You're Addicted to You: Why It's So Hard to Change -- And What You Can Do about It

All of us have things about ourselves we’d like to change. Maybe you want to be more organized, healthier, thinner, or more outspoken. Or perhaps you want to procrastinate less, quit smoking, listen better, or be a better leader. Whatever you want to change, you probably believe that your success depends on your conviction. The fact of the matter is, willpower alone won’t get you to change.

Noah Blumenthal illustrates how each of us becomes so thoroughly conditioned to act in old, counterproductive ways that negative behaviors become part of our very being. In a very real sense we become addicted to ourselves. The problem, he explains, isn’t that you aren’t trying hard enough, but that you’ve never learned the right way to make difficult changes. Here, he details a proven three-stage strategy—illuminated with practical tools, techniques, and exercises—for breaking self-addictions and conquering damaging behaviors like anger, workaholism, risk aversion, procrastination, overeating, under-exercising—just about anything. We all want to change our counterproductive behaviors. Here, Blumenthal offers a step-by-step guide for how to do it successfully.

Noah Blumenthal is the founder and president of Leading Principles, Inc., a consulting company specializing in executive coaching, leadership, and team development. As a consultant and coach, he has worked with corporations, not-for-profit, and educational institutions including MetLife, Bank of America, Pfizer, Johnson & John- son, Accenture, Leo Burnett, First Energy Corp, New School University, and Fairfield University. Noah has coached hundreds of executives on making difficult changes and has trained new and seasoned
coaches, HR leaders, executives, and managers in the art of coaching. He studied psychology as an undergraduate student at Brandeis University and organizational psychology as a graduate student at Columbia University. Noah is a renowned speaker and workshop leader delivering talks on changing ingrained behaviors, building executive teams, and developing effective interpersonal relationships.