Switch Up

One of my forays into the world of business and leadership has resulted in reading Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, by Chip & Dan Heath . . . those powerhouse brothers who have now written their second best-selling business book.

I liked Switch for good reason: it's an engaging read with pertinent illustrations from the boardroom and life, and I'd recommend it to anyone who is trying to either lead change, instill change, or even change habits and patterns in their daily expressions.

I continue to try to change things in my life. But it's tough. The dog goes out into the back yard at the same time each day and must be bribed back inside with a tasty treat. My son also follows the same dull routines of sleeping and pizza-eating. My wife sets her stage each day with the same routines and then spends her evenings reading and writing and researching. And me . . . I now spend a lot of time calling the dog, purchasing pizzas, and proof-reading term papers and blog entries. Sometimes I get confused and bribe my wife with a Milk Bone dog biscuit or I feed the dog a whole pizza. It's tough to affect change when my influence is so small.

But as the Heath Bros suggest, perhaps I need to do something daring, bold. Shake-up is required. Wild thoughts.

On Friday night I'm going to fix chili and use a different seasoning. I'm going to serve carrot sticks instead of celery. I'm going to purchase a two-liter bottle of some generic diet cola and try to pawn it off as the Real Thing.

I'll bet no one will notice. But even if they don't, at least I'll know I tried. This change stuff is tough!