Every day millions of people log onto Facebook to connect with friends. Each time we do this we are creating and reinforcing habits. We have routines for checking news from friends, looking up birthdays and family updates. When the interface of Facebook was changed in 2011 there was widespread condemnation. We are, in short, creatures of habit.

Habits may help us to carry out our daily routine but they often cause us trouble, from unhealthy eating and smoking, to poor study skills and work routines. We've all experienced that endless frustration when we try to kick a bad habit.

The frustration you have now will soon be over. Premier cognitive scientist Art Markman draws on all the latest scientific research to help you succeed in beating those bad habits. With the help of Smart Change, not only will you be able to understand just how habits are formed and maintained but you will be equipped with 5 essential tools to help you change your behaviour for the better and, what's more, influence the behaviour of others at work and at home.

* Review copies mailed to the press * Featured on Piatkus website and online channels

About the Author
Art Markman Ph.D. is one of the premier cognitive scientists in the field and has been published in more than 150 journals. He is the Annabel Irion Worsham Centennial Professor of Psychology and Marketing at the University of Texas at Austin. Art Markman has also taught at Northwestern University and Columbia University. As a consultant he has worked with businesses such as Procter & Gamble. Markman writes and blogs regularly for Psychology Today and also contributes to the Huffington Post and the Harvard Business Review online. He is the author of Smart Thinking and The Habits of Effective Leadership.

Reviews
Technology promises to make our lives easier and more efficient, but too often it has just the opposite effect - we feel rushed, harried, 'always on,' and we take refuge in bad habits like procrastination. If this sounds like you, you need to try Smart Change. It's based on the science of motivation and designed to tap into our habit-forming circuits and use them to create a more satisfying life * Daniel H. Pink, author of To Sell is Human and Drive *
Art Markman's smart, engaging, quirky book will teach you how to do more of the things that make you healthy, wealthy, and happy, and less of the things that don't. Smart Change is an important book that's also a delight to read * Adam Alter, Assistant Professor of Marketing and Psychology at New York University's Stern School of Business and author of Drunk Tank Pink *
A smart book for all of us who have tried to change our behavior and failed . . . Markman leverages the latest scientific research on habits and motivations to offer a practical guide to successful behavior change. In an engaging, easy-to-follow style, the book explains how habits thwart our best intentions but also help us to realize our goals. Markman starts with the insight that repeated, consistent kinds of failures are the real challenges in life. He then walks the reader through a series of simple steps to optimize goals. As Markman explains, changing our behavior often involves changing our environments so that it's easy to repeat desired actions until they become the habitual, default response * Wendy Wood, PhD, Provost Professor of Psychology and Business, Vice Dean for Social Sciences, University of Southern California *
Smart Change presents the science and practice of what might be the toughest job that people take on - to change themselves. Enlivened by stories from daily life as well as the headlines, five clear and actionable steps outline the most effective ways that people can change their habits, minds, and bodies. Recognizing that behavioral change is not easy - but also not impossible - this book's combination of cutting-edge research and narrative story telling gives insights that are sure to stick * Kathleen D. Vohs, PhD, University of Minnesota, Editor, Handbook of Self-Regulation: Research, Theory, and Applications *
If you are serious about changing habits, read this. It is written in an insightful yet accessible style * HR magazine *



Book Information
ISBN 9780349401300
Author Art Markman
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Piatkus Books
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 396g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 154mm * 23mm