The Stickiness Improvement Plan

Based on the book Made to Stick, I provide a plan of question to evaluate your idea’s stickiness. Comes with keywords for further improvements.

There is no better feeling than to tick off boxes.

What makes ideas stick

Made to stick needs no introduction. If you have not read the book, then buy a copy! There are many good ideas to read the book several times. But how to keep track of what to do? The authors themselves present the most basic advice: think about SUCCES.

The first S stands for Simple. Simple is about the Answer stage of your question.

The UCCES-part focuses on the delivery of your message.

For an idea to stick, to be lasting and useful, it’s got to make the audience

2. Pay attention (Unexpected)
3. Understand and remember it (Concrete)
4. Agree/Believe (Credible)
5. Care (Emotional)
6. Be able to act on it (Story)

Sometimes it’s difficult to know where to start. I already wrote about this previously. Here is a checklist that you can use to place your own stepping stones. If a question strikes a tune, I provide the related keyword. Refer to the book or the internet to learn more about the topic. Look and see how many boxes you can tick.

The sticky improvement plan

1. Simplicity: “be masters of exclusion”. Relentlessly prioritize. Be simple and profound. “A one-sentence statement so profound that an individual could spend a lifetime learning to follow it”
   • Have you organized your message by presenting the most important information first, and all the other stuff in order of descending importance? - Inverted Pyramid.
   • Have you identified the most crucial aspects of your message? - Forced Prioritization.
   • Have you taken steps to streamline your decision-making process and prevent getting overwhelmed by too many options? - Overcome Decision Paralysis.
   • Have you incorporated specific names and examples in your message to make it more relatable and memorable? - Names-Names-Names.
   • Have you used relevant analogies and metaphors to simplify complex concepts and make your message more engaging? - Analogies & Metaphors.
2. Unexpectedness: violate the expectation. Generate interest and curiosity.
   • Have you incorporated unexpected elements in your message to activate System 2 thinking and provoke deeper engagement? - Break Schemes.
   • Have you challenged common assumptions in your message, offering fresh perspectives and added value to engage your audience? - Challenge common sense , fix the guessing machine.
   • Have you created curiosity by highlighting gaps in knowledge or understanding, encouraging your audience to seek more information? - Gap Theory of Curiosity.
3. Concreteness: be human
   • Have you used concrete examples and sensory details to make your message more relatable and easier to remember? - Sensory Information.
   • Have you built up on previously existing knowledege? - Velcro Theory of Mind.
4. Credibility: Make people accept ideas without skepticism. Avoid hard numbers
   • Have you provided enough credible evidence and logical reasoning to address potential objections? - not possible to convince a critic.
   • Have you utilized authoritative figures or counterexamples to support your message? - Authority and Anti-Authority.
   • Have you allowed your topic to demonstrate its credibility by providing testable evidence? - Testable Credentials
   • Have you made your message relatable by presenting it on a human scale? - Human Scale.
   • Have you used statistics to inform and support your message without overwhelming your audience? - Statistics as an Input.
5. Emotions: built on the right emotions. Focus on the specific and individual
   • Have you focused on individuals or specific cases instead of generalizing to avoid group neglect? - Mother Teresa Principle
   • Have you used statistics or examples to evoke emotions and create a context for your message? - Statistics act as a Priming Event.
   • Have you not overused known concepts and analogies to transport your message? - Avoid Semantic stretch.
   • Have you ensured that your message does not solely focus on basic needs or negative emotions? - Avoid Maslow’s Basement.
6. Stories: stories allow easier storage and retrieval of information
   • Have you organized your message as a coherent story to make it easier for the audience to follow and remember? - Story Map in Head.
   • Have you crafted your story in a way that allows the audience to empathize and experience the events themselves? - Mirror Neurons in Story Experience.
   • Have you considered using one of the three basic plots (the challenge plot, the connection plot, and the creativity plot) to structure your story? - Three Basic Plots.