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Yet another in what may prove to be a continuing series of posts inspired by the ideas presented in the Heath brothers’ book, Made to Stick.

I was walking down the hallway in my office the other day, and noticed one of my colleagues has the following sentence written on his whiteboard,

“Thou shalt make no mistakes.”

Now, maybe it’s not the proudest thing I’ve ever confessed, but whenever I see messages on whiteboards, bulletin boards, and other sundry places, it always seems to bring out the latent comedian in me. There’s hardly anything I couldn’t tweak in some way, turning ordinarily serious items into something that might bring a smile, or at least a chuckle. (Remember that silly “spay/neuter services for cats” flyer I wrote about in The Cat’s in the Bag?) Most of the time I can keep it under control, but every now and then…

It’s a gift. Or something.

Anyway, to get back to the whiteboard – I don’t know whether it was meant to be serious or not. I mean, c’mon – hardly anyone can exist without making some mistakes, right? (In fact, of all the people who ever lived, only one Person comes to mind – but I digress.)

So here’s the problem: ever since I started reading the book, Made to Stick, I’ve become cursed with the necessity of viewing just about every message in terms of its “stickiness”. I’m sure you’ll agree; this particular message could easily be made stickier. So I walked in (he was in his office at the time) and changed it to:

“Thou shalt make no misteaks.”

It’s easy to see which version of the message will probably be noticed sooner, and remembered longer, don’t you think?

What kills me about books like Made to Stick is that you constantly find yourself slapping your forehead and thinking, “eureka!” all during the book (it’s starting to hurt). Most of the principles and things you read will make you realize this is mostly, if you’ll pardon the expression, “common sense” stuff.

I hardly ever recommend a book wholeheartedly (non-fiction ones, at least), but this one is a keeper! You’ll find ways to use the stickiness principles in just about every area of your life, from dealing with your kids, to managing your work – I promise.

(photo: Make no mistake about it, by David Gilmore)

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