Book SummaryStick With It, by Sean D. Young

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Stick With It

Why do so many of our attempts at changing behaviors fail, despite our best intentions? In Stick With It, first published in 2017, psychologist Sean Young presents a science-based framework that reshapes our understanding of lasting behavioral change. Rather than trying to transform yourself into someone else through sheer willpower—an approach that rarely works—Young argues that successful change comes from understanding and strategically applying seven psychological forces that drive human behavior.

As the executive director of the UCLA Center for Digital Behavior and the UC Institute for Prediction Technology, Young brings over 15 years of research to the...

Stick With It Summary Why Different Behaviors Require Different Strategies: Know Your ABCs

Before diving into specific change strategies, you first need to understand what kind of behavior you’re trying to change. Young identifies three types of behaviors—what he calls the ABCs of behavior.

A: Automatic Behaviors: The Unconscious Habits

Automatic behaviors are actions we perform without thinking. These include unconscious habits like nail biting, interrupting people during conversations, slouching, or mindlessly checking email while walking. Young says that because we’re not aware we’re doing these things, automatic behaviors can be particularly challenging to change: You might only realize you’ve been engaging in a behavior after it’s already happened, like noticing your finger is bleeding because you’ve been chewing your nails without realizing it.

B: Burning Behaviors: The Compulsive Urges

Burning behaviors are driven by compulsive urges that feel almost irresistible. Young explains that even though you’re aware of these behaviors, you feel powerless to stop them—like indulging the urge to check your phone as soon as you hear a notification or playing “just one more round” of a video game that turns into hours. While these behaviors don’t...

Stick With It Summary The SCIENCE of Behavior Change: Seven Strategies for Lasting Change

Now that we understand the three types of behaviors, let’s explore the seven strategies that Young says can help us create lasting change. Young has organized these strategies into an acronym—SCIENCE—to make them easier to remember and apply.

S: Break Down Big Goals Using Stepladders

The Stepladders strategy involves breaking down ambitious dreams into manageable goals and small daily steps. Young explains that this approach provides both psychological and practical benefits: Completing small steps gives you frequent “wins” that trigger the release of [restricted term] in your brain, building your confidence and motivation more effectively than fixating on distant dreams. It also makes significant changes less overwhelming by dividing complex skills into manageable chunks that you can master one at a time.

How to Use Stepladders

1) Define your dream with specificity. Rather than vaguely hoping to “get in shape,” specify exactly what that means, such as being able to complete a 5K race.

2) Create intermediate milestone goals. Establish concrete achievements within 1-3 months, like being able to jog continuously for 20 minutes.

**3) Break goals into...

Stick With It Summary How to Pick the Right Strategy for the Behavior You Want to Change

Understanding which strategies work best for each behavior type is essential for effective change. By matching the right strategies to your specific behavior type, you dramatically increase your chances of making lasting change. Here’s how to match strategies to behaviors.

Automatic Behaviors

For automatic behaviors like nail-biting or interrupting others, Young recommends making the behavior difficult to perform (Ease) and establishing new automatic patterns (Engraining). Since you’re not aware of automatic behaviors as they happen, these strategies work best by preventing the behavior and creating alternative automatic responses, respectively. For example, with nail-biting, you might apply bitter-tasting nail polish to make the behavior less appealing while simultaneously creating a new default response by clasping your hands when you’re anxious.

Young notes that Neurohacks and Captivation serve as helpful secondary strategies by increasing your awareness of unconscious behaviors and providing rewards for noticing and redirecting them. For instance, if you habitually interrupt others, you might record your conversations to become aware of your patterns and reward...

Shortform Exercise: Identify Your Behavior Type

Understanding which type of behavior you’re trying to change is the crucial first step in applying Young’s SCIENCE framework effectively.

Think of a behavior you’ve been trying to change without lasting success. Describe it below.