days in advance. A study of seat belt use found that reminders given as drivers entered their vehicles increased usage by 25 percentage points, while the same reminder delivered just five minutes earlier had no effect at all. When possible, schedule timely prompts that will reach you exactly when you need to take action.

Chapter 5: Transform Laziness into a Powerful Asset

Laziness—our tendency to take the path of least resistance—is widely viewed as a vice to overcome. Countless stories from "The Little Red Hen" to "The Ant and the Grasshopper" teach that industriousness leads to prosperity while indolence ends in ruin. While there's truth in these lessons, behavioral scientists have discovered that our inherent laziness isn't always a liability—it can actually be transformed into a powerful tool for positive change. This insight came to life dramatically at the University of Pennsylvania's health system. In 2014, analyst Steve Honeywell discovered that a persistent problem costing the hospital and patients approximately $15 million annually had mysteriously disappeared overnight. Before this sudden change, Penn Medicine had been incurring fines because its doctors habitually prescribed expensive brand-name medications instead of cheaper but chemically identical generic drugs. Despite frequent reminders and promises to reform, too many physicians continued prescribing the costlier options. The solution turned out to be remarkably simple. During a routine software update, an IT consultant made a small but crucial change to the prescription interface: he added a checkbox that doctors would need to check if they wanted to prescribe a brand-name drug. Otherwise, prescriptions would automatically default to generics. Since doctors, like all of us, tend to follow the path of least resistance, they rarely checked the box—just 2% of the time. As a result, Penn's generic prescription rate shot up from 75% to 98% literally overnight. This example illustrates the power of defaults—the outcome you'll get if you don't actively choose another option. By setting defaults wisely, you can harness natural human laziness to produce better outcomes without requiring additional effort. It's the ultimate "set it and forget it" solution. When possible, create one-time interventions that automatically generate ongoing benefits. For financial goals, set up automatic transfers to savings accounts. For health goals, keep only nutritious foods in your kitchen. For productivity, remove distracting apps from your phone home screen and replace them with useful ones. Each of these changes requires minimal effort but yields continual rewards by making good choices the path of least resistance. Of course, not all behaviors can be automated through defaults. When repeated decisions are required, the next best option is to develop helpful habits. Habits are essentially personal defaults—automatic behaviors triggered by specific cues in our environment. Once established, habits put good behaviors on autopilot, requiring minimal conscious effort. To build effective habits, identify specific cues that will trigger your desired behavior (like putting your running shoes by the door), then practice responding consistently until the response becomes automatic. Research shows it's important to reward yourself for each successful repetition, especially early in the habit-formation process. Most importantly, allow for flexibility in your routines. A study of Google employees found that those who exercised at varying times developed more robust exercise habits than those who rigidly stuck to the same schedule, as the flexible exercisers learned to maintain their habits even when faced with inevitable disruptions. The most powerful technique combines both approaches: use one-time defaults to automate what you can, then develop flexible habits for behaviors that require ongoing decisions. By tracking your progress and celebrating streaks of successful behavior, you'll transform laziness from an obstacle into an asset that propels you toward your goals with minimal effort.

Chapter 6: Boost Confidence Through Giving Advice

Self-doubt represents one of the most insidious barriers to change. Even when we know what to do, we often lack the confidence to believe we can actually succeed, especially after experiencing setbacks. This crisis of confidence—what psychologists call low self-efficacy—can prevent us from even attempting changes we desperately want to make. Lauren Eskreis-Winkler, a graduate student studying high achievement, made a surprising discovery while investigating this problem. After surveying Americans struggling with various goals—saving money, losing weight, controlling their tempers, finding employment—she realized that most people actually had plenty of good ideas about how to improve their situations. Even underperforming salespeople, C students, and spendthrifts consistently offered intelligent strategies for improvement. The primary obstacle wasn't ignorance; it was insufficient confidence to act on what they already knew. This insight led to a counterintuitive hypothesis: what if, instead of giving advice to people struggling with goals, we asked them to give advice? While most assume receiving guidance would be more motivating than providing it, Lauren suspected the opposite might be true. By inviting someone to share their wisdom, we implicitly convey that they're intelligent, capable, and worthy of being heard—potentially boosting their confidence and motivation. To test this theory, Lauren teamed up with researchers to conduct a massive experiment with nearly 2,000 high school students across Florida. Some students simply completed questionnaires, while others were invited to offer guidance to younger peers through a ten-minute online survey. These advice-givers answered questions like "What helps you avoid procrastinating?" and "Where do you go to do focused studying?" At the end of the marking period, the researchers compared academic performance between the groups. The results were striking. Students who spent just a few minutes giving advice performed significantly better in their classes than the control group. The benefits appeared across demographic lines—strong students, weak students, economically disadvantaged students, and wealthy students all saw improvements after advising others. Moreover, students reported enjoying the experience, telling teachers they'd never been asked for their insights before and wanted to do it again. This phenomenon works through multiple mechanisms. First, being asked for advice implicitly signals that others expect more from you, boosting confidence. Second, the process of articulating advice forces you to reflect on what you know and what has worked for you in the past. Third, after advising others to follow certain practices, you feel hypocritical if you don't follow them yourself—psychologists call this the "saying-is-believing effect." You can apply this insight by creating opportunities to give advice rather than just receive it. Consider forming an "advice club" with friends or colleagues pursuing similar goals, where members regularly consult one another for guidance. When facing challenges, ask yourself: "If a friend were struggling with this same problem, what advice would I offer?" This perspective shift can help you approach difficulties with greater confidence and clarity. For managers and leaders, this research suggests counterintuitive strategies. Rather than always positioning struggling team members as advice recipients, create opportunities for them to mentor others. Programs like Alcoholics Anonymous intuitively understand this principle—becoming a sponsor helps maintain one's own sobriety by reinforcing confidence and commitment. Remember that how we talk about abilities also impacts confidence. Praise for effort and improvement rather than innate talent helps foster what psychologist Carol Dweck calls a "growth mindset"—the belief that abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. People with growth mindsets see setbacks as learning opportunities rather than evidence of fixed limitations, making them far more resilient in the face of challenges.

Chapter 7: Leverage Social Influence to Sustain Change

Our behavior is profoundly shaped by the people around us, often without our awareness. From academic achievement to financial decisions to health habits, the influence of social norms and peer pressure can either support or undermine our attempts at positive change. Scott Carrell discovered this power firsthand when he arrived as a freshman at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Though he'd been an excellent student in high school, Scott was surprised when his identical twin brother—assigned to a different squadron of thirty cadets with whom he lived, ate, and studied—suddenly began outperforming him academically. Years later, as an economist studying achievement, Scott analyzed data from the academy and made a remarkable discovery: for every 100-point increase in the average verbal SAT score of a cadet's squadron, that cadet's first-year GPA rose by 0.4 points on a 4.0 scale. The difference between being surrounded by high achievers versus average students was the equivalent of going from all B's to A-minuses. This phenomenon explains why we often unconsciously conform to the behaviors of those around us. When my Wharton MBA students are instructed (without their knowledge) to applaud at the appearance of the dean's photo in a slideshow, those who weren't given instructions typically join in after a brief hesitation. We do this for two reasons: to avoid the discomfort of standing out and because we assume others' behavior reflects valuable information we might have missed. Understanding this natural tendency allows us to harness social influence for positive change. One approach is called "copy and paste"—deliberately seeking out successful peers and adopting their strategies. When Kassie Brabaw became a resident adviser during college, she found herself working alongside five vegetarians. Though she'd long been interested in a meatless diet, she never believed she could do it herself. But as she observed her vegetarian colleagues navigate dining halls and restaurants with ease, she realized she could emulate their methods. She decided to try vegetarianism for a week, which turned into a month, which turned into four years. To apply this strategy, identify people who have already achieved what you're trying to accomplish, then study their routines and techniques. Ask specific questions about how they overcome common obstacles. What tools do they use? How do they structure their environment? What habits have they developed? The more similar their circumstances are to yours, the more applicable their strategies will be. Organizations can also use social norms to encourage positive behaviors. In a famous study, hotel guests who were told that most previous guests in their specific room had reused their towels were 33% more likely to do the same compared to those given standard environmental messages. Similarly, telling people that most of their neighbors conserve energy or pay taxes on time increases compliance with these behaviors. However, social influence has important limitations. When the gap between current behavior and the described norm feels too large, learning about others' success can actually backfire by making people feel the goal is unattainable. For instance, when Air Force Academy researchers deliberately placed low-performing students with high achievers hoping to boost grades, the opposite occurred—struggling students performed worse than when randomly assigned. The lesson? Social influence works best when the desired behavior feels achievable and when we can see a clear path to emulating others' success. Another powerful social mechanism is public accountability. A study of voter turnout found that mailings which promised to reveal residents' voting records to their neighbors increased participation by a remarkable 8.1 percentage points. While such heavy-handed approaches can create backlash, there are more positive ways to harness accountability. Consider making public commitments to your goals, finding an accountability partner, or joining communities where progress is shared and celebrated. The people surrounding us shape our perception of what's normal, possible, and expected. By deliberately choosing environments populated by those who embody our aspirations, we can transform social pressure from an obstacle into a powerful ally for lasting change.

Summary

The journey from where you are to where you want to be isn't about discovering some magical, universal formula for success. It's about understanding the specific obstacles that block your path and applying tailored solutions to overcome them. As the research throughout this book demonstrates, change becomes infinitely more achievable when you match your approach to your unique challenges—whether that's harnessing fresh starts to begin anew, bundling temptations with beneficial activities, creating commitment devices to overcome procrastination, forming cue-based plans to defeat forgetfulness, setting smart defaults to leverage laziness, boosting confidence through giving advice, or surrounding yourself with peers who elevate your aspirations. Remember that meaningful change is more like treating a chronic condition than curing a temporary rash. The internal obstacles we face—impulsivity, procrastination, forgetfulness, laziness, self-doubt, and social pressure—are aspects of human nature that require ongoing management rather than one-time fixes. As Kevin Volpp wisely observed, "When we diagnose someone with diabetes, we don't put them on insulin for a month, take them off of it, and expect them to be cured." The key to lasting transformation is to diagnose your specific challenges, apply evidence-based strategies tailored to those challenges, and treat change as an ongoing practice rather than a destination. Today, identify just one obstacle that repeatedly derails your progress, select a corresponding strategy from this book, and take a single, concrete step toward implementing it. With the right approach, you can finally bridge the gap between intention and action, between who you are and who you want to become.

About Author

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Katy Milkman

Katy Milkman is the James G. Dinan Professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, host of Charles Schwab’s popular behavioral economics podcast Choiceology, and the former president of the international Society for Judgment and Decision Making. She is also the co-founder and co-director of the Behavior Change for Good Initiative, a research center with the mission of advancing the science of lasting behavior change. Over the course of her career, Katy has worked with or advised dozens of organizations on how to spur positive change, including Google, the White House, Walmart and the U.S. Department of Defense. She has published over 60 papers in leading academic journals such as Nature, The Journal of Finance, and The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and is the author of the international bestselling book How to Change: The Science of Getting From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, which was named one of the eight best books for healthy living in 2021 by the New York Times. Katy was also recently named a Top 10 innovator shaping the future of health by Fortune Magazine and won Penn’s highest teaching award, the Provost’s Lindback Award for Excellence in Teaching, in 2022. She writes frequently about behavioral science for major media outlets such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN and The Economist.

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