The Simple Truths of Behavior Change
Bill Sims Jr. has released his first book titled “Green Beans & Ice Cream: The Simple Truths of Behavior Change.”
The highly anticipated book is based on Bill’s successful behavior change workshop, which has been featured at conventions across the world.
Chapter 1: The Little Rebel
It was suppertime, and there they were again:
Green.
Slimy.
Stringy.
My worst nightmare—it was green beans, again.
At the ripe old age of three, I had sampled green beans and concluded they weren’t for me. Mom was my boss, and I was her newest employee. And we had a real management/labor crisis going on. She begged, she pleaded. But I was determined not to eat those green beans.
And so, I crossed my arms, frowned, and pouted, figuring she’d give up like she had before.
But Mom had a secret weapon. This time there was something else on the table besides green beans…
“Billy Joe, if you eat your green beans you can have some…”
You guessed it.
Ice Cream.
This sheer genius was, of course the magic stroke that changed my behavior. In a flash, I saw those green beans not as an oppressive burden, but instead a golden passport to that lovely ice cream. Sure enough, Mom got what she wanted, a balanced diet for her three year old. And I got Ice Cream. Pretty cool.
I’m not sure exactly when or how mom pared back the ice cream, but somehow I came to terms with green beans and accepted them for who they are. In the foggy years of my early childhood, I decided they taste good on their own.
Mom had learned how to change my behavior!
Chapter 2: “Why did he do that?”
Understanding why people do what they do is the most daunting task we can tackle.
According to the Bible, this debate about human motivation has been the subject of discussion in the realms above since the dawn of man. Answering the question above is a formidable challenge, but it also offers us huge rewards if we can only crack the code of human behavior change.
What is a school? A business? A family? While the buildings, equipment, and furniture are certainly important, it is the collection of behaviors of people that create what we call “culture”. Culture is a patchwork quilt made up of many small behaviors. Sometimes we say that the culture is “toxic” or “nurturing”. Many people assume that culture is what it is, and can never be changed. Not true.
To change culture, all we have to do is change behavior. Attitudes will follow behavior, just as my attitude about green beans changed over time, after my behavior changed.
No matter whether you are a parent, husband, wife, teacher, boss, supervisor, professor, cop, or anything else in life, what you want from the people who are around you is the same thing: MORE.
You want more quality, safety, customer service from your employees. Better test scores, homework, and study habits from your students. Cleaner rooms, and chores done from your kids.
To get more from people, we need behavior change from others. But the person whose behavior must change first is you.
Can we really navigate the murky world of the human mind? Can we ever hope to understand it in a reliable, logical way? Nope. Not a chance.
You can’t see inside my mind and I can’t read your thoughts either. And I bet we both like it that way.
So while the complex world of human emotion exists, we need another tool to understand human behavior. One that we can see, touch, and feel.
And that tool has existed for over 70 years—it’s a little known science called behavioral analysis.
Using some simple and easy tools, we can crack the code on why we do what we do.
And we can empower ourselves and others to achieve performance that is nothing short of a miracle.
This book is devoted to help you help others to achieve those dreams, whatever they may be.