The Achievement Habit: Stop Wishing, Start Doing and Take Command of Your Life

This book is based on a course Roth teaches at Stanford University, called "The Designer in Society," which is all about how to achieve your goals by doing instead of thinking. The course is a pioneer in the "design thinking" movement, which encourages people to find new ways to improve things, from bicycles to hospital waiting times to feeding refugees.

Both the course and the book follow a basic outline for achieving these goals, and it starts with empathy. Whatever your goal is, you'll need to understand how people feel about it. Next, you need to define the problem, generate ideas, develop a prototype, test it, and get feedback.

The key throughout this process is to focus on doing rather than planning and thinking. And by "doing," Roth means changing the way we think, so we have the confidence to take charge of our lives. He says that's what usually holds people back – they get stuck trying to figure out how to achieve success, and stuck in old habits, without ever moving on to the action stage where things really happen.

So who's this book for? Roth teaches engineering, so a lot of his examples are from his engineering students and colleagues, but the ideas are applicable to anyone. The book is clearly written and full of stories, advice and simple exercises you can do to change your way of thinking and your life. By the end of the book, Roth says, you'll have learned about yourself and your reasons for not achieving what you want – and you'll be able to build the resilience you need to accomplish your goals.

Roth is professor of engineering and the academic director of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University. He's one of the world's leading experts in kinematics (the science of motion) and robotics. He's also keenly interested and experienced in helping others achieve their potential. He creates courses that help students understand and explore ideas about themselves – their personal issues and desires.

So keep listening to hear how you can become unstuck, how a group of students changed lives by changing their thinking, and one exercise that will challenge the way you communicate.

Our behavior, and consequently our achievements, are the result of the choices we make. Those choices are based on the meanings we give to things. Roth says nothing has intrinsic meaning; instead, meaning is imposed by us and can therefore be controlled by us. For example, he thought one of his students was a slacker, but he was later amazed to find this student had created a terrific piece of work for a festival. So the "meaning" Roth had initially assigned to this student needed to change.

We also give meaning to ourselves and the things we do. While this can sound like a lot of responsibility, it also means we have the power to change our lives. And it's important to realize that no one is keeping track of your successes and failures – no one except you.

One of the ways we hold ourselves back is through "functional fixedness." This is when we see objects only in their normal context. But to succeed, we need to overcome this bias and realize nothing is what it appears to be. This concept can also be applied to ourselves. Just as things can be transformed, we can be too. For example, you might have lost your job, but that doesn't mean you're a failure. Only you can assign that meaning to it. And you can change it.

Roth says studies show that giving things new labels can change behavior. For example, if campaigners ask people to "be voters" rather than "to vote" during an election campaign, turnout at the polls goes up, because people care about the way others perceive them and want to be seen as good citizens. When you create the image you want, your behavior will change and so will your life.

Roth talks about conscious and unconscious reactions, particularly when it comes to fear. When faced with a scary situation, our natural reaction is "fight, flight or freeze." This is an unconscious response. But a lot of our behavior is learned through experience and it's not always helpful. The good news about learned behavior is we can unlearn it. We can do this by stopping ourselves from doing what our first impulse tells us.

So next time you feel frightened, take a deep breath, become aware of how you're feeling, and think of a pleasant event. Once you're calm, you gain control over your behavior. This is important because behavior based on fear puts the brakes on our journey toward achievement.

We can get stuck for a whole range of reasons, not just fear, and, if that happens, how do we get unstuck? Roth answers this question in chapter three. He says the key is to change the way we think. Instead of hastily trying to solve a problem, we need to identify what it would take to solve that problem. In this way, we open up the process of discovery and allow for more possibilities. Starting with a solution too soon inhibits that process.

For example, some of his students worked on a project to help poor farmers in Myanmar water their crops. They discovered the farmers used candles or kerosene lamps for light because there was no electricity. These candles and lamps were very expensive and they filled the farmers' poorly ventilated huts with fumes.

So the students changed the problem from watering crops to finding better sources of light. Their solution was cost-effective, solar-powered LED lights, which were cheaper and safer than the previous lights. By asking themselves, "How do we help the farmers?" the students explored all the possibilities and found a solution to a problem that changed the farmers' lives.

Roth ends this chapter with a list of 22 ways to get unstuck. These include creating a supportive working environment, brainstorming and taking time to relax, so that creative ideas can come to you.

In chapter five, Roth gets to the heart of what's he's trying to say in this book, which is: doing is everything. He says there's a big difference between trying and doing, even though the two sound very closely related.

Trying means the action in question may or may not happen, but doing means it will. The bottom line is, just do it. That's the "achievement habit" of the book's title. By getting into the habit of taking action, we can achieve our goals. In his classes, Roth lets his students choose their own projects, because it gives them a sense of empowerment. It doesn't matter what they choose to do, as long as they take action.

Some people repeat positive statements about themselves, called affirmations, as motivation to get things done. But they're not for everyone. Many people just don't believe them! So Roth suggests a slightly different approach. Instead of thinking about yourself, write a list of the positive qualities someone would need to achieve a good education and a good career. In a study of students with low self-esteem, the ones who took part in the exercise ended up staying in school at much higher rates than those who didn't participate.

In every chapter of the book, Roth provides a section called Your Turn, where he suggests tips and activities that the reader can use to put his ideas into action. Sometimes there are several Your Turns in each chapter, which can get a little confusing, but the suggestions are usually helpful and, of course, practical.

Here's an example. Roth suggests we list our core beliefs and then ask ourselves where they came from. Core beliefs are firmly held ideas we have about ourselves that dictate our behavior. Were yours passed on to you by parents or teachers?

Then ask yourself which of those beliefs still serve you and which aren't working. Roth doesn't provide any examples, but these can be things like the belief that you don't deserve to be happy, that you're not very smart, or that you talk too much. Taking the time to think about what matters to you is really the point. And we think it's a valuable one.

We can't always succeed, of course, no matter how much action we take. But Roth says it's important to see failure as a gift. If you do something and fail, you can learn from it. He gives the example of Oprah Winfrey, who got fired from her first TV job. He doesn't explain further, unfortunately, but we can guess that Winfrey learned from that experience, because she went on to build an impressive career as a television presenter, producer, actor, and philanthropist.

He also says we need to notice the difference between our self-image and the way we act, but he doesn't elaborate on that point here. That comes in a later chapter.

Fortunately, the chapter on language is a little more detailed. Roth suggests that the way we communicate affects our relationships, our work, and the way we see things. For example, we often use the word "but" when we should say "and." The word "but" changes a neutral statement into a negative one and shuts down possibilities in your mind. We can't always use the word "and" instead, of course – there are times when it would sound strange – but it's worth being aware of this point.

One communication exercise Roth suggests is to get yourself a partner and start a sentence with the words, "I have to." For example, you might say, "I have to finish my work." Your partner then responds by repeating the sentence with "You want" as in, "You want to finish your work." The idea here is to show how choice and desire influence decisions about things you think you have no control over.

You can also try this exercise by flipping the words "can't" and "won't," since "can't" implies helplessness whereas "won't" is a choice. Clearly, the words we use affect the way we think and whether we take any action toward reaching our goals.

Roth suggests asking yourself your intention when you communicate. What is it you're trying to achieve? Are you looking for information or seeking confirmation? He also suggests we speak from our own experience and feelings, listen without interrupting, and take responsibility for what we say. We agree that the words we use and the way we communicate is an important part of achieving our goals.

Roth picks up the issue of self-image again in chapter eight. Our parents, teachers, siblings, and the environment in which we grew up all influence our personality and the way we see ourselves.

When we get to school, we're more influenced by friends and romantic relationships as we begin to form a self-image that's different from the one formed in our family. We start to see ourselves as we are, not who our parents think we are.

To achieve our goals, we need to create our own self-image, rather than let ourselves continue to be influenced by others. You can take action by changing the old image your parents created so that it's based on who you want to be. That way, you can take charge of your life. Roth says one way to do this is to make a list of all the things you want to accomplish and then ask yourself whether these are based on your own intentions or other people's influences.

Similarly, ask yourself, "Who am I?" thinking about your possessions and the things you do. Then ask the question again, looking at yourself in terms of your values and your goals. Many of us confuse who we are with what we have or what we do. For example, you might own a BMW and work as a stockbroker, but you really see yourself as an artist. These exercises can help us to see the difference between ourselves and our image.

Roth describes another useful exercise for discovering who we really are called a Guided Fantasy. Here's how it works. Close your eyes, relax, take a few deep breaths, and imagine you're taking a journey. You get on a plane, travel far away, and, when you get off, you walk up to a house, and start looking around inside it. Picture what the house looks like. Then slowly walk away, get back on the plane, and come home. Open your eyes. Now describe the house. According to Roth, the description you come up with can be seen as a description of yourself.

In the final chapters of the book, Roth emphasizes the importance of having meaningful work. He says the only way to achieve that is to take control, of both your life and your work. We can also take control of what things mean, as you heard earlier.

In the end, Roth says, life is about solving problems. But problems can be opportunities. Don't spend time thinking about what you want to do or how you're going to get it perfect, just do it.

This book is full of anecdotes and examples from Roth's own life with his friends, family and students. Sometimes the stories run a little long and they can, at times, get a little off-topic. As Roth himself says, this book is more about suggestions for succeeding in life than in work, but the advice and suggestions he offers are practical, useful and thought-provoking.

There's no easy road to success. All we can do is develop the right habits and realize that we're the only ones who can achieve the goals we really want in life. And that's a pretty good lesson to learn.

"The Achievement Habit: Stop Wishing, Start Doing and Take Command of Your Life," by Bernard Roth, is published by HarperCollins.

That's the end of this episode of Book Insights. Thanks for listening.