cover image Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions

Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions

Dr. John C. Norcross. Simon & Schuster, $24 (256p) ISBN 978-1-4516-5761-6

Change isn't easy but if there's anyone out there who can convert skeptics to believers, it's Norcross. With his steady, avuncular approach, Norcross (Changing for Good), a professor of psychology at the University of Scranton, insists that, whether readers want to weigh less or spend less time in the office, his system will work%E2%80%94and for most people, without professional help%E2%80%94because it is science-based. Norcross breaks down the process into five steps (Psych, Prepare, Perspire, Persevere, Persist) that can be accomplished in ninety days. Some of his recommendations are common ones: write out your goals and make them public. Ongoing encouragement, along with quizzes and checklists, are what make his approach so compelling. Norcross is a teacher who first spells out what he's going to teach%E2%80%94"I'll teach you about the lapse process and how to persevere"%E2%80%93and then delivers, providing "ten proven ways to resist the urge to abandon your goal." If there's a fault, it's that Norcross might be a bit too cerebral. To the average smoker who just wants to kick the habit, for instance, the concept of self-efficacy might be irrelevant or out of grasp. Readers should persevere, however; the book is worth it. Agent: Bonnie Solow, Solow Literary. (Oct.)