Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, and How We Can Stick to the Plan

We’ve all made decisions and plans with the best of intentions: to save for retirement, to search for a better job, to go on a diet. However, we’re surprisingly bad at anticipating our own behavior and at sticking to those well-intentioned decisions. Harvard Business School professor and psychologist Gino investigates the behavior psychology behind this self-defeating behavior, and describes the forces that influence our decisions—“forces within ourselves,” “forces from our relationships with others,” and “forces from the outside world.” In lively prose, Gino describes experiments conducted with students, observing as despite their best intentions they get caught up in contagious emotions, focus too narrowly, fail to take the perspective of those around them into account, and form unproductive social bonds. If only we could acknowledge and recognize “the forces that derail [our] decisions,” as Gino advocates, we could try to make better decisions and stick to them. Though the book is pitched to fans of Dan Ariely, Gino’s style and execution is much like his, and some experiments are even repeated and may not feel fresh. (Mar.)