Carrots and Sticks: Unlock the Power of Incentives to Get

Carrots and Sticks: Unlock the Power of Incentives to Get Things Done

Could you lose weight if you put $20,000 at risk? Would you finally set up your billing software if it meant that your favorite charity would earn a new contribution? If youâ€™ve ever tried to meet a goal and came up short, the problem may not have been that the goal was too difficult or that you lacked the discipline to succeed. From giving up cigarettes to increasing your productivity at work, you may simply have neglected to give yourself the proper incentives.

In Carrot and Sticks, Ian Ayres, the New York Times bestselling author of Super Crunchers, applies the lessons learned from behavioral economicsâ€”the fascinating new science of rewards and punishmentsâ€”to introduce readers to the concept of â€œcommitment contractsâ€: an easy but high-powered strategy for setting and achieving goals already in use by successful companies and individuals across America. As co-founder of the website stickK.com (where people have entered into their own â€œcommitment contractsâ€ and collectively put more than $3 million on the line), Ayres has developed contractsâ€”including the one he honored with himself to lose more than twenty pounds in one yearâ€”that have already helped many find the best way to help themselves at work or home. Now he reveals the strategies that can give you the impetus to meet your personal and professional goals, including how to
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â€¢ motivate your employees
â€¢ create a monthly budgetÂ
â€¢ set and meet deadlines
â€¢ improve your diet
â€¢ learn a foreign language
â€¢ finish a report or project youâ€™ve been putting off
â€¢ clear your desk
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Ayres shares engaging, often astounding, real-life stories that show the carrot-and-stick principle in action, from the compulsive sneezer who needed a â€œstickâ€ (the potential loss of $50 per week to a charity he didnâ€™t like) to those who need a carrot with their stick (the New York Times columnist who quit smoking by pledging a friend $5,000 per smoke . . . if she would do the same for him). Youâ€™ll learn why you might want to hire a â€œprofessional naggerâ€ whom youâ€™ll do anything to avoidâ€”no, your spouse wonâ€™t do!â€”and how you can â€œhand-tieâ€ your future self to accomplish what you want done now. Youâ€™ll find out how a New Zealand ad exec successfully â€œsold his smoking addiction,â€ and why Zappos offered new employees $2,000 to quit cigarettes.Â

As fascinating as it is practical, as much about human behavior as about how to change it, Carrots and Sticks is sure to be one of the most talked-about books of the year.
Country USA
Manufacturer Bantam
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2010-09-21
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780553807639

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Bantam
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2010-09-21
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780553807639

Carrots and Sticks: Unlock the Power of Incentives to Get Things Done

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