Excerpt from the book "Made to Stick"

This is one of my favorite books this year. The authors in this book talk about 6 principles to make messaging stick. 

• S:  Simple: Find the core and share the core
• U: Unexpected: Get attention(Surprise), Hold Attention (Interest).
• C:  Concrete: Help people understand, remember and coordinate.
• C:  Credible: Help people Believe. External and internal credibility.
• E:  Emotional: Make people care through the power of association, self-interest, and appeal to Identity.
• S:  Stories: Get people to Act through simulation and inspiration.

Golden Rule of Simplicity: A one-sentence statement so profound that an individual could spend a lifetime learning to follow it.

People can be driven to irrational decisions by too much complexity and uncertainty.

Simple messages are core and compact.

We need to shift our thinking from "What information do I need to convey? to "What questions do I want my audience to ask ?"

Curiosity comes from gaps in our knowledge.

Statistics will, and should, almost always be used to illustrate a relationship. It's more important for people to remember the relationship than the number.

When it comes to statistics, our best advice is to use them as input, not output. use them to make up your mind on an issue. Don't make up your mind and then go looking for the numbers to support yourself.

If your emotional tank is empty, you are not going to be able to perform at your best

We may remember things better because they evoke more emotion, not because they are more frequent.

When it comes to our hearts, one individual trumps the masses.

There is no doubt about the facts, But the belief does not make people care enough to act.

Feelings inspire people to act.

Floyd Lee said, "As I see it, I am not just in charge of food service; I am in charge of morale."

Mental simulations help us manage emotions. Mental practice alone produced about two-thirds of the benefits of actual physical practice.

Except from the book "Switch":

To change someone's behavior, you've got to change that person's situation.

Our emotional side is an Elephant and our rational side is its Rider. To make progress toward a goal, whether it's noble or crass, requires the energy and drive of the Elephant. 

Psychologists have discovered that self-control is an exhaustible resource.