Book Review: Made to Stick

Something a little different than yesterday’s beach read for my book review week.

Book Review for: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
By: Chip Heath and Dan Heath

I’ve mentioned this book before due to its thought-provoking tidbits (See Core Ideas and Intent). This nonfiction book is a gem in how to make ideas stick. It doesn’t matter if you are a writer trying to create a story that will be deep and meaningful, a mother trying to get it through your child’s thick head about looking both ways before crossing the street, a marketer, a teacher teaching math, or a supervisor trying to convince your minions that your way is indeed the way to go, this book is for you.

Made to Stick is simple, easy-to-read with an entertaining approach. They make it easy to figure out what your core idea/intent of your message is as well as provide simple step-by-step approaches on how to convey your idea, make it meaningful, and of course, make it stick. It could be a simple message for your family, or it could be something complex and of national security. Not convinced? They break down a nice little urban legend many of us have heard of and explain why it sticks. Have you heard of the urban legend about kidney heists? (You wake up in a bathtub of ice to find someone has stolen your kidneys.) Memorable isn’t it? Why? Because it is meaningful, simple, unexpected, emotional, credible (it happened to a friend of a friend, doncha know?), and it is all wrapped up in a little story. They’ll teach you how to do that.

You think there were a lot of urban legends before? Just wait until I’ve applied this book to my imagination. Mwa-ha-ha!

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Make it Happen: Intent and Core Ideas or Goals

At the moment, I am reading Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip and Dan Heath. While I am only on page 33, I’ve come across a little tidbit that is already changing the way I plan my day.

What is the tidbit? Basically it is: What is your intent? Your core?

Come again?

Let me put it in context. Pretend you are on a beautiful island where there is no snow and it is so hot you have to order fruity drink after fruity… Oops, sorry… Pretend you are trying to set goals for yourself (or your company) and you need to simplify it so there is one core thing that speaks to the overall intent of what you (or everyone) are trying to accomplish. If you can keep that core or intent in mind, you are more likely to act in a way that is in line with that intent or core, and therefore succeed in reaching your goal.

For example, my intent and core is to obtain literary agent representation.

But how do I focus my actions, plans and thoughts to ensure I am always working towards my intent or core and don’t wander off in distraction or do things that work against my intent?

The Heath brothers suggest I ask myself these two questions (modified from page 27) when I need to find a solution or way to reach my intent/core: If I do nothing else during today’s/tomorrow’s writing day, I must ________________ (in order to reach agent representation). Or: The single, most important thing I must do today/tomorrow to achieve agent representation is ___________________.

So, what can I do today to get me agent representation? Well, since my manuscript has been edited and critiqued by three critique partners, I feel it is ready. Same with my synopsis and query. In fact, I have queries and partials out with agents. So again, what can I do today to keep me moving towards agent representation?

Well, I can ensure my blog posts are witty and engaging so agents read them and say, “Wow, this gal really has it going on. I’m going to give her a call right now.” And in case hell hasn’t yet frozen over, I can spend some time working on my online image. (Warning: Geek alert.) For example, recently my website and blog have defied the limits of my WordPress template and have undergone several poorly-constructed workarounds and patches instead of a happy-friendly-panic-attack-inducing template update and reinstall on my new provider (that’s the real freak-out-panic), leaving everything still working, but slightly screwy. Seeing as I don’t want to confuse my guests (especially lovely agents who have my phone number in their clutches) with a screwy site, today I will look into real solutions which will hopefully lead to the ‘home’ button saying ‘blog’ within the next week or so. Maybe if the WordPress template gods are smiling down upon me, there will even be a way to make the Goodreads widget work in my sidebar! Woo! Dream, geek, dream!

Now where was I? Right, the Heath brothers. They are keen to mention that no plan survives contact with its intended audience. Even if your plan is McAwesomely planned out, it isn’t going to survive contact, and especially if the intended audience does something that isn’t in the plan, like reject you. Thus, the importance of your intent or core. What do you do? You modify your plan so you can still reach your core or intent. You send out another query. Or if you keep getting shot down, modify your plan/query. Or if the intended audience says, “Too much telling in the first ten pages,” you modify your plan to fit with your intent.

It sounds simple because it is simple. The hard part is keeping that core or intent firmly in your mind and make every action you take bring you one step closer.

I’m off to snoop around at more templates. How about you?